The referee is the sole arbitrator of when the game finishes. The hooter sounding is only an indication that, in the opinon of the time-keepers, the full amount of time has been played.

I always understood the correct ruling is that the referree ends the game at the next stoppage in play, which is usually the next completed tackle. If the hooter sounds at a dead ball situation such as a drop out, tap restart (but not following a penalty) or set scrum he ends the game immediately.

Which Bentham did on Saturday.

I watched the Huddersfield - Castleford game and on at least one occasion the clock on the screen did not stop when the referee called time off in the second half but the hooter still sounded when it reached 80.00. Make of that what you will.

All part of the Zionist media conspiracy to deny Cas their rightful place?

Not 100% accurate. The referees dont keep track of the time and rely on the time keepers to do thier job. If the hooter goes then the referee can only assume that the clock had expired before he called time off. Regardless of the time lapse in between.

Can you imagine if Warrington had have scored a drop goal and it came out that the time was up but play was allowed to go on?

Karma maybe but still not right.

But that's what I was getting at. Whilst the time-keeper can signal that time is up, the game only stops when the referee blows his whistle, i.e. the time-keeper is only an aide to the referee. It's the ref who decides if/when the game has finished, not anybody else.

Eh? There were 7 seconds left when he put his hand up to signal for the clock to stop. It is not supposed to restart until he signals again, which is when the ball is back in play.

The scrum hadn't even got to set again, and the ref had not signalled to restart before the hooter went.

It was a cock up, and a ref should have the right to question the hooters timing when that happens.

same thing happened at headingley in a playoff game (loss to wire?) and i was pretty disgusted
i know the rule but im not happy with it

as i've already posted a few times...
is the BBC on screen clock the official time? or it is done by a 3rd party, who has no control over the game?

now ask yourself, what does the bbc clock mean?......nothing, it could we have said 5 minutes left, doesn't mean its true.

therefore the only cock up is by the bbc

Not its not the only cock up. Because Bentham quite clearly calls time off, then a few seconds after his signal to call time off, the hooter sounds.
The only possible reason for that is that 80 mins had expired before Bentham raised his hands and blew his whistle. If thats true then what were the timekeepers p!ssing about at to be 5-10 seconds off. Its their one and only job after all and I cant recall another game where the hooter has sounded that late after 80 mins is shown on the clock on TV.

benthem called time off well before the hooter went. i'm not sure what the ruling is about this.
is the hooter final?
can the ref query it?

The rule book doesnt appear to say if the ref can overrule the timekeepers. It mentions timekeepers but doesnt say who has priority.
SECTION 7
TIMEKEEPING

[iNotes
3 Using Timekeeper[/i
[iA timekeeper may be employed to signal half time and full time, in which case the referee on receiving the timekeeper's signal, terminates the half in the manner described above.

A timekeeper may also assist the Referee in determining the end of a player's temporary suspension.[/i

To be fair to Bentham, (who I generally think is an appalling ref) if he hears the hooter after he has called time off he has to assume that the hooter has been sounding since before he called time off and he hadnt heard it.

IMO the timekeepers fecked up.
Either time expired before Bentham called time off, and for some reason they took a good 10 seconds to sound the hooter.

Or the timekeepers didnt see Bentham call time off or ignored him and allowed time to continue. Which is in direct contravention to the rules.

SECTION 7
TIMEKEEPING (Continued)
4. Extra time
Extra time shall be added to each half to compensate for time wasted or lost from any cause. The Referee shall be the sole judge of extra time except where these duties have been delegated to a timekeeper.

[iNotes
4. Signal extra time[/i
[iIf a timekeeper is employed, the referee shall signal that extra time is being allowed by raising both arms whereupon the timekeeper stops his watch and starts it again when the Referee waves one arm above his head to signal play is about to recommence.[/i

was an air horn used, or was a pre recorded sound played through the speakers?

did the first air horn fail? 5 seconds to connect another is fairly quick.
did the sound guys have the speakers turn on? did they have the button live? did everything work ok? did something need plugging in for it worked?, again 5 seconds isn't long to fix one of the above

aka
with out having access to the official timekeepers clock, and knowing when it was stop/what time was on the clock when the ref stick his hand up, or what happened inbetween the refs signal and the horn sounding. its impossible to call, yet according to most here the ref and/or timekeepers have cocked up.

despite the fact that one of the timekeepers will have been from warrington, so very much doubt he'll have let the other do the horn early.

The fact is the hooter did not sound at the correct time, so there must have been a cock-up somewhere along the line. Whether its the equipment or the timekeepers being wrong it was a mistake by someone or something. It would be nice if an explanation would be provided by Mr Cummins though.

Francis says Relax.