First of all, lets not go down the conspiracy route (Koucash paying Sky etc, etc)

The VR is supposed to be the back stop when the ref doesn't get a clear view.

The "no try" decision was an absolute shocker and there should be a public apology from the RFL for that.

The VR is becoming no more reliable than the ref and his touch judges used to be, before all the technology came in and that being the case, we should go back to the ref's decision.

Ok, he will still make some mistakes but, last night was embarrassing.

When I first saw the live try I thought it was a dropped ball, on the replay though it was hard to see any gap between hand and ball and there seemed then to be downward pressure by the torso.



In the remit of this game the decision is inconsequential however, if it had been the difference between winning and losing we would be up in arms.

The ref making a bad decision, although not good, is understandable. Its a split second decision that he gets one view and a word with assistant. There is absolutely no excuse for the VR to not give the correct decision.

The fact virtually no one has agreed with the decision to disallow the try on here speaks volumes.

Armchair match officials. Moan moan moan but do sod all about it, and show that maybe they could do better.



The opportunities are available.



FWIW match officials, players, coaches, fans, commentators ALL make mistakes. That just happens to be part of sport and life.

Looks like Koukash has made a couple of marquee signings in the video refs' booth.

Too late for this season but I like the system they use in the NRL. Make the ref call it and then it's on the video ref to prove him wrong.

Is that your solution to the embarrassment some of these idiots are causing to the game?

Quite apart from being too old, I'm able to live wth the odd mistake made by video refs. But I'd prefer them (and the big screens) to be scrapped as I find they add zilch to the entertainment. I accept that this would result in more refereeing errors but my primary motivation for watching the game is to be entertained, not to scrutinise the minutae of every other try that's scored/not scored.

What the hell? So because we don't want to be a referee we shouldn't be able to criticize their mistakes?



You are correct, everyone makes mistakes but given the public nature of their role here we have every right to criticize and seek clarification when mistakes happen.

Slightly disagree on that part. The video referee can add drama if it is used correctly. There are plenty of decisions that, on review, can go either way and the decision causes plenty of (justifiable) debate and drama. Similarly, the VR can highlight outstanding pieces of skill - I remember an Ali Lauitiiti try for Leeds against Wigan that, without the video replay, would never have seen an outstanding piece of agility be rewarded. I suspect similar with Kallum Watkins' try at Magic Weekend last season.



The problem is that there is just too much emphasis on the VR, and officials as a whole. Sky seem insistent on looking for controversy and focusing on officials so much that they are almost becoming celebrities and personalities themselves - at the expense of the the real "stars" of the show.



I don't like the focus on video replays, such as hearing them during the decision process, or seeing them tap at a touchscreen. I almost want to see them as a "Deal or No Deal banker" sort of persona.

Torso pressure is tbf in this case not relevant though. You can only score a try that way by dropping on a ball that is in play and already on the ground. In this case, had the ball come loose from the hand before it touched the ground, then that is a knock on, which subsequent torso pressure onto the ball could not negate. The only way to rectify a loose ball is to regather it before it touches the ground.



Although a few years back, we did have a thousand page thread following some incidents where a player had clearly lost control of the ball, in that usually it had clearly been lost from a one-handed grip, but tries were more than once given as contact with the ball may never have bee 100% lost; for example it might appear that at the point of contact with the ground, the player might well still have had one fingertip touching the ball. I always thought that was a bad way to interpret the law, if a player clearly loses any grip of the ball, but that was the position.



I mention it now as things must clearly have changed - the tryscorer (well, not tryscorer as it was ruled) absolutely definitely did have an unbroken contact with the ball and his left hand, until after it touched the ground. Any question I had was how much control he had of the ball (though to me there is no reason to say he didn't have enough).

I AM an active referee. It was a bizarre, inexplicable error. I can only think that someone actually pressed the wrong button by mistake.