Quote: frankb "Was also interesting that the ref and touch judge where surprisingly well placed to see that the Oldham winger never touched the ball for their first "try". It was easy for us in the North stand but sadly there is no video camera from the North stand end.
I supppose it just vindicates those two officials incompetance. Course nothing is ever done about it which should be imo.'"
It would be a relevant comment if the try was awarded to the winger, but it went to the centre Littler, who grounded the ball with his right arm as it went past.
Having watched the tries again I'm surprised to say that all Oldham's tries look ok. The second one comes off Foggy's shoulder (which isn't a knock on) and both players challenged fairly with their eyes on the ball. This of course doesn't excuse the rest of the official's performance which was pretty shocking for both teams. Apparently Laughton doesn't talk to the players, which generally leads to frustation when he just blows for a penalty. There's also the fact that he loves giving out strings of penalties (7 on the bounce to Leigh towards the end of the 1st half and six on the bounce to Oldham when we got back into the game in the 2nd). This just distorts the game and makes it too easy for any one team to dominate at given times. As for touch judges, they may as well have cardboard cut outs for all the use they are. The failure of the main stand touch judge to see the Roden high shot was appalling and there were numerous examples throughout the game that left you wondering just what exactly the officials were looking at.
However, the best team won on the day and the score was fairly reflective of the difference between the teams. I do get the feeling though that Basil will have to work some magic if you're not going to have another season of struggle at the wrong end of the table. I hope not though as it's better for RL in general if we have decent teams in places like Leigh and Oldham.
