Leinster v Ospreys Saturday 19th Feb at 5pm

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I just can't see how it can be a goal line drop out. That is reserved for held up in goal. Ball was clearly grounded. So it has to be either short (5m attacking scrum) or grounded over the line (try). It was a fairly big call to get wrong as it was for our 4th try and bonus point.

I don’t get the issue here.

They saw it was held up first and couldn’t see a grounding live. TMO showed the ball was “grounded” but couldn’t see if that was over the line or short, so they just went with what they saw on field.

[Peg Leg]

Peculiar choice by Coughlan (who has been great as co-commentator) of Harry as motm. He played well but must have knocked it on 3 or 4 times though

She was great on co-comms and put Hugh back in his place a couple of times. Oh how I dislike Hugh.

[Laighin Break]

I don't think Hugh can last an 80-minute Leinster game without talking about an "embarrassment of riches" in some position. Usually it's about Leinster's backrow but this time it was about Ireland's wings

[Flash Gordon]

Happy to get out of that with a bonus point, the conditions were pretty awful and the Ospreys continuously slowed the play, Botha might be able to scrummage be looked constantly knackered and is way overweight.

Don't like having a go at refs but the high tackle on Tracey, the grounded try were hard to understand. Also thought Anscombe deliberately knocked on with Jordan in position to score. The officials were way too slow, a friend timed the ball in play during the in bin and I think he said it was less than 5 minutes.

Another good shift from Penny. Thought Ross Byrne did well too and such a joy to see Lowe back. Have to say I was a bit bemused by the Harry Byrne Man of the match, thought he did alright but sometimes you wonder...

Good to get the BP win.

[cormac]

I just can't see how it can be a goal line drop out. That is reserved for held up in goal. Ball was clearly grounded. So it has to be either short (5m attacking scrum) or grounded over the line (try). It was a fairly big call to get wrong as it was for our 4th try and bonus point.

I don’t get the issue here.

They saw it was held up first and couldn’t see a grounding live. TMO showed the ball was “grounded” but couldn’t see if that was over the line or short, so they just went with what they saw on field.

.

That decision was shown to be 100% incorrect though. The ball was clearly not held up, it was clearly grounded. If they couldn't see whether it was short or over the try line, surely they should have restarted with a scrum five to Leinster?

[Xanthippe]

Happy to get out of that with a bonus point, the conditions were pretty awful and the Ospreys continuously slowed the play, Botha might be able to scrummage be looked constantly knackered and is way overweight.

Don't like having a go at refs but the high tackle on Tracey, the grounded try were hard to understand. Also thought Anscombe deliberately knocked on with Jordan in position to score. The officials were way too slow, a friend timed the ball in play during the in bin and I think he said it was less than 5 minutes.

Another good shift from Penny. Thought Ross Byrne did well too and such a joy to see Lowe back. Have to say I was a bit bemused by the Harry Byrne Man of the match, thought he did alright but sometimes you wonder...

Good to get the BP win.

I have felt in the past when the ref, touchies and TMO were all Irish that there were some funny decisions - it feels like they are so busy trying to not be seen as biased towards the away team that they actually end up being ridiculously biased the other way!

I would have had Ross as my MOTM (or perhaps Penny - but I'm trying to steer away from picking 7s because I get a slagging over my constant selection of JvdF) and when Harry was named I assumed (didn't know at the time he was selected by Coughlan) it was a case of him being credited with his own and his brother's work - the woman behind me, judging by her screaming, appeared to be of the opinion we only had one Byrne on the pitch for most of the match.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I just can't see how it can be a goal line drop out. That is reserved for held up in goal. Ball was clearly grounded. So it has to be either short (5m attacking scrum) or grounded over the line (try). It was a fairly big call to get wrong as it was for our 4th try and bonus point.

I don’t get the issue here.

They saw it was held up first and couldn’t see a grounding live. TMO showed the ball was “grounded” but couldn’t see if that was over the line or short, so they just went with what they saw on field.

.

That decision was shown to be 100% incorrect though. The ball was clearly not held up, it was clearly grounded. If they couldn't see whether it was short or over the try line, surely they should have restarted with a scrum five to Leinster?

