I suppose one positive was the limited number of penalties.

The Petomaine reference was the stinking, the mediocrity reference was entirely to M. Alibert.

Everyone knows farts are funny.

Were they all onside at the play the ball?

I only ask as that could make a difference.

Yeah, all behind at the PTB. I cant remeber who kicked it but he was behind the rest of his team, they just couldnt get over how it wasnt a penalty when they guys who tackled Webb were in front of the kicker, even though they were nearly 3 times the required distance from Webb to make them "offside". Cant see them being new to RL because they people at the back have usually been there years... not litterally obviously

No problem then.

Perhaps some of those on here giving Thierry a hard time were amongst them.

Alibert has arguably improved more than any other within the current batch (albeit from a lower baseline) and his being awarded (and his handling) of the WCC was testament to that. It was far superior to that of Richard 'I must do everything I can to impress the Australians to get an invite this season' Silverwood's handling of the corresponding fixture in 2010.

As with all refs there can still be a problem of consistency in performance from week to week but generally the game has never had it so good in terms of the quality of it's officials (as should be the case with full-time employees) and the game has probably never been easier to officiate, which also helps.

Halibut had a good WCC and he was more than competant at the Catalans v Saints game the previous weekend - he's not perfect but there are worse in SL at the moment.