Fri 1st Sept AND Sun 3rd Sept: SL: Leigh Leopards v Huddersfield Giants

[Pete Grady]

14 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

But back to the game today, having watched the Giants whenever they have been on TV, today was the best I have seen them perform, and in my opinion it was because they had to be expansive so the Watson coaching manual was discarded and the player's got on with playing Rugby League football.

That's the 'trying cicumstances' I was referring to Harry.  Watson is a one trick pony, 5 up the jersey, kick it and hope for a mistake.  He's got the money to buy creative players, he buys them: Connor, Fages and Lolohea and then doesn't know what to with them.  None of the 3 mentioned improved under him.  He was an honest hard working journeyman of a player with no pace or special ball skills and that is  reflected in his coaching.

A nice chap though.

[Fevrover]

11 hours ago, meast said:

It wasn't Huddersfield's fault so why should we be put out in all of this?

Who said it was Huddersfield's fault ? Imo wouldn't it have been easier to have a point each ? Save having to go through yesterday? Anyway it's done now.

[StandOffHalf]

I think the game should have been replayed from the beginning, to induce fatigue in the players. The score after 49 minutes should then have been discarded and the score of the abandoned match inserted. Play should then have continued with Leigh 16-12 up.

That would have been no more farcical than what happened on the RFL's instruction, IMO...

[JohnM]

21 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

Very timely now that the 'Humbles' have a new owner.

Nice try but no prize.

[Harry Stottle]

17 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

Who said it was Huddersfield's fault ? Imo wouldn't it have been easier to have a point each ? Save having to go through yesterday? Anyway it's done now.

It was an exciting 32 mins, good football played by both teams but the Giants did lose some composure and were pinged by the ref for a few head tackles but they had to play a game that was seemingly foreign to them in being expansive.

One observation of the two refs on the field Mr L Moore and Mr J Conner, Mr Moore got the upper hand every time in their many discussions.

[JohnM]

20 hours ago, Barley Mow said:

Joking aside, how will the match be (re)started?

Assuming it was stopped on completion of a tackle, a play-the-ball in that location - meaning the players will be roughly in the same positions they were when play stopped.

In fact it was restarted by the augmented fans choir chanting " Oi ref! Off side....Forward...."

[Harry Stottle]

2 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Nice try but no prize.

You mean as usual you have no answer.

[Harry Stottle]

Just now, JohnM said:

In fact it was restarted by the augmented fans choir chanting " Oi ref! Off side....Forward...."

Stick to Nancyball John, suits you sir.

[phiggins]

26 minutes ago, JohnM said:

In fact it was restarted by the augmented fans choir chanting " Oi ref! Off side....Forward...."

"LBW!!!"

[phiggins]

21 hours ago, Barley Mow said:

Joking aside, how will the match be (re)started?

Assuming it was stopped on completion of a tackle, a play-the-ball in that location - meaning the players will be roughly in the same positions they were when play stopped.

I think that is what happened. Of the two subs made at the very start of the restart yesterday, one was about to happen on Friday anyway. Nakubuwei lined up for the first tackle on the wing, to be replaced by Amone after a 20-25 minute stint off. While Wardle lined up in the middle and ran off from there to be replaced by Asiata.

[meast]

11 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

Hudds had their chance....... 

And blew it! 

A bit like Leigh's lights then  

[meast]

4 hours ago, Fevrover said:

Who said it was Huddersfield's fault ? Imo wouldn't it have been easier to have a point each ? Save having to go through yesterday? Anyway it's done now.

I was replying to your post which stated that it wasn't Leigh's fault that the stadium lights wouldn't work.

Well, it wasn't Huddersfield's fault but Huddersfield are the team that's been inconvenienced the most by it all.

I agree about the point each or, just replayed the game.

But yeah, like our season, it's done now, so we move on.

[PEANUT HEAD]

13 minutes ago, meast said:

I was replying to your post which stated that it wasn't Leigh's fault that the stadium lights wouldn't work.

Well, it wasn't Huddersfield's fault but Huddersfield are the team that's been inconvenienced the most by it all.

I agree about the point each or, just replayed the game.

But yeah, like our season, it's done now, so we move on.

Replay the game so we could put 50 past them.

[Snowys Backside]

Normally, the game would have been replayed for the full 80 whether Leigh or Huddersfield would have been winning by 30 or not. Still, at 16-12, the game was there for the taking.

Instead, what was done seemed to be a perfectly reasonable compromise for which fans still come out in good numbers on the Sunday to watch. 'Snippet' Rugby could be the future !!!!

Move on. No one in the top 6 can now whinge, no one fighting for the 6th spot can whinge, and all fixtures will be completed.

The only person who we can leave to Whinge is Ian Watson who doesn't really know what he wants full stop !!

[meast]

16 minutes ago, PEANUT HEAD said:

Replay the game so we could put 50 past them.

A bit of humility wouldn't go amiss, most Huddersfield fans don't care about the result yesterday, just like we didn't care when we've put 60+, 50+ and 40+ on Leigh.

