Force do (not) it again!

[tragic]

OK, while I'm still in the dark regarding why the tackle was called late (please enlighten me, anyone!), as far as I could tell, the first YC was after repeated warnings from the ref, the second was , and the ref was primarily concerned with watching Force players not Brumbies.

Am wondering what did the Force do to draw such attention (and continue to draw such attention)? What did the Brumbies do to not draw such attention and get away with so many offsides?

Agree the commentary was pretty ordinary.

[shasta]

Am wondering what did the Force do to draw such attention (and continue to draw such attention)? What did the Brumbies do to not draw such attention and get away with so many offsides?

Agree the commentary was pretty ordinary.

It's what John Mitchell referred to as "deserving of more respect from the referees". Some of them concentrate on the lower ranked team apparently thinking the top side can do no wrong. Seems to get worse if the lesser ranked side gets the first few decisions against them

They are reluctant to penalise "icon" players. McCaw is the classic example of this. He's so good at the breakdown that the whistle blowers don't trust their own eyes when he crosses the line.

Many commentators have said our players need to learn to "cheat" better.
The top sides watch the referee when they creep up. They immediately stop and take a step back when the ref looks their way, otherwise they get away with it.

As to commentary; anyone else fed up with Kearns 3rd grader humour especially the scrum jokes? He really gave himself up last night with his comment about "no scrums so far". Didn't even have the sense to shut his gate and cop it on the chin when he was given up

[BeeJay]

Spot on again Burgs. With 2 mins to go and ahead by 1 point, no penalties must simply mean NO PENATIES, not even close. To get ourselves into that position and then lose was heartbreaking, no matter what the possession and territory stats say. I just hope we don't take the foot off the pedal with the Cheetahs....

[blutackey]

Just so everyone knows, the ref's decision to award the last minute penalty was correct. McIssac made a ridiculously late tackle and it was definitely a penalty. Sharpe's was tough but warranted as he had been warned.

The fact that Gerrard didn't get a card for intentional offside is the only debatable part to the Force's loss. I think that was a pretty average decision on the ref's part.

[travelling_gerry]

Pity he awarded it against Stanners though...