Quote: JonM "One of the features of a game played in near-silence is that the referee can hear the coach mouthing off 50+ metres away and send him off without even needing to go near him. The frustration of the Rochdale team with some fairly bizarre refereeing throught the match was quite understandable (although given that I failed to notice only one of the touch judges putting up his flag, maybe I'm not the best observer.)
No doubt at all that the best side won, but I think the Skolars team of 2-3 years ago would've thrashed either of them. Sorry to be negative, but although i was really pleased to have seen them win, I went home up the M11 thinking there were probably better ways to have spent my Sunday afternoon.'"
maybe so, but you keep your gob shut, anyone who plays the game knows that so despite the referee (and i think he had a poor game going both ways) we all know you're penalised if you open your gob. once is maybe forgivable but 4 penalties, a sin binning and two sending offs is idiocy!
and the touch judges definitely disagreed.
and in regard to the skolars team of a few years back, maybe so. but the new regulations have hit a club like the skolars hard, not many northern players fancy challenging themselves by playing in the capital (and in fairness with the job situation many dont want to take the risk) but there were a few london boys in the squad yesterday and a lot of former SRL representatives. that can only be a positive. You could see the confidence that a few early points gave them, a win will hopefully give them the confidence to push on even further