The NZ v Oz semi was a classic, and both teams visibly "upped" their games for it.
We'd not been remotely "pushed" in the group games, or the quarter against the Kumuls, and........
Came up short yesterday when we were. Were we under cooked?
The score line flatters us, and had we won in GP, it'd have been grand larceny!
They scored five tries to our four, and in my opinion, the sin-binning was harsh.
The five decade wait goes on!
I'll be a Samoan for the day at OT, but I can't see past a comfortable victory for Maninga's Mob!
Spelly.
An excellent game yesterday but I thought the referee favoured England a bit for a change but even with a sin binning & them losing 2 to a so called "friendly" head clash" for the majority of the game England still could not get the victory. England fought back well but unforced errors at that level will cost you. I thought Welsby looked out of his depth & have always thought he has been vastly over rated. On the other hand I have always rated George Williams & only now is he getting the appreciation he deserves.
Welsby was excellent in the first game against Samoa but, you're right, he was completely anonymous in the semi. We should probably be looking for alternatives to Tomkins and Watkins (who was superb this season for Salford in the 2nd row). Sneyd was unlucky not to feature again. But, hindsight isn't it?
We came up short in both semis, so.............
It's my Swinton shirt at OT on Saturday, and............
I'm a Kiwi in the first game, and a Samoan in the second!
Hopefully the wheelchair guys can do the biz on Friday.
Spelly.
It will not make that much difference in todays final but it is about time the RL made it a rule that all officials in a final MUST be neutral. We all know all Aussies will do anything to win even when they have the best team anyway.
When it was nil nil today a 40 to 20 was wrongly denied Samoa by the referee. That cannot happen in a final. There is no excuse for such errors with replay available to get the correct call.
".. It will not make that much difference in todays final but it is about time the RL made it a rule that all officials in a final MUST be neutral. We all know all Aussies will do anything to win even when they have the best team anyway.
When it was nil nil today a 40 to 20 was wrongly denied Samoa by the referee. That cannot happen in a final. There is no excuse for such errors with replay available to get the correct call ..."
Agree on both points Geoff - Australia were easily the best side, a well deserved victory.
And yes, we should have neutral referees for international matches. I can't think of any other major sport who don't use common sense to avoid claims of bias (perhaps that's why the RFL are the exception).
From what I've seen (I've watched all the WC games so far) no one will beat Australia. They are far too good this year.
😉
Ref had nothing to do with it, it was down to one of our own, they could of used a captains challenge but chose not to. Do you honestly think that any ref is biased if so you are watching the wrong game.It will not make that much difference in todays final but it is about time the RL made it a rule that all officials in a final MUST be neutral. We all know all Aussies will do anything to win even when they have the best team anyway.
When it was nil nil today a 40 to 20 was wrongly denied Samoa by the referee. That cannot happen in a final. There is no excuse for such errors with replay available to get the correct call.
I thought that many times the Aussies were in front of the kicker in open play - never looked at once by Calvin
10/15 seconds to check that kick from the video ref, major final shocking from Calvin. Tricky one for the lino to be 100%. Calvin’s an Aussie, enough said
Ref had nothing to do with it, it was down to one of our own, they could of used a captains challenge but chose not to. Do you honestly think that any ref is biased - if so you are watching the wrong game"
Well MG, as Eric Morecambe might have said .... I've been watching the right game, but not necessarily with the right referee 😆
The neutral Ref should be a matter of principle. Klyne refereed in the NRL style which made for a faster ptb etc. and probably a better game.
It was unfortunate that Samoa's 40/20 was 'missed' as a of early pressure, maybe even a score, might have set them up for the game. Embarrassing that it was one of our SL refs was responsible, too slow and hence 'unsighted'. But we suffer that often enough!
Can't honestly see that we would have made a better game of it tbh, certainly with Wane's choice of team, too much of the old Wigan connection and star players of yesteryear.
It was an error, not obvious but should have been reviewed. I doubt it would have made much difference in the end. Australia have won this WC at a canter; they were only really tested once. As for neutral refs, I suppose as a rule it makes sense but there's never any chance of bias creeping in. I enjoyed the spirit of the comp, playing all variants of the game at the same time made that excellent and really showed the game off well. Hard, fair and inclusive.
Re: The 40/20 mistake - it can't have been reviewed because play never stopped, hence the Captain's Challenge wasn't available to Samoa. You can only use a challenge when play has been stopped and within 10 seconds, not when the officials have waved play on. Just a quirk of the rule really - if the TJ had given it then play would have stopped and then Aus could have challenged it (and lost clearly).
I don't think we need neutral refs, and no ref is biased (dispite what some fans think!) - they call it as they see it and make honest mistakes and sometimes have really bad games. Just get the best ref in for the game, and on the evidence of this World Cup, Klien was the best option for the Final and I thought did perfectly fine. Ref's were not an issue in this World Cup - the problem for RL going forward is how to have a world cup with as many particpants as possible and somehow avoid the large number of blow outs.
And given the price of tickets I was actually pleasently surprised by the Final attendance - I enjoyed the day and probably enoyed it more given I knew I wasn't going to subjected to the usual gut wrenching heartbreak (although OT seats are too small and cramped for us with a larger build!)! It was a shame the Womens match wasn't closer, but Jillaroo's are far too good for everyone else. All in all, a good day out if a little over-priced.