I think that’s what I’d have done but no call was actually right so don’t think it’s wrong to stick with the on field decision. I’d have to watch it back but they seemed to call held up very quickly so it may even have been grounded after that which would also complicate it.

I actually think the big error was blowing too quickly. If they’d taken a second longer and then taken more time to get the bodies off the floor I’d say they’d have seen it properly.

If the game had ended on that uncertainty I’d be pissed off, but all things considered I’m happy enough for that to end with them kicking it back to us anyway.

A similar thing happened in the Ulster game, it looked like Ulster got over and ref didn’t take enough time to get the bodies off the ground and see if there was a grounding.

[Flash Gordon]

Happy to get out of that with a bonus point, the conditions were pretty awful and the Ospreys continuously slowed the play, Botha might be able to scrummage be looked constantly knackered and is way overweight.

Don't like having a go at refs but the high tackle on Tracey, the grounded try were hard to understand. Also thought Anscombe deliberately knocked on with Jordan in position to score. The officials were way too slow, a friend timed the ball in play during the in bin and I think he said it was less than 5 minutes.

Another good shift from Penny. Thought Ross Byrne did well too and such a joy to see Lowe back. Have to say I was a bit bemused by the Harry Byrne Man of the match, thought he did alright but sometimes you wonder...

Good to get the BP win.

I have felt in the past when the ref, touchies and TMO were all Irish that there were some funny decisions - it feels like they are so busy trying to not be seen as biased towards the away team that they actually end up being ridiculously biased the other way!

I would have had Ross as my MOTM (or perhaps Penny - but I'm trying to steer away from picking 7s because I get a slagging over my constant selection of JvdF) and when Harry was named I assumed (didn't know at the time he was selected by Coughlan) it was a case of him being credited with his own and his brother's work - the woman behind me, judging by her screaming, appeared to be of the opinion we only had one Byrne on the pitch for most of the match.

I would have gone for Ross or Penny too. Both of those players really seem to be able to dominate URC games, question is what happens when they step up to the next level?

Would like to see the Anscombe knock on again, the grounding and high tackle were obvious for me but I was looking down the line at that one. From where I was sitting it looked obviously but admittedly the angle wasn't great.

[Oldschoolsocks]

Happy to get out of that with a bonus point, the conditions were pretty awful and the Ospreys continuously slowed the play, Botha might be able to scrummage be looked constantly knackered and is way overweight.

Don't like having a go at refs but the high tackle on Tracey, the grounded try were hard to understand. Also thought Anscombe deliberately knocked on with Jordan in position to score. The officials were way too slow, a friend timed the ball in play during the in bin and I think he said it was less than 5 minutes.

Another good shift from Penny. Thought Ross Byrne did well too and such a joy to see Lowe back. Have to say I was a bit bemused by the Harry Byrne Man of the match, thought he did alright but sometimes you wonder...

Good to get the BP win.

I have felt in the past when the ref, touchies and TMO were all Irish that there were some funny decisions - it feels like they are so busy trying to not be seen as biased towards the away team that they actually end up being ridiculously biased the other way!

I would have had Ross as my MOTM (or perhaps Penny - but I'm trying to steer away from picking 7s because I get a slagging over my constant selection of JvdF) and when Harry was named I assumed (didn't know at the time he was selected by Coughlan) it was a case of him being credited with his own and his brother's work - the woman behind me, judging by her screaming, appeared to be of the opinion we only had one Byrne on the pitch for most of the match.

I would have gone for Ross or Penny too. Both of those players really seem to be able to dominate URC games, question is what happens when they step up to the next level?

Would like to see the Anscombe knock on again, the grounding and high tackle were obvious for me but I was looking down the line at that one. From where I was sitting it looked obviously but admittedly the angle wasn't great.

