Brink back Ashley Klien......

You all need to have a good nights rest, watch the game again!! And you will see that's how the game should be refed!! In the nrl thailer would be praised !! He just lets the teams get on with it where as ganson, smith and Bentham have their neb in when it's not needed!! When you get thailer the teams decide the result not the officials!! he's the best ref in sl by a mile!! But those of you who Want the ref to give you field position instead of a good kicking game will disagree

Completely agree - I don't think he influenced the overall outcome, but the game degenerated into farce at times because of his lack of control of both teams in the three areas stated.

Nice one eyed vision I see - Saints were equally as bad at lying on and second efforts, thats without mentioning the complete inability of your markers to be square at the PTB.

Both teams were poorly officiated this evening and got away with far too much - in the end it evened out and didn't affect the overall outcome.

Basic counting skills would help "FIVE", I mean "four"

I rate Thaler but he had a nightmare tonight for both sides.

I must say I'm not really enjoying my rugby this season because I can't remember seeing a quick play the ball all year. Cumming & the RFL are together ruing the game as a spectacle. Flair & inventiveness are being destroyed and mediocraty is taking over.

W

He was dreadful. Once he'd seen a tackle made he was turning his back and walking off to get back in the defensive line, not even looking to see if there was lying on or interference. There's none so blind as those that won't see.....

Excellent, allowed the game to flow and wasn't noticed for constantly blowing the whistle all the game .... added to the overall complete derby game

But surely the whistle is for a purpose? Like blowing it when infringements are made? I don't do refs who blow up for everything but you have to start somewhere.

I couldn't disagree more. If I watch some early summer rugby from 1996-2000 I see fast flowing rugby and a fair few penalties awarded because holding down is the same offence now as it was then. The difference is that most sides are so quick and skilled at getting up, facing forward and playing the ball that defences can't cope. The result is that referees are simply allowing the PTB to be slowed down to ridiculous levels so the defences can reset and get back the 10.

The reality is that a fit fast side is now being punished as a lesser side can take the michael and most of the time get away with it.

I say penalise where you need to regardless of the penalty count. It's not a referee's job to make a game flow or turn a blind eye or comply with RFL refereeing directives. He is meant to be there to officiate fairly and if he allows the rules to be broken at nearly every tackle by holding down then he is not doing his job. What he is doing is ruining the spectacle of fast open rugby and levelling the gap between two teams in terms of skill and fitness.

I'd rather see a match with a total penalty count of 30 with 12 tries scored than a game with 6 penalties in total and only four tries scored.

Otherwise we are going backwards and not forwards in our development.

Totally agree, referees are directly influencing the competition with their inability to penalise offences, mostly holding down. If they don't get a grip every team will continue to push their luck to the maximum and we'll end up with the lowest common denominator. Slow, awful rugby that is a war of attrition, bereft of skill and speed.

The messing around at the play of the ball is really taking the p"£$ now.

How many blatant forward passes where missed too

Shocking performance from the refs

Totally inept performance by Thaler, made terrible judgement calls all night and wasnt helped by his touch judges.

I can see him officiating NL1 next week.