posted Nov 1, 2008

<Then there was Wayne Barnes. Last year he was a revelation, probably one of the best refs around. Today, he made last nights performance by Nigel Owens look good. If you review the match his positioning was great, yet he seemed to have a blind eye. Two tries = two forward passes. As for his refereeing of the breakdown, Nelson could have down a better, less biased job.>

As a neutral he refed the breakdown the same for both team and the way its refed in the GP. ML refs let a lot more go at the breakdown and the Scarlets should have got the message early on that they should stay on their feet. They also got away with a lot of holding on. I lost count of the number of times Stoddard was tackled and held and still kept moving (only picked up for the disallowed try). ONE of the trys involved a forward pass and if you look at the reply Barnes was behind the play and the touch judge was dead level with the pass so any critsism should be directed at him. In professional level most forward passes are called by assistant refs and relayed to the ref by radio (why often there can be a delay between the pass and the whistle being blown).

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posted Nov 1, 2008

Glad im not the only one that thought barnes was a bit skewed ,in all facets calling for the video ref when stoddart had obviously been tackled about 10 yards before the line then the video ref says yep he made the line but done it illegally, last time i checked they were only there for grounding?? strange the TMO didnt call ashtons try back for a forward pass if thats how hed going to do his job. As i say stoddart had been tackled earlier anyhows i felt he bottled is, but it wouldnt have changed the result the scarlets done their usual whirlwind 20 mins, then collapse routine its becoming regular now!!

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posted Nov 1, 2008

Two things.
1- The Blues made an agreement with Gatland where they started with:-
Shanklin - who needs confidence and game time
Sowden-Taylor - who just needs game time

While Nugget was on the bench.
Dai Young didn't pick Powell, Roberts or Thomas.Showing that the regions are trying to help the national side. One of their original purposes when set up. The same will moe than likely be true for the Ospreys. But maybe a little harder for them with the high number in the Wales team. Also remember we don't have the quality in numbers when it comes to strength in depth as compared to GP or T14 sides.
Secondly, I stated Barnes' positioning was good. Therefore he was in a position where he SHOULD have seen the forward passes, not just relying on touch judges. Even though it went to TMO, Stoddart was penalised. As for the breakdown the ref is also allowed to penalise a player going in on the side even if his team is the one in possession, just like McCaw does and today a very canny and experienced player called tom smith.

Like I said earlier, Saints deserved to win, especially as Scarlets seem to be consistently commiting Hari Kari in most matches. Thank heavens i'm a Blues fan then.

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posted Nov 2, 2008

Saints deservedto win with help from Barnes who was blind as well as biased and blew the whistle just to make himself look good. Scarlets did not deserve to win or lose by the margin they did. It's only the EDF more importantly no injuries sustained by the boys for next week.

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posted Nov 2, 2008

It's really two stories here, isn't it?

Llanelli are really developing a habit - in all competitions - starting fast and sitting back. This is a team culture defect, which, if not fixed, will cause Wales problems in the future.

But also Northampton. Saints are coming nicely into form and by the end of the season will be a tough team to play. Coming back from early leads is a sign of being mentally tough. No real relegation threat here. Just a nice future.

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posted Nov 2, 2008

pontiets,

Come off it that's just sour grapes, he gave Northampton the only yellow card remember (which was deserved). But if I remember rightly, it came from a break from the Scarlets on their own try-line which was stolen with a player handling in the ruck off their feet (so two different penalty offences that could have penalised which wasn't), which Barnes didn't see. He also arguably should have yellow carded a Scarlets player for persistant infinging in the ruck. The amount of times a Scarlets player was lying on the wrong side, stoping quick ball was untrue. Northampton did it aswell but no way near as much.

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posted Nov 2, 2008

Could Steve Myler challenge for the England Saxons flyhalf position within the next 2 seasons? Ashton needs to tighten his defence: some silly errors. Think Saints are shaping up nicely though. If only Foden would reconsider at fullback...Maybe Johnno will make him have a change of heart. Care and Ellis could dominate the England scrum half jersey...

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posted Nov 2, 2008

nah dont think myler can go much further to be honest he was opposite ceiron thomas for a large whack of the match which would have made me look good, and the openside was easterby whose hunting down half back days are deffo behind him, strange back row for the scarlets full stop to be honest 2 no8s and a small blind side?

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posted Nov 2, 2008

To be honest if you look at the sin binning it was a bit harsh. I dont think it was a cheap shot James Downey presumed the player would be getitng the ball when it didnt come he got caught in the momentum. The BBC commentators did themselves no justice in calling it a cheap shot, I think the two comentators should apologise for such outrogeous comments. Or at leas tdeserved to be fired from BBC like Jonathan Ross should and that long haired freak i dont know hes name. They did themselves no favours.

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posted Nov 3, 2008

Well done Northampton they got the job done!

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