Sale v Cardiff Blues

[Juan VdS]

I didn't get to watch it myself (I was brushing up on my lock skills against some Brazilians) but wow, that must have been a tremendous game. I can really see Toulouse winning this pool without problems.

 

[An Tarbh]

Sheridan has been ruled out for 3 months according to the BBC after dislocating his shoulder.

 

[munstermuffin]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (An Tarbh @ Oct 17 2009, 08:51 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Sheridan has been ruled out for 3 months according to the BBC after dislocating his shoulder.[/b]

It didn't look to healthy on tv

 

[dullonien]

Not atall happy after last nights game. That touch judge was terrible, he got almost everything wrong, ref not much better. He penalised the Blues for two shoulder chanrges, neither were right calls. Gareth Williams was penalised for running through a player in the way (perfectly legal) and then the Powell incident, total farce! I know the Blues really made it too easy for Sale in that 10minute period, and Sam Warberton and Sowden-Taylor were very nieve in both instances, but that was two tries which probably wouldn't have been scored if Powell was still on the field! Don't get me started about the penalty given against Gethin Jenkins, one of the worst refereeing decisions I've seen in a long time!

Then the ref misses a forearm smash on Powell, which easily deserved a yellow. Standards nowhere near where they should be from ref and touch judges in a competition this important. It's possibly cost Blues their chance to qualify for the knockout stages, that's some big mistakes.

Sorry for complaining, I'm not a fan of blaiming the officials, however sometimes it's impossible not to. Gotta hope Tolouse slip up at some point now, or the Blues can do the improbable and win away in France.

Edit: that injury to Sheridan was hard to watch. Gotta feel for the bloke, he was in absolute agony. Hoping for a quick recovery.

 

[gingergenius]

f*** you Sheridan. One more important England player UNAFECKINGVAILABLE.

 

[dullonien]

But this does bring me back to a point I made a few days ago about collapsing scrums. There's way to much of happening. When every scrum has to be reset 2-3 times, there's bound to be some injuries. I don't blaim the players, I blaim the rules. I've never understood why the rules changed so props could no longer put their arm down and support the scrum when necessary. Surely this just seems logical, as there's so much force coming through, that if it's not sqaure it's going to collapse! This injury shows that collapsing scrums are a dangerous thing, is it going to take someone breaking their neck, dying then and there to prompt a change that's needed?

It's not exactly great to watch either!

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Quite possibly the worst refereeing I've ever seen in a HEC game. The first try was both held up and short, but was still awarded. Powell brushes shoulders with Peel- yellow Card. Fifteen mintues later, he's on the end of a high tackle that could have broken his neck, the ref sees it and merely awards a penalty. If he's being consistant, it really should have been a red. He gave three knock ons/forward passes a good 40 seconds later because the crowd said they where. That trip on Cohen? Really should have been a carding- For Cohen. It was like watching Football. The guy deliberatly runs into Jenkins when he's kicked the ball, and does an OTT dive, just to win a penalty. The ref then hears the crowd, and -Not wanting to be on the wrong side of the large number of people- gives the penalty.

While I'm at it, I can understand why he gave the call on Gareth Williams' shoulder charge, but it didn't really look to warrent a penalty to me, and he blew up late again. I feel even more like I was watching Football for abusing the ref, but I'm just a little annoyed about this whole ordeal.

Oh, and couldn't he have gone to the TMO for Halfpenny's no-try? I know Sowden-Taylor scored seconds later, but I like our Leigh.

 

[dullonien]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DuncTheDoodle @ Oct 17 2009, 12:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Oh, and couldn't he have gone to the TMO for Halfpenny's no-try? I know Sowden-Taylor scored seconds later, but I like our Leigh.[/b]

He seemed to have absolute faith in his touch judges, what a mistake that was! As for the 'late calls', that's because the calls were coming from the touch, not from him. The 'only' two mistakes he really made were his decision to award the try (although, from one angle it looked like it possibly was) and not to give a yellow for a forearm smash. The rest of the poor decisions came from the assistants.

 

[Blindside6]

After the injuries Cardiff had sustained early in the month I was dubious about a victory in this game but to lose it in the manner they did really rubs salt in the wound. The team of officials made a significant impact on the outcome of the match and I hope that a referee assessor takes a long hard look at their performance.

 

[bgrugbyfan]

I'm not a big fan of blaming the refs for losses but the refereeing was just appalling. I don't mind losing (much) but I'd rather lose when it was a fair loss and not one with so many dubious calls- the try, the sin binning of AP.

It's certainly going to make the Blues' journey that bit harder (as if we needed that).

 

[Juggernaut]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gingergenius @ Oct 17 2009, 11:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

f*** you Sheridan. One more important England player UNAFECKINGVAILABLE.[/b]

and there goes Vickery as well...