Sat 24th Feb: WCC: Wigan Warriors v Penrith Panthers KO 8pm (Sky/BBC/SuperLeague+)

[StandOffHalf]

27 minutes ago, JohnM said:

"they marred the occasion for a lot of people"

well, one, anyway.

"I would have loved to beat them"

That's not quite how it looks.

I turned it off on the final whistle and went away feeling downcast, having been hugely up for the game.

Harry's words here chime with how I felt about the affect the decisions had on the outcome.

[Dunbar]

2 minutes ago, dkw said:

Literally "But they were different"  unbelievable.

You only have to Google 'john asiata tackle technique' (in fact you don't even need to type the tackle technique part as Google recommends that search!) to see page after page discussing the tackles - some in defence, some saying they were dangerous and should have been punished.

But no, they were in no way contntious. 

[StandOffHalf]

2 hours ago, MZH said:

I would have disallowed it for a double movement, because there's no doubt he was short initially and then there was a lot of wrestling and then it got to the line. But even that isn't an easy call to make, because there's nothing to say that Wardle promoted the ball. The Penrith players were pulling on the ball and wrestling and Wardle is doing the same. So is that double movement?

It is. He lifted the right arm to illegally promote the ball.

[StandOffHalf]

1 hour ago, Dunbar said:

I don't understand why we had the NRL interpretation for the ball steal rather than the international interpretation.

When and how was this confirmed?

I don't like the NRL rule on drop-offs for strips, but that is what was agreed pre-game, and announced.

Moore simply forgot in the heat of the moment. The shock and surprise in the Penrith ranks was telling; they had obviously kept that up their sleeve, only to be confounded by the ref forgetting the laws this game was being contested under.

Very regrettable, but I agree that the Wardle double movement 4-pointer is the decision that really stands out.

Referee appointments for World Club Challenge announced as NRL rule included – Total Rugby League (totalrl.com)

Super League head contact rules to be relaxed in World Club Challenge (loverugbyleague.com)

[StandOffHalf]

52 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

It would have been a truly fantastic night had there been no contentious decisions to contend with, they marred the occasion for a lot of people, I would have loved to beat them fair and square but that simply was not the case no matter how it is looked at.

100 per cent, Harry.

[Dunbar]

11 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

I turned it off on the final whistle and went away feeling downcast, having been hugely up for the game.

Harry's words here chime with how I felt about the affect the decisions had on the outcome.

Refereeing decisions have impacted games for the history of sport and will continue to do so as long as sport is played.

Penrith have been on the right side of contentious calls and Wigan have been on the wrong side.

These things are frustrating at the time but they don’t invalidate the result.

There were thousands of individual plays in the game – including the French try being rules off for being slightly off-side and the Wardle ass after a break going into touch.  Both of which would have increased the Wigan lead.  And Penrith had many opportunities to attack the Wigan line, some ending in mistakes by players, some by Wigan defence.

What I am saying is the 38 people involved in that match (not including coaching teams) all made decisions and took actions to effect the outcome.  The cumulative result was what mattered.

And I would have felt this way if Penrith had won and I felt that way the day the Ryan Hall try was not given against Australia.  Players and ref’s are human, let them be human.

[Dunbar]

4 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

I don't like the NRL rule on drop-offs for strips, but that is what was agreed pre-game, and announced.

Moore simply forgot in the heat of the moment. The shock and surprise in the Penrith ranks was telling; they had obviously kept that up their sleeve, only to be confounded by the ref forgetting the laws this game was being contested under.

Very regrettable, but I agree that the Wardle double movement 4-pointer is the decision that really stands out.

Referee appointments for World Club Challenge announced as NRL rule included – Total Rugby League (totalrl.com)

Super League head contact rules to be relaxed in World Club Challenge (loverugbyleague.com)

I'm glad he forgot because making up a variation of the laws for a single game is just plain daft.

 

[StandOffHalf]

3 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Refereeing decisions have impacted games for the history of sport and will continue to do so as long as sport is played.

Penrith have been on the right side of contentious calls and Wigan have been on the wrong side.

These things are frustrating at the time but they don’t invalidate the result.

There were thousands of individual plays in the game – including the French try being rules off for being slightly off-side and the Wardle ass after a break going into touch.  Both of which would have increased the Wigan lead.  And Penrith had many opportunities to attack the Wigan line, some ending in mistakes by players, some by Wigan defence.

What I am saying is the 38 people involved in that match (not including coaching teams) all made decisions and took actions to effect the outcome.  The cumulative result was what mattered.

And I would have felt this way if Penrith had won and I felt that way the day the Ryan Hall try was not given against Australia.  Players and ref’s are human, let them be human.

Yes, this was one of the few occasions since 2014 in Melbourne where I felt that sort of sadness and frustration.

[StandOffHalf]

2 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I'm glad he forgot because making up a variation of the laws for a single game is just plain daft.

 

Not great for players to go in with that option and for the ref to forget though.

[Dunbar]

5 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

Not great for players to go in with that option and for the ref to forget though.

I know.  If that was agreed, then yes, the ref should have allowed play on.

But the wider point is how many of those 24,000 in the ground or hundreds of thousands watching knew that an exception had been made for just one game.

If we are going to have different laws for different countries/competitions (which is crazy in itself), the least we can do is actually have a set of international laws that we play to rather than just decide match by match how to play.

Edited February 27 by Dunbar

[StandOffHalf]

2 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I know.  If that was agreed, then yes, the ref should have allowed play on.

