Sheens was talking about the moment, Smith was talking about after it had been watched ad-nauseum on video.
If Hall thought he'd scored he would have been jumping around like a lunatic.

But I'm an Aussie, so I'm sure you all think I bought into the conspiracy too.

Not much 'rising' going on with that ball.

but...but...but its a fifty-fifty call
it wasnt [imorally [/ia try
ryan hall didnt celebrate so i wouldnt have given it
if the aussies had scored that try people would be upset maybe

Again I ask which fckwit in the England management agreed to the NRL's request for an Australian ref and VR when they were well within entitlement to demand a neutral ref?

The explanation was that he 'touched it while it was rising'. Therefore the officials acknowledge that Hall touched the ball.

What the pictures (and the replays, for those of us without green & gold glasses) clearly show is that explanation is utterly, completely wrong.

Hall touches the ball, while the ball is firmly on the ground. In anyone's rulebook, that is a try. Marginal or not. And we've seen plenty of marginal tries given in the NRL this year.

So therefore the officials are either incompetent or corrupt. Either way they come out of it stinking.

Probably. That's the price they had to pay for choosing their own officiating team. If it came down to a close call in a close game there were going to be eyebrows raised. Comes with the territory. The suspicion, fairly or not, is that Australia would have got the call at the other end.

It's not the worst decision I've ever seen, though I do think strictly it was a try. It just looks like a victory for politicking as much as it does a sporting one.

Again- since when did players celebrations determine try/ no try?

My suspicion is that Hall knows he touched it but didn't think he'd grounded it. He therefore didn't appeal in the hope the ref would give the drop-out.

*edit* Just seen a post-match interview with Hall and that's exactly what he says.

The refs are decided by a three man panel.

Jon Sharp is the English rep.

Australia and NZ both get a ref to cover their games.
Aussie ref Aussie game.

NZ ref NZ via Samoa.

Go figure who gout outvoted about independent refs

Just having a look at the Australian media. Some fine pictures of what happened either side of the incident but no attempt to show the actual grounding. The apologists and quislings are using the images to "prove" that the ball was not touched down. The whole façade is up and the official line is that the video ref made a great decision and that the best team won, and even if they cheated then it was the "right" result so it doesn't matter. The Australian(newspaper) even comments that though we have a considerably better points difference, even if England beat New Zealand they are unlikely to go through to the final. The arrogance of the Aussie media is astounding, or are the conspiracy theorists right?

True. But it is irrelevant. The VR shouldn't make a decision based on the player response.