Mainly because Pat Richards will discuss what happened, analyse what went wrong and probably apologise for his mistakes to those it affected. Do you think Thaler will do (or has done) anything similar to the above?

I am certain he has reviewed his performance and if any mistakes were made then he will definitely not have got off lightly. What you have to remember is that this thread was started to discuss the sin binning of a player for a deliberate delay of the 20 metre restart. This particular protocol has been in place for about 3 years now and was applied entirely correctly and yet a Hull KR fan saw fit to attempt to criticise based upon the correct application of this protocol when it was entirely and completely correct.

The main problem is inconsistency, it's fine saying it was the correct protocol and it's been in place for 3 years, but what you're not explaining is all the games in the season where the correct protocol hasn't been applied; in my opinion it isn't applied in the majority of cases? This season I've seen most of Quins home games live and plenty of other teams on Sky, and a bit of messing about trying to delay the restart is not at all uncommon, yet this is the first time I can remember a player being sinbinned, not only that, but in this case it didn't appear to me that Hudds were actually in a position to exploit a really quick restart.

What is the protocol for a calculated professional foul like the one Peter Fox committed in the Hull derby? FC made a clean break and he held the tackled player down until the exposed defence could recover; my understanding is that such a clear professional foul should be a sinbinning, but not for the first time this season I see a referee decide to take the soft option with a penalty?

In the roundball game they had to reword professional foul to a longer name (denying an obviousl goal scoring opportunity) so the fans could understand it better but the logic is the same, holding the player down deliberately in midfield after a breakaway is not a "professional foul" as its not likely to have stopped points being scored just stopped a roll on occuring (usually just gets a ticking off) but if it happens close to the try line its more lkelyto be a yellow as a try is being prevented if that makes sense.
Delaying a quick 20 metre restart as mentionned is a yellow by the proceedures laid out dlaying other restarts on the first occasion (i.e throwing the ball away at scrums / drop outs) is just time off, if they do it again then its a potential yellow.

I didnt see the incidents but this is just a generalisation based on whats said

What I struggle with is that there have been numerous occasions this year where players have obstructed quick restarts, thrown balls away when a penalty is awarded and yet Mr Thaler deems it necessary to sin bin a player when he like many other (probably all) referees have not all through the year. I have a lot of respect for referees but I'd have a hell of a lot more if they were consistent in their decisions or took time to explain them.

but throwing the ball away after a penalty is not a sin-bin under the instructions they have to work with, its warning or time off as you can't take a quick tap on a penalty (only on the 20 metre restarts if the ref and your own team are in place)

Fair enough but given the ref wasn't ready (he was running back to the 30 metre line) I still struggle to see how he was sin binned, I'm not saying JJ didn't offend as clearly he did but there's just no consistency in the decisions.

Simple, tj can report it in the earpiece, referee gets told player x has interfered and then he sinbins someone. It usually has to be blatent interference i.e knocking the ball away, if its someone running in the way, its harder to judge as players dont have to run back to the 20 before they get back into their usual positon

Thaler may well have been set by the time the ball got to be tapped, the point is the Crusaders player interefered with the Huddersfield player who was trying to get the ball back into play.

It was a professional foul that for all the times its been let slide this season, has also been penalised this season too.

Moreover Thalers hand was tipped as the Touch Judge actually came onto the field with his flag up.

People post on here complaining abouy my defence of match officials and also about consistancy.

You really are expecting too much.

It dosn't happen with the players, coaches, supporteres etc so why demand the same from the match officials.

It's like saying that if, as Chris Riley did, you score 5 tries in the first match of the season, then you must do the same in all the matches you play in. Then that would be consistant.

It isn't going to happen and no one realistically expects it to , but when it comes to match officials it's the same old cry of demanding something that isn't there.

That's consistency of quality of performance. Been plenty of that from match officials this season, not all of it good.

The issue is consistency in applying the laws of the game and their current interpretations.

Either interfering with a quick 20m restart is a sin binning in all cases, or it isn't. Same with the ball carrier running behind a team mate without a defender being impeded, it's either a penalty in all cases or it isn't.

When fans see identical incidents being adjudicated on differently they start to wonder whether it's a one-off error of judgement or a question of competence.

The most obvious area this season has been the video referee interpretations of what constitutes grounding the ball/double movement and what doesn't, which seems to change from game to game and official to official.

And lets not compare kicking a player on the floor to standing on one eh

Fans are also complaining that in the vast majority of cases referees turn a blind eye to interfering with a 20m restart and that suddenly deciding to sinbin for it in a playoff game, even if that is technically the correct ruling, is inconsistent. Yet strangely the people who consistently defend refereeing inconsistency don't want to touch this point with a barge pole, I wonder if the irony of this goes right over their heads?

Its because there isnt a massive issue on the 20 metres from what I have seen over the year and whenever a player has deliberately batted the ball down he has been punished. If a player has got in the way when genuinely looking to get back in position then that is not a sin binning. Nameone time a player has batted the ball down on a 20 metre restart and got away with it