Sorry but HOW IN GODS NAME is Tomkins or Smith been sent off there?

It's very easy to miss something like that on the run on the ground. If you look away for one moment to check to your left or right you'll miss it. The difference between Thaler and Child is that Child has repeated form for creating controversial situations, making incorrect decisions and lacking empathy with the players whereas Thaler doesn't.

Every ref misses things, every ref has bad performances, every ref makes incorrect critical decisions, evey ref will lose control of some games. It is a fact of life. James Child unfortunately manages to achieve it seemingly most weeks.

to be fair to child, and i have criticized him in the past, the players in the catalan-cas game didn't exactly make it easy for him, most officials would have struggled to contain that kind of aggressive behaviour and play acting from the french, yes he got a few things wrong like all officials do but the players have to also take some responsibilty for not heeding his warnings and acting professionally and getting on with the game.

That play developed in front of him though so not sure how he couldn't see it unless he was pigeon spotting or something! I mean it was as blatant a crossing and obstruction as you'll see. Sure they all make mistakes and the 50-50 won't always go your way but some decisions just seem bizarre.

In fairness McGuire's try looked worse on TV than it did live, possibly because the camera foreshortened the view.