Is anyone else getting sick of the penalty for being behind the ruck? It's the softest, most cringe-worthy rule in our game and one that is becoming a real issue. Teams are now playing for it. In the Saints game a player actually straddled another to hold them in place while they played the ball into them! Again, last night there were multiple examples of players using this to get easy yards up field.

Whilst you can't blame coaches and players for taking the easy route, I think it's now a case where the interpretation of this rule is against the spirit of the game. There are literally hundreds of free metres being doled out by refs unable to distinguish between a player deliberately trying to slow play down and one simply caught on the wrong side. Every instance is an automatic penalty. We're actually at the point where players are being penalised for being unable to magically disappear! Surely that's the point at which it's become a farce?

Most of the players penalised don't really do enough to get out the way. Lying on the ground with your hands up isn't trying. Having said that Clark definitely practically jumped on top of Shorrocks before playing the ball late on last night.

I agree that players need to be making an effort to clear the ruck but I think we've reached a situation where it no longer matters whether they are or not, it's a penalty anyway. This has lead to attacking players actively trying to prevent defenders moving out of the way in order to milk this penalty or jumping up, not to get a quick play the ball, but with the sole intention of rolling the ball back into the prone defender. We had an instance the other week where the hooker stood several metres away from the play the ball waiting for his team mate to play it into the defender. He did so by playing the ball about 2 metres behind him! The result? Penalty of course.

Tbh I'm not even sure it's that difficult to spot a player trying to slow the play down as opposed to one simply caught on the wrong side. It's just that referees are choosing not to apply any common sense.

It's one of the things killing the game - the referee has so much influence on the result. They can literally see what they want, and often do.

That said it's not all their fault - like a naughty toddler, players have been probing where the line is for a long time and now the game is in the state it's in because nobody has slapped them on the wrists and told them no.

Warrington should’ve been penalised on at least 5 or 6 occasions last night for moving off the mark with the ball. They did Thaler up grand style and he fell for it big time.

I thought his getting in the way of Hardaker for Ratchfords try just about summed up his night.

Nobody gets penalised for moving off the mark. Ever.

Then its about time they were.
We could start with every player in possession of the ball that steps over the tackler to play the ball into him to win a penalty is penalised for moving off the mark.

Its cause and effect, teams like us have to do stuff like that to counteract teams like you that run that 3rd man in that isnt needed and slow rocks down to a crawl, and get in the way.

You cant have it both ways.

It seems that teams (like Wigan) who are struggling suddenly start questioning the rules, the standard of the game and most of all the ref’s decisions.
You are no different to supporters of other teams who have previously been languishing toward the bottom of the league, but probably you feel a bit more badly done to, as you your historic success makes your p 1 s s poor rugby this’s season makes defeat(s) harder to swallow. Arrogance personified!!!!

And they start to creep out from under rocks and putting on that air of superiority. If you had been a regular visitor to this board you would see that this is a regular topic of conversation. Talk about arrogance.

I've spoken about the drop in the standard of the game (both players and referees) for years.

We've won the Grand Final a few times with a bang average team. That Maguire Wigan side would romp anything we've put out since - and we're still one of the most successful sides over that period.

No air of superiority or arrogance here, just an observation from a life long supporter of a team that has struggled as you are now.
I’m not a regular visitor to this forum but
your reaction to my post speaks volumes. Hard to take failure isn’t it?

There's nothing sudden about it and it's not questioning rules but the recent inflexibility in the interpretation. Do learn to read, dear boy.

But your observation is basically just something you’ve made up to get a rise out of people. The ruck penalty is a massive discussion point across the whole game at the minute, from the teams at the top of superleague to those in the lower leagues. It’s being discussed during every Sky game at the minute regardless of that being games featuring the teams at the top like Saints or the clubs at the foot like ourselves.

Maybe there would be less penalties if playing the ball went back to the old method where the foot had to make the ball move backwards instead of the modern method of rolling it between the legs . The best way to win a match these days is by playing the ref .