A mix of curiosity (used to play union as a lad) & an inability to find anything decent to view last night meant I ended up watching the Sale v Leicester RU match on Sky ......... and saw a ref decision that left me (and the half time 'experts') completely agog.

Defending player (Goneva) tries to break down an attack with a genuine attempt to intercept a pass out wide - got his hands to it, tried to tip the ball upwards, just couldn't gather it in before it bounced out of reach .... 'Knock on' you think? Nope - Ref decides that it was a 'deliberate attempt to prevent an attack' - of course it was, he was defending, and had he collected it, was clean in for a try at the other end.....

Refs decision - Yellow card - 10 minutes sin bin !!! WTF ?......

If RL refs were that pedantic (stupid?) every time a player missed an interception, we'd finish the game with more players on the sideline than on the pitch.

Was classed as a "deliberate knock on" apparently.

Aah Wayne Barnes, always the centre of controversy. It's no wonder the whole of New Zealand was out for his blood back in the World Cup in '07.

There is little enough individual creativity in Union without strangling it at birth !

Yes, watched it as well and couldn't believe it. Agree as well, no creativity. How many times did sale have an overlap and didn't pass?

It did get even better (ie - worse decisions) - the video ref can only answer the direct question from the ref .....soft g!t asked "Was there a knock on?" when a ball was stripped by a defender under the post, but went back, and Sale carried on and scored a try ..... video ref, through clenched teeth (he was shown in bottom corner of screen) said "Yes" ..... meaning defender had knocked ball out of attackers hands - but he can't say who did it, only respond to the refs vague question ..... you guessed it - ref, assuming attacker had knocked on, gives scrum defence, and no try !

Aye - there's too much emphasis on returning to the 'safe' option of driving with the pack, so they miss the wide running options .... not surprising though if you get sin-binned if you drop it/knock on !

despite our feelings about RU it was saddening to see Salford's ground with more fans for Sale than turn up for Salford. People from round here (Blackpool) drive to Sale and claim to be fans of rugby ignoring RL completely even though Wigan is much closer and the rugby is more spectacular.

Makes you think doesnt it!

Checkout the Salford part of this forum. There's a couple of threads re Sale and their approach ..... locals saying kids hardly know that Salford Reds exist, yet Sale have had their players/shark mascot doing the rounds of the local schools & community centres for the past few weeks drumming up support for the new season ......

I'm sure I saw something similar a few years ago when the ref asked a direct question and received a direct answer thus awarding a try which was quite clearly not a try. I have noticed a few times since then that some referees ask "Can you see any reason why I should not award the try?" or words to that effect.