Who gives a f*k what Australian journalists think?

(see Cronus's post above)

It makes me laugh when people insist it must be a "certain" try for the referee to give the decision when there's no such word in the relevant section of the laws.

The Sky commentators are as bad as anyone for this.

Maybe it's time allow biting and eye gouging in RL ?

...so a penalty try is only valid if the Australian media say it is? I thought it was the match officials who made such rulings, not the members of the press!

Had hall not been slowed down by getting his head taken off and then his head smashed into the thigh of lewis it would have been a run of the mill try for hall!

Spot on. More posters need to read this.

Or alternatively, read the actual laws of the game.

It was a high shot from Thurston. Hall still had hold of the ball before Lewis's leg hit his arm and knocked the ball out. Thurston's high shot did not stop him from scoring.

Therefore it was not a penalty try.

The video ref had a shocker really awarding that and denying the second Aussie try after about 20 mins for offside. These things happen though.

I agree with the Australian media. It was never a penalty try.

So at what point do you just give a penalty and ignore the scoring potential ?

10 yards , 5 , 1 , 6 inches ?

What is the punishment for a deliberate attack to the head ?

Since when does making one bad decision mean you ignore a blatant penalty , where is that in the rules ?

Simple questions even for a Kiwi , I await some simple answers ?

The simple answer is in the simple reply I gave above.

Hall was still in control of the ball after Thurstons high challenge. Therefore no penalty try.

So Thurston's head shot had no effect on the act of Hall moving to ground the ball? And I also believe the act of knocking the attacker senseless with your knees (accidental or not) is illegal.

Did you think the penalty try decision in the 2008 World Cup Final was correct?

As clear a penalty try as you will see.
Thurston's illegal contact with the head almost knocked Hall unconscious, and therefore he struggled to ground the ball. If he hadn't been half-comotosed, the probability of him scoring was higher than the probability of him not scoring.