Enjoy your success this season and remember that you won't always be up in that leopard print ivory tower  

 

 

[phiggins]

6 minutes ago, meast said:

A bit of humility wouldn't go amiss, most Huddersfield fans don't care about the result yesterday, just like we didn't care when we've put 60+, 50+ and 40+ on Leigh.

Enjoy your success this season and remember that you won't always be up in that leopard print ivory tower  

 

 

To be honest, putting statements like putting x amount of points on aside, at the point that the lights went out on Friday, I felt fairly confident that Leigh would see out the win. Which for someone as pessimistic as me, is quite the statement. On Sunday, I felt that a resumption rather than a replay represented Huddersfield's best chance of winning the game, rather than replaying the full 80. If Leigh were to find themselves in the same position this coming weekend away to Saints, I'd probably prefer a resumption to a replay.

Once the teams were going to take to the field again over the weekend, completing the game seemed to me like the least bad option to be honest. 

[phiggins]

11 minutes ago, meast said:

Enjoy your success this season and remember that you won't always be up in that leopard print ivory tower  

 

 

Intent to enjoy as much as I can between now and the inevitable meltdown at some point in the future!

[meast]

4 minutes ago, phiggins said:

To be honest, putting statements like putting x amount of points on aside, at the point that the lights went out on Friday, I felt fairly confident that Leigh would see out the win. Which for someone as pessimistic as me, is quite the statement. On Sunday, I felt that a resumption rather than a replay represented Huddersfield's best chance of winning the game, rather than replaying the full 80. If Leigh were to find themselves in the same position this coming weekend away to Saints, I'd probably prefer a resumption to a replay.

Once the teams were going to take to the field again over the weekend, completing the game seemed to me like the least bad option to be honest. 

I didn't think Huddersfield would win the game either Friday or Sunday, our season was barely alive, even by beating Leeds and I don't think many particular had us down for a win this weekend, so it's not a disappointment, if it gives such glee to certain Leigh fans that they've beaten a Huddersfield side that, on their own admission punched above our weight last season and have been fairly mundane this season then fair enough.

My main issue with the 31 minutes is that it was a different game, not a resumption, it was a fresh start with fresh bodies, fresh minds, fresh mindsets, different approaches to the game, differing conditioning etc, all the things a modern, professional athlete doesn't train or prepare for, even the travelling, as much as it might not be a long way, the players wouldn't have prepared to travel to Leigh and back twice in 2 days and be game ready twice, likewise, Leigh players wouldn't have prepared to come to their home ground game ready twice in 2 days.

But the RFL decided that was how it was going to be as they know best right?

Who cares if it inconveniences Huddersfield, or Leigh for that matter, they know it's the best outcome ( more simply that they don't care because its' out of the way and done with).

[meast]

11 minutes ago, phiggins said:

Intent to enjoy as much as I can between now and the inevitable meltdown at some point in the future!

And so you should, you've deserved it, but bragging about how many points you would have put on Huddersfield shouldn't be a part of that.

[Dave T]

16 hours ago, meast said:

Because he was helping organise and run a family cricket fun day which he had planned since end of May, months before this farce reared its head, grow up and enjoy your own team's successful season?

It's a farce because the resume a game with 31 minutes remaining is farcical.

The fact that both teams "resumed" the game with players who had almost 2 days rest is farcical.

The fact that within seconds of the game resuming, 2 days later, Leigh brought on 2 of their most influential players who had had the aforementioned 2 days rest.

It's a farce because Huddersfield didn't want to play the 31 minutes but were made to by the governing body who had no idea what to do.

Congratulations on the farcical win

 

 

Just because one doesn't like something, does not make it a farce. It seems a perfectly reasonable resolution to the problem tbh. Despite people liking to portray this as an 'only in RL' thing, it should be pointed out that this is also how Spanish football, for example, does things. 

I don't really understand the point about Leigh bringing players on straight away. Were Hudds prevented from using tactics in thie 2nd part of the game?

[daz39]

5 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

It was an exciting 32 mins, good football played by both teams but the Giants did lose some composure and were pinged by the ref for a few head tackles but they had to play a game that was seemingly foreign to them in being expansive.

One observation of the two refs on the field Mr L Moore and Mr J Conner, Mr Moore got the upper hand every time in their many discussions.

If you're going to try and be clever and have a dig at a player on a forum at least have the decency to spell his name correctly.

[daz39]

24 minutes ago, phiggins said:

To be honest, putting statements like putting x amount of points on aside, at the point that the lights went out on Friday, I felt fairly confident that Leigh would see out the win. Which for someone as pessimistic as me, is quite the statement. On Sunday, I felt that a resumption rather than a replay represented Huddersfield's best chance of winning the game, rather than replaying the full 80. If Leigh were to find themselves in the same position this coming weekend away to Saints, I'd probably prefer a resumption to a replay.

Once the teams were going to take to the field again over the weekend, completing the game seemed to me like the least bad option to be honest. 

See, on Friday i actually said at half time i can see us getting an early score and getting on top here, grinding teams down like we do very well, that was indeed happening with our early try, so at the point the lights went out i was fairly confident we'd win.

