You need to learn the laws of the game and also you have no experience of playing the game what so ever.

I'll educate you.

Wigan are on their own line, playing the ball on the first. finch goes to play the ball, but hesitates and points at the Cas players telling the referee they are offside. He does it again and tells the referee they are offside. The referee awards a penalty for incorrect play of the ball.

The reason why Finch hesitates in playing the ball is so that the Cas defence will be offside, Wigan get a penalty and get off their line very easy. By not playing the ball when he is clearly stood upright, and has clearly started the act of playing the ball he can delay then play the ball and catch offside the Cas defence. some might say this is experience, or some might call it cheating. The rules of the game take this act as cheating, hence the penalty awarded to Cas.

Learn the game, know the rules, watch the game, understand it and maybe even play it before coming out with crap.

No need to educate me bud, I've forgot more about rugby than you know, the point you are describing is all very true apart from the fact that you suggest Finch delays the play of the ball twice.......absolute bull***t and you need to rewatch the incident before you climb onto your soapbox with your "mighty rugby league knowledge" Finch was trying to play the ball but was being interfered with by hands in at the ruck, then as he goes to play the ball he points out that the Cas players are all offside, something that happens all the time but was only penalised last night, the only thing finch was guilty of was not just playing the ball, if he had Cas would have been penalised for being offside and trying to "gain an advantage" (cheat)

Try again

You say we made a lot of illegal tackles but took offence when Wigan's tackling technique was brought under scrutiny. Now even though many referees have come in for some flack of late, would it not be wise to place that responsibility on his shoulders here and give benefit of the doubt to his impartiality?

Cas fans are saying there are issues with Wigan's technique relating to the standing leg being attacked - fair comment if it was happening, as that's been outlawed. Personally I saw it happen a couple of times, but not as consistently as some are making out, although I wasn't looking for it.

You're saying we went high and it went unpunished. Again I saw a few of these and they were generally punished. Where they weren't, a quick glance at the screen would normally show a replay with a contact point on the chest or shoulder. Indeed I felt that we too were subjected to one or two high shots that also went unpunished.

Generally speaking, the game flowed really well and it was obvious that whilst both sides wanted to get into eachother in defence, they also wanted to play expansive rugby - impressive given the conditions.



We played very well considering we started with 11 first team players missing and by the 7th minute were down by one more. It's tough on the lads to say they didn't play well enough, in my opinion they did and couldn't have given any more. What cost us mostly was inexperience, which was always going to be an issue in such a close game as I predicted at half time.

By well enough, I meant that we were there for the taking and as well as the youngsters played they didn't or couldn't maintain it for the 80mins. whether that was us improving or you going off the boil a bit, its hard to say.


My only issue with the flak we are getting for the tackling technique is that it just seems to be a wigan thing, people arent saying that this type of technique is creeping into the game in general they are saying that it is a wigan thing, if it was as consistent as some are suggesting then we would be getting penalised off the park, which we are not. I always feel the coaches are the ones worth listening to not fans who are upset at a loss. Its no coincidence that we have had the likes of potter, Kear and co bleating about our technique from teams that we have beaten convincingly but yet you don't hear the same moaning from the likes of Smith, Brown from teams that are at the sharp end. It doesnt help that players are using the likes of twitter and fb to vent their frustration. a couple of weeks ago we had Briers moaning about 3 man tackles yet the same day in their game against saints, I counted Briers come in about 7 or 8 times as 3rd man and attack the legs!!

I thought that there was a lot of good hard tackling last night but I thought that a lot of tackles from you were borderline at best, I don't doubt that some of ours where as well but my take on it is that you lot gave more penalties than us away for high shots and had players spoken to about it. Thats my opinion and I don't necessarily expect you to agree

Thanks for your input could the same not be said about me??

The game was a very scrappy one and both teams had problems with weather, injuries etc but the biggest problem for both sides was the effing reffing.

We won last night but i thought Cas had a game to be proud of and i think your lads sent a serious message out to anyone who dares to write you off or think they can take you for granted and shove big numbers past you.
It was good viewing and some good rugby... credit where its due.

And Cas were just making 5 second tackles?

Dont think Widders saw onside all game but like alot of topics and posts on this forum only seen in an anti wigan way!!
So far only Wigan have 3 men in the tackle, only Wigan have the 3rd man in attacking the legs, only Wigan do high tackles, only Wigan slow the play the ball down, only Wigan try to win penalties whilst in possession, only Wigan do forward passes, only Wigan have dummy runners that obstruct!

Jesus, some Wigan fans have rose tinted glasses on and get slated for it but there are far more anti Wigan specs in circulation!

As I said I think inexperience was our undoing - it lead to a lack of composure for a ten minute spell in the second half in which conceded a few penalties and ended up under pressure and you scored.

The tackling technique debate does seem to focus, perhaps unfairly, on Wigan and Huddersfield. A few coaches and players have spoken out against it as you say and the media have picked up on this, which ultimately means the fans will too. Matterson's post-match comments suggest he's aggrieved with the timing of the fixture and that he's happy with the effort of the team but that's it. I suspect had he been unhappy about tackling techniques he would have mentioned it. Perhaps he's of the same mentality with regards to technique. There are, of course, no problems with testing the boundaries to see what's permissable and coaches are always looking for ways of having that edge in defence and attack. Someone in the "Dangerous Tackle" thread commented that the attacking the legs seems to have all but faded and the third man is now generally going for the ankles - obviously the next debate is bound to be whether that's safe or not.

'Borderline at best' with regards to our tackling technique takes me back to what I mentioned above with regards to coaches pushing the boundaries. One thing we did very well in the first half last night was stop Wigan's offloads - to do that you have to meet the attacker high up. I think had there been a problem we'd have conceded a lot more penalties, but clearly both teams were within the rules. Perhaps the lesson on both sides here is if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

As a Wire speccy it is obvious what result I wanted - Cas were excellent and only two incorrect video ref decisions cost you at least a draw. You should be proud of your lads not many will go to the piedome and take it to them as well as that again this year.

Nail on head!! Every team does it only one gets highlighted by other fans and by bill and ben on sky!

Ferres shouldn't have got the ball anyway, it should have been a penalty to Wigan.
Only five Cas players packed down into the scrum seconds before, alas justice prevailed.