Barba did exactly the same tackle a few weeks ago to prevent a try and yet everyone was raving about how good a tackle it was, Connor does exactly the same, in fact I'd say he has even less of his arm around the neck and he gets a slap by Thaler.

It's the inconsistancy of it all that pees everyone off.

I don't have many complaints with the refereeing really. I thought Masi's was harsh, slightly late, but not a shoulder charge and didn't look like any contact with the head either. Penalty sufficient. But it was needless at a time when we had just clawed our way back into the game, hopefully a lesson learned for Masi that there is a time and a place to throw your weight about and rough up the opposition, and that wasnt it.



Houghton's was a crusher. It was unfortunate and I'm not sure he could have avoided it with the players behind him, but those are yellow cards every time, you need to avoid getting in that position in the first place.



Washbrook's was deserved. There was very little in it, but again you just can't use your knees like that. When you got sin binned for exactly the same thing in the last cup game you would think a lesson might be learned, but no. He deserved it for stupidity.



A few other decisions I didn't really agree with but they were minor. The high tackle on Barba was soft and personally I wouldn't give penalties for tackles like that but you see them penalised every week. I also thought that chance we had really early when Carlos threw it on the floor was harsh. It was a pass (a scruffy pass, but still a pass) and it didn't go forward. We looked like we might score off it too.



ATEOTD we need to stop blaming the ref and address our discipline problem. Some of the cards we have had this year have not been deserved, but when you are getting them so often you have to take notice and do something about it.

6 yellow cards and a red card in this year's Challenge Cup run.



Surely that's a record?!

LMS didn't have a finger on Kelly, but no way were Hull going to be allowed to win yesterday, Saints won, wether they were the better side is debateable.



Proud of our team.

I thought thaler had a decent game overall and let the game flow. houghton was unlucky as his tackle was OK but connor coming in put the pressure on. The other 2 were just stupid, especially washbrook's who would have known better especially when we were already a man down and probably cost us the game ultimately.



All 3 were justifiably yellow cards

On the subject of referees I have a question. The Shaul tackle at Featherstone was classed as a miss timed tackle after several viewings by the video referee (Ben Thaler if I am correct) and warranted no action on the field. The Matongo tackle was classed as a late tackle (dubious call, my opinion only) yet receives an instant yellow from Ben Thaler. Am I missing something?

No, you've highlighted how inconsistent the officials are, they are the same for every team.

The difference between the 2 tackles (and this is massively open to interpretation and debate) is that Taulapapa (sp?) was a mistimed tackle, whereas Matongo was an off the ball hit. What I mean by that was that the first one was a committed tackle where he just got his timing wrong. Whereas Masi did have time to pull out and just decided to hit the man without he ball anyway. Neither were really worthy of a yellow card imo. They weren't high and they weren't shoulder charges.

No what it means is the VR system is now being used above and beyond its original use at a detriment to the game as referee's now are ducking the responsibility. The Shaul one Micky Mouse handed it over to the VR and made a total cock up of a decision. what it actually means is you can clean anybody out on the field off the ball as long as you're early but if you're a split second late its not classed as mistimed but late unless you are LMS.



On the cards yesterday I thought Houghtons was harsh but inevitable after Richardson played on it to get it reviewed, Washy was stupid and deserved it though it was a tap rather than anything so a stern word would have sufficed and Masi's card again I thought was harsh. Why did Makinson not get pulled up for a applying pressure on the neck of Carlos? Why did LMS not get at least a yellow for repeated rabbit punches to the head of Fash? Fash was penalised for his head in the tackle but you see that happen in just about every set in the game.



The game with the current state the officiating is in under Ganson will only deteriorate into a sport not worth watching die to the constant inconsistency and over use of the VR. As I have still yet to understand the logic that you can't use the video to rule out at try for a forward pass (due to the angles) but yet you can use it to see on/offside which has the same difficulty in a large proportion of reviews??



The only thing the officials are consistent with is the inconsistency not just game by game but half by half.

Mistimed??? That's the whole point Taulapapas was far far worse as he was intent on taking out Shaul ball or otherwise, and he wasnt just a little bit early was he? So by the logic the officials work to then taking a player out off the ball is ok as long you're early.

The RFL need to make a clear and unambiguous statement on just what the VR is there for.

[uGanson is, through his actions, rapidly turning the game into a lottery[/u

[iindeed, the only consistency, is inconsistency[/i

There is a simple answer, scrap the VR.