Round 4 Officials, Team News, Scores

No 7 wrote: I thought the referee was very poor in commuicating his decisions for both teams. There were incidents for both teams where the players were visually aghast ( both teams ). Gerg you hhave no need to retract your opinion under the barage of outcry with believing that the ref had a ' bad game' The acussation of triumphalism is un founded. There was not a player or supporter who enjoyed the game in truth. Bedford are in a bad place with injuries. Yesterday did not help with several players coming off with severe what appeared serious injuries.No player or supporter I spoke to post match were gloating or triumphant. Bedford will come back stronger than ever in my opinion

Well said No7  Yesterday was always going to be tough, we knew that for various reasons that have been well covered in this debate. One or two more worthy of mention and will stick in the memory for quite some time are: firstly, being flanked in the gents just prior to kick off by Will Carrick-Smith 6 feet 10 and Sam Dickinson 6 feet 6, (no other comparisons available) but how amazing at such a ground players have to share such facilities with supporters. 

oneagainstthehead wrote: Bluesman11 wrote: Just to be clear, are you insinuating you genuinely believe a qualified referee was playing advantage to Ealing, waited until they had broken through to score a try and then decided to bring back play for the original penalty for no reason whatsoever? Why would he do this? What logical reason would there be for doing it? You absolutely may disagree with the ref if he has seen an infringement in the build up that you don’t agree with, but to suggest he’s just brought play back for no reason when Ealing were away to score is just absurd. I dread to think what the comments about the ref will be like if Ealing slip up again this season! It helps no-one to have these slanging matches in the wake of a thumping win and an all round scintillating performance from Ealing. The officiating was not perfect today, when is it? Sir did not help himself by being almost totally devoid of recognisable signals. I like to think I of myself as a two-eyed Ealing supporter but also a qualified referee (admittedly lapsed) who had a great view from the grandstand. This is my take on the incidents referred to: 1) Ealing ‘advantage’ called back for clear offside/crossing by Ealing; 2) Ealing destroy Bedford put in at scrum, referee indicates Ealing penalty advantage for front row standing up, Ealing scrum half picks up ball from wheeled scrum before it leaves Bedford second row feet, breaks blind and sets up score under posts. Penalty offence by Ealing scrum half picked up by assistant ref and play called back for first offence, penalty Ealing. 3) Kicking ball away - it was only a scrum to Ealing, no big deal, dealt with by advice. 4) Bedford player spikes ball after penalty conceded and verbally voiced his view of decision. Marched back not 10m but a full 20m. 5) Ealing player charges conversion early, sent back by referee, only retires half way back before turning to face kicker again. Missed conversion retaken. We all jealousy guard our right to criticise officials but they are always: a) closer to the action than us, and b) sometimes right.

Okay, I shamefacedly retract my earlier comments in the face of this logical onslaught. If any of this had been remotely signalled during the match, it would have helped immensely.

For me the Ealing vs Bedford game was evidence enough that the Championship Cup should be put out of its misery. There is no way that a great club like Bedford should concede 80 points, irrespective of their injury situation.

In truth it appeared to be a game who's result had little meaning and was reflected by another lacklustre gate. The sooner the Prem and Champ combine their cups as a structured preseason competition the better.

islander wrote: Brizzer wrote: What was the final score in Jersey?... just so that I can relay the full facts to the fine folk of Doncaster in the Mercury tonight 😁   to answer your Q Brizzer it was 27-17, which importantly meant 5-0 on points and the Reds now 12-10 ahead of the Knights in the pool standings with 2 to play. There wasn't much in it, but Reds had the edge in the forwards I'd say and took their chances, a super score by the teenage loanee from Gloucester the pick of them...

Fully agree with this. 5-0 was the perfect result for Jersey but in truth 4-1 probably reflected the game. Jersey got the bounce of the ball today particularly on the bonus point try but I have seen them lose close matches often enough to smile and take the result. On another day Jersey could easily have won the away match at Castle Park so perhaps it was their turn. Both teams should make the last eight and I hope one of them beat Falcons in the finals (hopefully the wearing a red strip). No complaints from me about the referee who was always up with play and imo controlled the game well.

