GAME ON : Leeds Rhinos v Catalan Dragons - 19:45:00

GENERAL CHAT ABOUT THE GAME, BUILD UP, THE ACTION AS IT HAPPENS AND AFTERMATH BELOW.

Great win for Catalan!

Disgusting day for RL, catalan players constantly fiening injuries to stop play in the second half, played the ref and he fell for it. If this is the way RL is going you can stick it.

Agreed - in all other scenarios the Catalan win - which was fully deserved in every other respect - should be the big talking point out of this but the second half gamesmanship was disgraceful. I've never seen anything like that before - RL players just don't behave like that.

As I said on SS though not sure what the referee can do as it's not really legislated for - if a different Catalan player goes down after every tackle what can he do? He has no evidence they are individually cheating in any one case, just very strong likelihood that they all are.

Best team won, no complaints about the loss but Catalan were an absolute disgrace in the last 10-15 minutes, players feigning injury until ref stops play then getting up and sprinting back in the line, the yhing is they had leeds well and truly beat in that second half and didn’t need to do it, not the refs fault either, he could have maybe stopped the clock a bit quicker but the players really need to have a look st themselves and decide if this is what they want from the game because its not what the spectators want to see that’s for sure.

Again this is not a complaint about Leeds losing I would have said the same if we had won.

I think they did it 3 or maybe 4 times in one exit set, every time the player got up fine after the clock stopped.

You are correct that it is hard to prove if a player is feigning injury, but there is not always a reason to stop the game. If a player in possession was injured a teammate would play the ball for him and the game would continue. The cheats would soon be back on their feet if that was the case.Tonight it was constantly stopped for players claiming injury, in some cases they were not in a place on the field that was effecting play. If something is not done fans will vote with their feet.

2 really stood out for me. 1st, Catalans on the attack in leeds half, cats player gets tackled puts the ball down stays on the floor, ref does stop the clock after about 30seconds, cats physio runs on to check player, player gets up and sprints back into the attacking line, now thankfully the ref calls him back to play the ball but he wasn’t injured and just let go of the ball, case for a knock on?

2nd was ridiculous, yaha blatently holds briscoe down 2 metres from the try line after a break, yellow card (quite rightly) clock not stopped so yaha starts limping off, ref stops clock, yaha sprints to the dugout.

It needs sorting out

Not as disgusting as Leeds fans throwing pints at Catalan players and giving abuse to referees a few metres away.

Every team feigns injury to some extent (some more so than others) so it’s hardly a ‘disgusting day for RL’. Leeds players have done it in the past as well. Players do need to stop doing it though and it’s hardly the refs fault, what are they supposed to do?

Did you see today's game?
I've seen hundreds if not thousands of games of RL over decades and I've never seen anything like what happened tonight. It didn't win or lose anyone the game, it was just embarrassing for the players who were doing it.

Sorry that I was not able to be there to control the crowd.

The main point is surely that Catalans scored six tries to four, and would have won more easily had the goal kicker, Joshua Drinkwater, kicked more goals.

Hopefully Catalans can retain Fouad Yaha from the approaches of rugby union.

Also important is that Catalans now are in 9th spot on 14 points, one competition point behind both Huddersfield and Leeds. Any one of those three teams could end up in the bottom four, but whichever team it is is most unlikely to be relegated. Therefore what today also showed is that both Widnes and Salford are now in danger of relegation, with at least Toronto and possibly Toulouse as chances for promotion.

Some of the Leeds fans were absolutely awful tonight especially towards the cats players and Steve Mcnamara walking to the sheds (because of the redevelopment the players walk through the main concourse of the stadium) and i was embarrassed as a leeds fan

Same old, Same old.

Give it a rest eh!!!!!!

Try it for a week

Catalan have been doing this for 3 seasons now, they did it on a massive scale against my club Leigh in all 3 games last year including the MPG & were allowed to get away with it ! Greg Dying Swan Bird is the worst protagonist by far.

It doesn't even matter that it's Catalans, it is a growing problem in the sport & needs to be stamped out immediately for the good of the game.

They learn it from association football. It is endemic there.

Anyway the Catalans players only did it for the last ten minutes, when the lack of an accurate Catalans goal kicker put their deserved six tries to four victory at risk.