Leigh fans seem to forget there was only 4 points in the game when it was stopped, we had just scored and had made a good start in the 8 minutes that had been played in the 2nd, reading their comments they were unstoppable and cruising at the time,no one will ever know how Friday would've ended up so it's pointless any fan suggesting what the outcome may have been.

Talking to our club officials over the weekend though they weren't happy at all with the decision as we were already carrying players with knocks, the rest up and subsequent 32 minutes a day later have now made them serious doubts for our next game. Most of the staff on duty had to cancel family plans etc to be 'back on duty' for 32 minutes and apparently neither club will be reimbursed any costs either.

As for Yesterday i had no intention of going back to Leigh, my attention was firmly on trying to get our event to still run as planned despite a lack of 1st teamers which no doubt affected our attendance and fundraising, thankfully we pulled it out and rescued it and i didn't even see the full time result till 7.30 last night.

Problem is now this decision has set a precedent which i'm pretty sure has left the RFL open to it being abused, i can imagine a scenario now where home team is losing, has lost 2 players to HIA fails or minor injuries, another to a Sinbinning and is struggling to gain a foothold in the game  - BANG!!! oops the lights have failed and we can't get them working again, never mind we'll play it in a day or 2 when our players have rested a bit and are mentally ready again.

I would have been perfectly happy with a complete postponement and a point each rather than the disruption it's caused to my club, and to a smaller scale the home one.

Well done to Leigh for 'finishing us off', just a shame we didn't get a chance to see what would have happened on Friday.

BTW do we actually know what the fault was and if it was fixed?

[Dave T]

6 minutes ago, daz39 said:

 

Problem is now this decision has set a precedent which i'm pretty sure has left the RFL open to it being abused, i can imagine a scenario now where home team is losing, has lost 2 players to HIA fails or minor injuries, another to a Sinbinning and is struggling to gain a foothold in the game  - BANG!!! oops the lights have failed and we can't get them working again, never mind we'll play it in a day or 2 when our players have rested a bit and are mentally ready again.

 

Can you though? Can you really see that happening?

It won't. It's a nonsense point.

[daz39]

2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Can you though? Can you really see that happening?

It won't. It's a nonsense point.

Maybe not in all seriousness, it was more of an exagerated point but can the rfl now refuse this 'option' should it happen again?

[phiggins]

3 minutes ago, daz39 said:

See, on Friday i actually said at half time i can see us getting an early score and getting on top here, grinding teams down like we do very well, that was indeed happening with our early try, so at the point the lights went out i was fairly confident we'd win.

Leigh fans seem to forget there was only 4 points in the game when it was stopped, we had just scored and had made a good start in the 8 minutes that had been played in the 2nd, reading their comments they were unstoppable and cruising at the time,no one will ever know how Friday would've ended up so it's pointless any fan suggesting what the outcome may have been.

Talking to our club officials over the weekend though they weren't happy at all with the decision as we were already carrying players with knocks, the rest up and subsequent 32 minutes a day later have now made them serious doubts for our next game. Most of the staff on duty had to cancel family plans etc to be 'back on duty' for 32 minutes and apparently neither club will be reimbursed any costs either.

As for Yesterday i had no intention of going back to Leigh, my attention was firmly on trying to get our event to still run as planned despite a lack of 1st teamers which no doubt affected our attendance and fundraising, thankfully we pulled it out and rescued it and i didn't even see the full time result till 7.30 last night.

Problem is now this decision has set a precedent which i'm pretty sure has left the RFL open to it being abused, i can imagine a scenario now where home team is losing, has lost 2 players to HIA fails or minor injuries, another to a Sinbinning and is struggling to gain a foothold in the game  - BANG!!! oops the lights have failed and we can't get them working again, never mind we'll play it in a day or 2 when our players have rested a bit and are mentally ready again.

I would have been perfectly happy with a complete postponement and a point each rather than the disruption it's caused to my club, and to a smaller scale the home one.

Well done to Leigh for 'finishing us off', just a shame we didn't get a chance to see what would have happened on Friday.

BTW do we actually know what the fault was and if it was fixed?

It was a shame that the game was stopped on Friday, as it was an enjoyable game. Hudds came out, scored the try in the second half, then Leigh started to get some momentum themselves, leading to the penalty immediately before the lights went out. It's a scenario that I've seen Leigh in a number of times as the second half wore on, and seen the game out. I guess my confidence was from the improvement on performance in comparison to the previous two games. But as you say, nobody will ever know what would've happened.

As for the decision, given it seemed to be a choice of resume vs restart the game, and the fact both clubs would be playing Sunday being a given. That in mind, I struggle to see how a full replay is objectively a better option. Yes, team changes can be made (or I assume they would've waived the 48 hour squad announcement rule), but it's still an extra 80 minutes to add to the workload of the majority of players. On the precedent, I don't really buy that. The RFL will consider each case on it's merits and logistical issues at the time. Also, by that reckoning teams could just turn out the lights now. I doubt they'd want to though.

No idea on what the issue is, or if it is fixed. 

Finally, am glad to see that you rescued your fundraising event.