You couldn't make it up.



Australia vs England: Australian referee

New Zealand vs Samoa: New Zealand referee

Even if both refs are 100% fair and manage to suppress both their conscious their subconscious loyalties, every decision will be scrutinised, and anything even remotely iffy going against England or Samoa will be derided.

This further confirms my long-held suspicions that everyone involved in the RLIF is a complete and utter idiot. Or too bloody soft to stand up to the constant whining of the ARL/NRL and various Kangaroos coaches.

If I were Australian I'd actually be embarrassed. It's stupid, pathetic and throws the entire competition into farce - regardless of how the referees actually perform.

I honestly don't think the appointment of a Kiwi ref is that contentious, given most of the Samoan side are themselves Kiwis, but the appointment in the Aussie game is unbelievable.

They're professional refs, I don't see this being a big deal.

Only thing left to do now is force us to play with 9 players and let the Ausies bring in a few thousand Zulus to help them out.

Oops!
Sorry
We won that one! (Both of em)

Shakes head in disbelief.

There are some clear rule interpretation differences between SL and NRL. A ref from either comp would therefore tend to benefit the side from their comp. That's almost impossible to get past.

The selection of a non-neutral ref is pathetic from two levels - firstly because of the ridiculous pressure it puts the ref himself under, and secondly because of the clear message that it sends that the Aussies won't play unless its by their rules - i.e. NRL >>> internationals.

As an aside, the Aussie commentators were generally very flattering of Bentham in the Aus--NZ game.

Any credability the game had has now gone, the RFL should refuse to play & bring the team home unless we get neutral ref's. As some one has said if I was an Aussie I would be so embarassed, after all it was the Aussies who insisted that test umpires were neutral after over a hundred years of umpires standing in their own country it was only the Aussie cricketers who had a problem with it. Also will the NRL charge Mal Maninga for brining the game into disrepute? after his coments that the four nations is a waste of time & he thought there was no point to it. I just hope & pray that we can win & put the whinging Aussies out of the competition.

What is England or GB's comparative win/loss record against Australia when...

a) It's an Aussie ref in charge
b) It's a Kiwi ref in charge
c) It's a Pommy ref in charge

I'm assuming there is sufficient evidence to justify the whinging on this thread.

Who cares? I am sure you will have stats to prove that we are just as bad with one or the other but the fact the aussies have gone out of their way here to get a 'home boy' in charge is indeed cause for a bit of whinging.

They see themselves under threat from the second rate pommies and and nees to get some kind of control back.

standard convict actions imo.

In 12 England v Australia Test Matches there have been 2 English wins, one under a Kiwi ref, the other under an English ref. There was 1 draw, under the same Kiwi and there has been 9 Aussie wins under 3 Kiwi, 2 English and 4 Aussies.
Since 1994 (to 2006) GB won 4 games, with 2 aussie refs, 1 kiwi and 1 English. 14 Aussie wins under 2 Kiwis, 4 English and 8 Aussie refs.

In recent year, England/GB have managed to lose to the Aussies pretty much regardless of who the bloke with the whistle was..

It beggars the question.....why haven't the French got any decent refs? Alain Sablayrolles is the last one to ref a top tier clash and that was nearly 25 years ago....

The point about Rules is not having an international game doesn't harm the sport, does not having an international game harm American Football or Baseball? The average attendance at regular season games was 32k compared to 16k for the NRL. For the play offs the average was 62k double that of the NRL. Even international soccer doesn't appear to have the same draw that it once had.

The point I am trying to make is the strength of RL is in the club game - in soccer the Champions League is by far the most important competition out there. We need to focus on the club game that will set us apart from the other rugby code.

Would I rather see full strength Wigan against full strength Canterbury than Australia walk all over everyone else I sure would

Worse than the lack of neutrality is the fact that Sutton was very poor indeed on Saturday. Head shots, in particular, were free flowing and unpunished.

What a stupid, unnecessary and counter productive decision. No wonder Big Nige agreed to it