But the wider point is how many of those 24,000 in the ground or hundreds of thousands watching knew that an exception had been made for just one game.

If we are going to have different laws for different countries/competitions (which is crazy in itself), the least we can do is actually have a set of international laws that we play to rather than just decide match by match how to play.

I agree. This game should not have had custom rules, and Moore unfortunately was caught out.

[Dunbar]

12 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

Yes, this was one of the few occasions since 2014 in Melbourne where I felt that sort of sadness and frustration.

It's just a part of sport.  Nothing to get sad or frustrated about.

Look at the England football team - probably two of the most famous incidents in the history of the national team are the Jeff Hurst goal/no goal in '66 and Maradona 'Hand of God' in '86.

Without those two (one for England, one against) a whole host of history would have been lost.

[Damien]

22 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

100 per cent, Harry.

It really isn't. The only people I see moaning are bitter Ozzies and bitter fans of other SL clubs. These people would have moaned regardless.

[The British Lion]

Well done Wigan on the win. Ive seen both Wigan, and Australia vGB/Eng at international level get the rub of the green where game changing decisions mattered,on many occassions. If thats the case here for Wigan v Penrith, so be it.

[StandOffHalf]

7 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

It's just a part of sport.  Nothing to get sad or frustrated about.

Look at the England football team - probably two of the most famous incidents in the history of the national team are the Jeff Hurst goal/no goal in '66 and Maradona 'Hand of God' in '86.

Without those two (one for England, one against) a whole host of history would have been lost.

At a remove, these errors/controversies do provide these moments of history.

I'm not a really a soccer fan, so am not particularly invested in errors in that sport. 

[StandOffHalf]

11 minutes ago, Damien said:

It really isn't. The only people I see moaning are bitter Ozzies and bitter fans of other SL clubs. These people would have moaned regardless.

Some would have. There has been a wider reaction across a cross-section of fans though. For what it's worth, I was an impartial observer just hoping for a cracking contest.

[FearTheVee]

7 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

Some would have. There has been a wider reaction across a cross-section of fans though. For what it's worth, I was an impartial observer just hoping for a cracking contest.

And you didn't get a cracking contest? Tough crowd.

Edited February 27 by FearTheVee

[Damien]

4 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

Some would have. There has been a wider reaction across a cross-section of fans though. For what it's worth, I was an impartial observer just hoping for a cracking contest.

Has there really? I haven't seen any neutral fans say it marred the occasion, decisions like that are part and parcel of every game. Saturday was no different in that regard. Scratch beneath the surface and the moaners are always bitter Aussies (who supposedly aren't bothered about this game) and bitter fans of other SL clubs who hate Wigan. Many non-Penrith Aussie fans seem to have revelled in Penrith not actually getting the 50/50 calls which they frequently do (in their eyes) and have a sense of schadenfreude.

And you had a cracking contest so got what you was hoping for.

[WN83]

12 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

Some would have. There has been a wider reaction across a cross-section of fans though. For what it's worth, I was an impartial observer just hoping for a cracking contest.

Awful game

[StandOffHalf]

12 minutes ago, Damien said:

Has there really? I haven't seen any neutral fans say it marred the occasion, decisions like that are part and parcel of every game. Saturday was no different in that regard. Scratch beneath the surface and the moaners are always bitter Aussies (who supposedly aren't bothered about this game) and bitter fans of other SL clubs who hate Wigan. Many non-Penrith Aussie fans seem to have revelled in Penrith not actually getting the 50/50 calls which they frequently do (in their eyes) and have a sense of schadenfreude.

And you had a cracking contest so got what you was hoping for.

There's been a very noticeable reaction from fans across the game, from what I have seen.

It was a very good occasion and contest, although the winning try did irrevocably spoil it for me.

[FearTheVee]

8 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

There's been a very noticeable reaction from fans across the game, from what I have seen.

It was a very good occasion and contest, although the winning try did irrevocably spoil it for me.

The “winning try” was scored on 55 minutes. Still plenty of time for Penrith to win the game but they weren’t good enough to and appeared to be trialling a new strategy of getting caught on the last and/or doing nothing with the ball.

[Damien]

5 minutes ago, FearTheVee said:

The “winning try” was scored on 55 minutes. Still plenty of time for Penrith to win the game but they weren’t good enough to and appeared to be trialling a new strategy of getting caught on the last and/or doing nothing with the ball.

Exactly.

Wigan's scrambling defence was fantastic and while undoubtedly they were clinging on at times Penrith could ultimately only score 2 tries. Even at that one of those was courtesy of a lucky bounce straight into the arms of a Penrith player from a kick that Miski could not collect, which is hardly a result of Penrith creating anything in attack. The other was courtesy of a rapidly tiring Wigan defence close to half time.

[Dunbar]

Penrith didn't score a point in the second half.

That's what cost them the game... not being able to win it.

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

It really isn't. The only people I see moaning are bitter Ozzies and bitter fans of other SL clubs. These people would have moaned regardless.

I was about to protest and then I remember that London are actually in Super League this year.

I didn’t think the reffing was great but have mellowed since the evening. Not sure how anyone can say with a straight face that it wasn’t an incredible occasion and a memorable, compelling contest.

[Harry Stottle]

1 hour ago, Dunbar said:

There were thousands of individual plays in the game – including the French try being rules off for being slightly off-side

And also the pass from Keighran to Miski was slightly forward in the build up to the first try !, but slightly forward is still forward, you surprise me being a devotee of match stats that you use that terminology.