We have too many rules that are open to interpretation. My main gripe is ball steal/loose carry most are very borderline and could be called either way. These calls are nothing more than a lottery.

Solution: If you get ball pulled away ,hard luck the onus must be on the ball carrier. Another poster mentioned RU , stripping the ball is allowed, but very rarely is it lost in the tackle they have no problem holding on to it. When I first started watching our game you could steal the ball no matter how many were in the tackle but most players could hold on to it .

I remember it well but even then the good players had the skill to slip the ball and make the pass even with three men in the tackle. All this rule does is help bad players and confuse the spectators. Its totally impossible to call correctly so why bother.

It's a fair point in the sence that the rule was brought in to allow skillful players to have a chance of passing the ball.
It's stayed the same and now needs clarifying.

For me, uyou are allowed a one on one steal. If it's dropped with no opposition hand on the ball then it's a knock on.

You've just proved my point, there are many times when its impossible to see if there was an hand on the ball or not and then its just left to a guess. Calls should not be made on guess work.

Would it not be a good idea to introduce a new rule which simply says .The ball MUST be passed backwards, thus eliminating the flat pass grey area,

Jeez, far too simple.

I thought that foot in touch call swung the momentum in favour of Shudds - it was a very poor call and having been showed to be completely wrong on the big screen, why didn't the ref reverse it, then call Mr Roby on to the pitch and slap him upside the head?

As for stripping; it's now an art that certain players have mastered - Sinfield, Henderson, Hodgson, Elis to name a few - getting a crafty hand in during the tackle and flicking the ball loose as they withdraw. It's difficult for the ref to spot, as we now gang tackle and allow the ball carrier to be swamped by bodies, so just about every tackle is a confusing melee.

I'm not sure how you resolve it - maybe 2 ref's on the field would allow the ruck to be more closely policed; or if the suggestion of VR at every game from next season is accurate, it'll be another thing to refer upstairs.

He was at it again today, an absolutely awful display by the officials. A half decent team would've beaten Cas by 20+ points today.

I heard it the other way.

What? You heard the ref had a great game? Or that Cas were great?

I would say he means neither.
Maybe Mr B got his info from where I did:


Peter Smith @PeteSmithYEP

I don't think I'd blame him if Cas lose, but Salford have got the better of referee Tim Roby's decisions tonight. They lead by 2 late on.

That is quite an accusation.

Favoured Salford in the sense that all the calls went their way, whether it be pens or 50/50s. We got very short shrift in that second half - I wasn't "accusing" him of anything, as you put it. Just that we got very little and, in my opinion, it was a very poor display by him.