Are the continuing attempts to speed the game up by changing rules in danger of making the game difficult to referee for one man & do we need to try 2 refs or should the touch judges be given more power (sounds familiar ?) or would we then finish up with officials not always agreeing on decisions ? A classic was the dragging into touch (?), how long was that tackle allowed to go on ,if they want to speed the game up the whistle should have been blown sooner because the player was immobilised on the ground. There would then have been no dragging into touch issue.

At the start of the 2nd half I thought Bentham had had enough - Wires were getting a faster play the ball, Wigan were struggling and Bentham was penalising them for messing about. Then (after the new circle in the air warning, which looks like another copout to me) he seemed to revert to type and some of what went on afterwards was borderline thuggery.

McCollorum in particular seems to have accepted the mantle of senior thug in the wigan pack now Hock has moved on and I thought he was very lucky to escape a sin binning.

Regardless, the game was superb and there's plenty of improvement in Wires to come.

I'm by no means a fan of the current structure but even if the playoffs and GF didn't exist a Round 2 fixture will always have an element of feeling it's not the end of the world if you lose. The excitement on Friday came from the spectacle itself and how determined the players on the field were to win.

The Goulding penalty wasn't for dragging, it was for not releasing the player after the ref called held. The fact that Goulding put his foot into touch would only matter if the tackle was incomplete, which it wasn't.

And you're dead right, the try that came from Charnley being tackled in the air was extremely lucky and renders any complaints about Bentham from your end null and void.

That business about the game being slower at the play the ball now is what Jon Wilkin was going on about the other day but supposedly that was just because he was bitter at Saints not winning everything any more...

I sense I am in the minority, that I thought was a low quality performance from both sides and the officials.

I agree it was a competitive match, but have to say that I didn't think it was exciting in the sense that there was no real meaning to the end result.....The reality is that, whether this was Round 2 or Round 22, both sets of fans and players know they will be in the play-offs, bar an absolute miracle, and so any sense of tension is always non-existant.

Until we get a situation where ALL 14 sides are competitve and relatively equal, then the play off format will always be flawed.

Fully agree.
As a City fan -really depressed about yesterday's loss.
As a wire, did n't really care about Friday night win lose or draw both teams will be in the play offs.
Something is fundamentally wrong with a comp that starts after rd27

As a Wire fan, I'm really depressed about your loss of common sense. Citys fan don't really care about yesterday's loss as win lose or draw both teams will be in the 'Champions' League.
Something is fundamentally wrong with a comp that requires £100bn to be successful after rd1.

Wigan played at their top end given their squad and at home. Warry played poorly away but got a draw plus Wigan were holding on at the end. Overall first blood to Warry.

As a neutral, thought the game was tough, exciting, and the commitment of the players was top level. I agree with some and say the rucks, where slow at times and there seemed to be a lot of tackles, where you can questioning technique or coach instructions to slow play the ball??? I thought Wigan young side really matched Wire in the arm wrestle and played out of their skins. These close finishes really attract the punter to the game, so why not change the conversion law to give the option to the side scoring a try whether they take time off the clock to do this. I have been to many games where one side is winning by 10 points with 2 mins to go and the game as gone because the clock will be run down. If there are 12 tries in a game, 12 minutes is taken away from the game to watch a bloody kick. On the opposite side of the coin if a side winning by 4 points score a try in 78 minutes then they can allow the clock to run its course, as a reward of scoring a try. What do you think???

Anyone who didn't think Fridays game was exciting, please what ever you do, don't click to watch this link as you may very well die of actual boredom. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/21401633 VIEWING WARNING: You will not get this 3 minutes of your life back.

Anyone who didn't think Fridays game was exciting, please what ever you do, don't click to watch this link as you may very well die of actual boredom. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/21401633 VIEWING WARNING: You will not get this 3 minutes of your life back.