Bingo - another example where using the rules and resources that are already available are a much more sensible solution than cooking up something new.

I think it's one of those where if the player stumbles forward (whether deliberate or loss of balance) it will generally be let go particularly if the defender still has his hands on the attacker. It's harsh to give a penalty against the attacker unless the ref is 100% sure the defender's hands hasn't caused the stumble forward.

Hicks invented a new rule last night.... Ball hits players knees now = knock on!!!!!!

TJ's fault not Hicks.

My pet hate is players moving 2 metres to the side of where the tackle took place and thus milking a penalty for the markers not being square.

Yep. Hicks will have had players blocking his view. He'll have seen a player (Gidley?) bending as if he's attempting to catch the ball and then the ball hit the floor as if it's been knocked on.
In the absence of any other info I can't blame Hicks for giving it as a knock on.

I can only assume the TJ was unsighted too otherwise I can't for the life of me think why he didn't tell Hicks what actually happened.

The game is very fast and refs have a huge amount of decisions to make in every set of 6 let alone the whole game. We need to use the TJ's more/better and I also think we need a "2nd ref" although I don't think we need to do it in the same way as the NRL do, rather than a 2nd ref I think we need a "3rd" TJ but one who is on the pitch and can monitor the play the ball and report to the ref.

Then again, if the previous tackler wasn't lying in the ruck in the way, this might not happen so much. This seems endemic now (NRL too), and it wasn't a couple of years ao.

Quite, and the fact that we don't have a second ref like the NRL surely makes it all the more important for the TJs to be a bit more pro-active.

Did you know they are actually mic'd up?

Yes.

Anyone see the incident in the Catalans-Widnes game?
Catalans were penalised at the PTB, because, Mounis, i think had just completed the tackle but got trapped between the tackled player and the dummy half, he couldn't get out of the way but basically froze so as not to interfere with the PTB, but then the Widnes player, i can't remember who, just threw the ball at him and it was given as a penalty.

This isn't the first time i've seen it, Wigan have done it a few times and Henderson while he was at Catalans was a master of it, but my issue with this " offence" is that

A:the defender can't just disappear after making the tackle, yes he should clear the ruck, but if he had tried to do that, he would have no doubt conceded a penalty for not clearing the ruck quick enough, so he basically stood, or knelt still, not playing any part in the game. what is the defender supposed to do in this situation?
B:the referee should have a bit of understanding, knowing that the defender isn't trying to interfere and that he just got caught out positionally.
C: if anything the dummy half should be penalised for gamesmanship. He could have easily passed round Mounis, or just over him, but he deliberatly threw the ball at him, if you do that in other parts of the field it's a penalty, so why not in this instance?

To me it's just another case of pandering to the attacking team, who seem to get the benefit of everything at the moment.

This is a pet hate of mine. How difficult is it to raise your flag if players are offside? Aside from straight after a length of the field break, they should always be in a position to do so. The man in the middle seems to struggle most of the time yet we don't utilise the other five officials very effectively.

Alternatively, just penalise EVERY infringement for a few weeks and watch the penalties dry up as the players adjust to it. Rocket science? Na.