Bluesman11 wrote: Just to be clear, are you insinuating you genuinely believe a qualified referee was playing advantage to Ealing, waited until they had broken through to score a try and then decided to bring back play for the original penalty for no reason whatsoever? Why would he do this? What logical reason would there be for doing it? You absolutely may disagree with the ref if he has seen an infringement in the build up that you don’t agree with, but to suggest he’s just brought play back for no reason when Ealing were away to score is just absurd. I dread to think what the comments about the ref will be like if Ealing slip up again this season!

It helps no-one to have these slanging matches in the wake of a thumping win and an all round scintillating performance from Ealing. The officiating was not perfect today, when is it? Sir did not help himself by being almost totally devoid of recognisable signals.

I like to think I of myself as a two-eyed Ealing supporter but also a qualified referee (admittedly lapsed) who had a great view from the grandstand. This is my take on the incidents referred to:

1) Ealing ‘advantage’ called back for clear offside/crossing by Ealing;
2) Ealing destroy Bedford put in at scrum, referee indicates Ealing penalty advantage for front row standing up, Ealing scrum half picks up ball from wheeled scrum before it leaves Bedford second row feet, breaks blind and sets up score under posts. Penalty offence by Ealing scrum half picked up by assistant ref and play called back for first offence, penalty Ealing.
3) Kicking ball away - it was only a scrum to Ealing, no big deal, dealt with by advice.
4) Bedford player spikes ball after penalty conceded and verbally voiced his view of decision. Marched back not 10m but a full 20m.
5) Ealing player charges conversion early, sent back by referee, only retires half way back before turning to face kicker again. Missed conversion retaken.

We all jealousy guard our right to criticise officials but they are always:

a) closer to the action than us, and

b) sometimes right.

Edited by oneagainstthehead - 30 Nov 2019 at 19:38

KnightsBoy wrote: islander wrote: Brizzer wrote: What was the final score in Jersey?... just so that I can relay the full facts to the fine folk of Doncaster in the Mercury tonight 😁   to answer your Q Brizzer it was 27-17, which importantly meant 5-0 on points and the Reds now 12-10 ahead of the Knights in the pool standings with 2 to play. There wasn't much in it, but Reds had the edge in the forwards I'd say and took their chances, a super score by the teenage loanee from Gloucester the pick of them...  Doesn't count for anything bbut I thought the score was 27-19

 

Just to be clear, are you insinuating you genuinely believe a qualified referee was playing advantage to Ealing, waited until they had broken through to score a try and then decided to bring back play for the original penalty for no reason whatsoever? Why would he do this? What logical reason would there be for doing it? You absolutely may disagree with the ref if he has seen an infringement in the build up that you don’t agree with, but to suggest he’s just brought play back for no reason when Ealing were away to score is just absurd. I dread to think what the comments about the ref will be like if Ealing slip up again this season!

Looks like I enjoyed the game more than you gerg.

At least one of the tries was brought back because Ealing committed an offence (one I think was crossing) subsequently to the advantage being given but before the try was scored; therefore back for original advantage. I’m afraid you’re not always more knowledgeable than the man in the middle. Very strange comments to make in the wake of a thumping win! I think there was actually one time where he blew for a pen and then Ealing scored just after the pen was awarded, but he let the try stand anyway. Perhaps I missed a quick tap being taken but the game was long gone at this point anyway .

And if you’re going to have a dig at Bedford being thankful as only Yorkshire are keeping us from relegation, well Ealing should be thankful to Mike Gooley as he is the only thing keeping them from relegation. Ealing have a fantastic team and played some absolutely scintillating rugby today, but still only a few hundred people were rattling around in a ground devoid of any atmosphere. Bedford would kill to have a team that couple produce rugby like that! It’s only going to get harder to attract people when London Irish move down the road next year too.

Edited by Bluesman11 - 30 Nov 2019 at 18:15

Dan Gleebles wrote: Or you could just be wrong.

Ah, so the Bedford fans are just as sour as your players, who booted the ball off the field petulantly, and spiked the ball off the field in a fit of pique neither of which even resulted in the Blues being marched back ten. I guess I will also mention the episode where the Ealing 14 followed the ref's instructions on a conversion challenge, then was penalized for following the instructions. If you were there, then feel free to refute me by citing some examples, otherwise, please just accept that the officiating was poor.