He got the instruction from the sideline to drop the goal early and so don't be harsh on Powell.

Exactly my thoughts. Started off the night not expecting much & ended up being one of the better games of the season in entertainment terms, and definitely more variety in attack than the usual cross field kick every 6th tackle at their end. Just a shame at the end as they deserved a point.

To be fair to Hull though, despite the momentum being hugely in our favour mid second half, and them having a short period where they started knocking on like Saturday, they pulled it back well. Largely through spotting that Burgess kept getting isolated on his wing. 3 of their tries were almost identical.

Heard several mentions of the clock but I agree

Actually, just remembered that one was on Manfredi's side in the first half....

Bearing in mind it's the match clock, and the coaching staff can see it, why would they be using a different timing anyway?

Hampshire kicking through towards the right wing was a joy to watch. Very unlucky with the bounce.



The momentum changed when Child's awarded Hull a penalty for not square when the Hull player played the ball to no one.

Don't get me started on that one, I was trying to be gracious in defeat...

I also didn't understand the disallowed try where we ended up with the scrum. Assume it was disallowed for a knock on, but he gave a prior infringement against Hull? Either way, they came in quick succession of each other, and I wasn't a happy man.

However, I thought the game was generally played in the right spirit by both teams - very little messing around at the play the ball, or niggly shots, and far more positives than negatives for us. So overall, an unexpectedly enjoyable evening for about 79 mins 50 seconds.

I think we knocked on while scoring and so I think that was a correct call. The penalty for not square was wrong and they scored soon after. Idiotic decision from Childs. You have to play the ball when tackled and the Hull player did. No one there and we get penalised. It should have been play on. Game changer IMO.



I thought Hull took exception to Andy Powell merely being on the pitch but maybe that is no bad thing.

dont the rules say ..the referee is the sole timekeeper?..therefore the clock operators would in effect be over ruling him?

In case it stops working. Two recent games at the DW I've been doing radio commentary on, the clock hasn't been working full stop. The Bradford game being one of them. So they'd need to have some clue of the timing themselves.

For reference the Wigan coaching staff are generally stood on the tv gantry. The time keepers are generally on the back row of the press box, which is in front of the west stand directors box.

Which implies Childs was at fault if the time keepers were waiting for him to start the clock.

That might have been the case when they had club volunteers (one from each club wasn't it?) doing the timekeeping. But its a solo person doing it now appointed by the RFL. Gerry Kershaw was tonights time keeper at Wigan. Common sense should of prevailed IF Child hadn't restarted the clock surely?

Good question but one that leads to several others. What does common sense mean for a start! A full set of six on a stopped clock would imply a total lack if it.

The next question is, if the ref forgets to start the clock when should the timekeeper start it? It shouldnot be his responsibility IMO.

Why don't we have a 3rd ref in the stands in the on-field refs ear saying you forget to start the clock?

As an aside this is not the first non-sky match I have been to that the west stand clock has stopped working.

Overall it is just poor for the game. It's a shame that we're having to talk about it and not just focus on a very entertaining game from some talented youngsters. Incidentally, who put the huge bomb up that led to our try? It was an absolute corker! Up there with brough for that particular effort IMO. More of that please.