Watts was also 20 meters offside when the ball was played. Cobb had a way out of his big foul play decision, he could have just binned him for a professional foul. My view is he forgot about that altogether whilst worrying about and bottling the bigger call.

Ablett nails it if you listen to the audio. "Direct contact to the head". How many times do referees trot that one out in fake conversations with touch judges, aka video referees? They all forgot about it in this incident.

I'm with tvoc on Watkins. Its ridiculous to have a class outside back defending where he does. Its like using a Ferarri to plough a field. If anything I think most teams would do the opposite and try to minimise his defence so he is fresh with the ball.

Yep Watts being offside was a very poor miss from the officials. A sin binning if ever there was one.

As for the tackle, I can see the argument for a red card and to be fair to Stuart Cummings he was arguing for it to be red on Sky, though I'd have been more tempted to sin bin Watts. It deserved more than just a penalty though and the fact it was only a penalty, having halted our momentum/try scoring opportunity, was a big moment in the game.

Bang on.

That's exactly how I saw it. Burrow had done him and he threw the arm out to stop him any way he could. Burrow at full tilt heading for under the posts, stopped like that must be a card and I thought it was a pretty obvious red. I've seen plenty of reflex style grabs where the player genuinely hasn't time to think and sticks an arm out, but that was not one of them. Cobb bottled a fairly straightforward decision.

Yes, agree pretty much. Had it not been such an obvious scoring opportunity then I'd have said yellow. Then again, had it not been then I don't think Watts would have pulled the same trick.

As for Cobb, I'll cut him a little slack in that he's relatively inexperienced. His refereeing will come on no end if he admits to himself that he was overcautious and doesn't make the same mistake again.

Was Watts grab any worse than the high shot made by Ablett earlier that only resulted in a penalty?
I'm not sure & could see both being cited & leading to further punishment this week.

On the Ablett one I think you can hear the ref comment that the player was falling and to be careful with his tackles in future. Be surprised if it isn't looked at by the MRP, but I'd say it was penalty sufficient.

I agree. I know some might say at this level he can't make that mistake but refs aren't robots who'll get everything correct especially when you're still new to this level and knowing the sky cameras are there probably does add a pressure you need to get experienced to. I've seen much more experienced refs not show cards for much worst in the past.

Did Houghton bust Lilley's nose trying to stop him scoring his try?
Should that also merit a further look by the disciplinary people?
The end result is no different to both the Watt's & Ablett offence.

Wasn't particularly clear from the replays where Lilley copped that knock to his nose. Certainly nobody near his face as he dives over, so whether there's been a collision somewhere as he regathers the ball I can't tell. No obvious foul play though.

What should've merited a further look at the time was the knees in back of Keinhorst as he went over for his try. No different to the one on Ratchford by Farrell in my opinion, which resulted in an 8 point try.

Both got no charge...

at what age will burrow lose his faculties

Slow clap to the match review panel.

Open slather lads. Cock your arms back, take aim and fire.