I just want to clarify my understanding of the offside rule when a team kicks forward. Firstly let me say that Wigan deserved to concede the last try because Bowen made no attempt to catch the ball. However it seemed to me that Walsh was offside as he was in front of Wilkin when he kicked the ball and then encroached well within the 10m zone. Surely that is offside technically? Why was that not mentioned by the commentary team or spotted by the video ref?

I'd bet that Clarke would have spotted it and made everyone aware of it had he been in the commentary box

I don't think Walsh was deemed as in front of the kicker on the video replays. If he had he would have been offside as he was well within the 10.

The try wouldn't have been scored if Bowen had even jumped though, let alone catch the thing. No idea what he was thinking there.

He clearly wasn't 'deemed' to be in front of the kicker but I have watched the replay several times and he is clearly in front and therefore offside!

I thought you were going to mention when Percival was 5 metres offside and wasn't even penalised for it.

Apparently that is called 'good line speed'.

No one knows the rules any more. Not the officials, not the players, not the fans. Over the winter, all the officials need to get together and have a strong look at the rule book. They have to make sure that everyone is on the same page regarding the interpretation and application of every single rule in the game. Far too often we have seen one decision given one week and a completely different decision given the week after. E.g... The obstruction rule regarding Castleford in the last couple of weeks, the knock-on rule and the grounding rule. These are all instances when the interpretation has been different every week. As mentioned above, you could say that Walsh was offside, but look back to the end of July when we played Hull away and the same happened with Sam Powell which also resulted in a try.

I am not saying we were cheated last night, because we weren't. But the officiating does need a giant makeover in the off season.

Was the Powell one the 'two kicks' one, where he eventually went in under the posts? That was never a try. And the one Hampshire (?) scored after a long-range break and kick down the right wing was miles offside too.

So yeah, a long hard look at the way the laws are applied is needed.

He was thinking of bottling a big game again.

Has he ever been anything but awful against Saints? He was shocking in the Grand Final too.

Strange because he always seems to play well against Leeds.

I thought he was having a great game until Walsh did that "one on one" on him and the Saints fans started to get on his back, seemed to lose confidence after that and never looked like catching that last kick.

I'll see your Offside and raise you a missed obstruction two tackles before Wigan s first score, a pass flung backwards called forwards, a knock on penalised as interference, several high shots and a cameo for the best milking of a penalty by o loughlin by literally dropping the ball on LMS'S head.

I can't believe (some) Wigan fans are blaming the ref. You had all the possession. You played the better rugby.

If you can't win under such circumstances you really only have yourselves to blame.

Not blaming the ref at all. This thread was about clarification of the offside rule. Now run along back to your own forum. Maybe someone there will be interested in your posts.