Swansea (and a gripe)

[jadegoodiesfridge]

Well......we got the W.And a deserved W too.But I'm here for a moan.Referees,don't you luv em.
Ive seen all the games this season,and it has to be said,the standard of officiating this season is well below par.Inconsistency is an understatement.Let's take a few examples.Mr.English 's bizarre decision to cancel an Ebbw penalty and bring it back to a Cardiff penalty that he didn't even award, is still a talking point on the bank.Tip of the iceberg stuff.
The following week.Llandovery,and the penalty try that Mr Brakespeare failed to award.Both decisions that cost us two victories.
Down to Bridgend,Carrick McDonough gets a yellow for an attempted interception,and then the next game,(Swansea,)where a Swansea player deliberately knocked on,yet, penalty,Ebbw.....no yellow ??!!
Yesterday the ref and his assistants were coming up with the most bizarre decisions crammed into 80 minutes that I've ever seen.We were penalised,I think 6 times for scrummaging offences .three of which were our put in,despite us bulldozing the Swansea pack every scrum.The penalty count kept ticking over even when we changed the front row !!!!
The most laughable incident was between the linesman and our scrum half,when the linesman took offence to Jon not standing where the linesman told him to stand.It really was toys out of the pram stuff.embarrassing.
Being a ref must be one of the toughest gigs going.I get that.But this season,each ref appears to have their own individual set of rules.Laugh as you may.But this standard of officiating could drive people away from the game.I really believe that.Me,I personally would like to see our old friend ( and decent Ebbw scrum half ) Paul Adams pop up the club to listen to the supporters concerns.After all,he is their boss.It won't happen,I know,but it would be nice to get it off our chests.Hey !!!....Im not asking for refs to constantly do Ebbw favours.Just consistency right across the board,not too much to ask .....is it. ?????

[DaiLew]

There are so many possible infringements of the laws to spot that it is impossible to get every decision correct, but I spent nearly all of the game totally baffled by many decisions from the team of officials. This might have been due to my Ebbw bias.
However, I usually feel the same when I watch the regions, international matches, English Premiership and French league, including decisions made by the TMOs, when my bias doesn’t apply.
I now assume I have little knowledge of the laws anymore!
My latest beef (of many) is the ignoring of obviously forward passes by TMOs and ARs. Arrrrghhhh!
Who’d be a referee?

[marshomano]

The linesman on the bank the second half was an absolute joke. He spent more time on the field of play than some of the players. The Jon lineout incident happened right in front of us and it seems he just wanted to run the show himself

Speaking to the players after the game, the general consensus was that the referee was up for being bullied into making decisions. Swansea did it in the first half, so ebbw had a go in the second half. Made an absolute joke of officiating.

Looked as if none of them actually wanted to be there. And to be honest I wasn't keen on them being there either. My wife teaches year 3 PE. She'd have had a better grasp of the game

[Malpas69]

The same referee caused total carnage last week in the Pontypool v Ystrad Rhondda game. He brandished a number of cards including a red card for one of the Ystrad Rhondda players who definitely did not agree with at least one of his decisions and told him exactly what he thought of him!

[String]

"Petulant" was about the kindest description i could think of with the officials in the Swansea match in the second half.
The incident mentioned above was made worse by allowing the Swansea 9 to mouth off and scream with no sanction having literally just sanctioned us and warned for exactly that.

The standard of refereeing has dropped a LOT this season but the standard of touch judges seems to have dropped even further.
I really don't envy a team or a coach trying to play and work out what the hell that days match officials are going to deem worthy or not worthy of blowing for.


That said some of the law interpretations are really starting to annoy.

If challenging for a high ball you now can't risk going for it unless 100% sure you'll win it - if you dont then you'll likely give a penalty and most likely a yellow or red card.
Trying for an intercept the same - if not 100% certain you'll hold onto the ball its too risky - drop the ball and its a penalty or a card.
Tackling? If the ball carrier is low then don't risk it - hit anywhere near shoulder height and its likely a card etc.
The whole area around that is now making it too risky for players to challenge for anything 50/50 just in case.