Calling Anscombe’s knock on deliberate would have been harsh.
High tackle was a disgrace, Tracey was literally wrestled to the ground in a headlock.
The grounding should pry have been an attacking scrum

[ronk]

The bar is very very low for a deliberate knock on. Anscombe was surprised by the ball when Harry left it and he went for it one handed. There's an argument that there isn't clear evidence that it went forwards and not backwards but at that stage you are working really hard to favour Ospreys. Which is just like the grounding call: if you strain really hard you can work out an interpretation that can be explained that way. The hard part is finding similar situations where the opposite didn't occur. We also had penalties advanced against us more readily than usual and a pretty egregious example of a tap penalty taken before the whistle blew.

[Flash Gordon]

The bar is very very low for a deliberate knock on. Anscombe was surprised by the ball when Harry left it and he went for it one handed. There's an argument that there isn't clear evidence that it went forwards and not backwards but at that stage you are working really hard to favour Ospreys. Which is just like the grounding call: if you strain really hard you can work out an interpretation that can be explained that way. The hard part is finding similar situations where the opposite didn't occur. We also had penalties advanced against us more readily than usual and a pretty egregious example of a tap penalty taken before the whistle blew.

Yep, you stick out a hand and knock on it's deliberate. It doesn't require forethought. Particularly the case given that Jordan was a dead cert to scor the try. Unless he knocked it backwards for me that was a yellow card and a penalty try.

[desperado]

Happy to get out of that with a bonus point, the conditions were pretty awful and the Ospreys continuously slowed the play, Botha might be able to scrummage be looked constantly knackered and is way overweight.

Don't like having a go at refs but the high tackle on Tracey, the grounded try were hard to understand. Also thought Anscombe deliberately knocked on with Jordan in position to score. The officials were way too slow, a friend timed the ball in play during the in bin and I think he said it was less than 5 minutes.

Another good shift from Penny. Thought Ross Byrne did well too and such a joy to see Lowe back. Have to say I was a bit bemused by the Harry Byrne Man of the match, thought he did alright but sometimes you wonder...

Good to get the BP win.

Similarly, I don't like having a go at refs (says me having a go at refs ); it is a difficult job but they have the benefit of technology, and touch judges are assistant refs. Tracey's neck roll was dangerous, and how the TMO didn't call Brace's attention to it is beyond me. How Brace could say Anscombe hooked the ball back is stretching credulity - he knocked it on with one hand; and was never in a position to catch it. Original decision on Dooley was held up; review showed it was grounded and they saw that and then were discussing as a group whether it was on the line or not. How he could go back to the original 'held up' assessment is beyond me. In the first half he pinged Leinster for holding on - the Ospreys no.7 (yellow scrum cap), clearly had hands on the ground beyond the ball and came back onto it (for what seemed like <1 sec) - Brace immediately blew. Second half (almost in same position on the pitch); Larmour attempted a similar jackal, and to me he looked like he was on the ball longer before being shunted forward then back - Brace pinged him for hands on the ground and then marched us back another 10 for lip (not condoning lip in anyway). Just looking for consistency here. I think Brace is a decent ref; but I always think he's a bit whistle happy and inconsistent. Maybe I'm bit biased!!

[Serb]

Maybe I’m mental but I thought Anscome’s touch on the ball went backwards. I watched it on the stadium screens and it didn’t make it into the highlights package, so I haven’t seen it since then, but I thought it was actually a good decision at the time.

[Oldschoolsocks]

You could be both mental and correct?

[blockhead]

Happy to get out of that with a bonus point, the conditions were pretty awful and the Ospreys continuously slowed the play, Botha might be able to scrummage be looked constantly knackered and is way overweight.

Don't like having a go at refs but the high tackle on Tracey, the grounded try were hard to understand. Also thought Anscombe deliberately knocked on with Jordan in position to score. The officials were way too slow, a friend timed the ball in play during the in bin and I think he said it was less than 5 minutes.

Another good shift from Penny. Thought Ross Byrne did well too and such a joy to see Lowe back. Have to say I was a bit bemused by the Harry Byrne Man of the match, thought he did alright but sometimes you wonder...

Good to get the BP win.

I have felt in the past when the ref, touchies and TMO were all Irish that there were some funny decisions - it feels like they are so busy trying to not be seen as biased towards the away team that they actually end up being ridiculously biased the other way!

I would have had Ross as my MOTM (or perhaps Penny - but I'm trying to steer away from picking 7s because I get a slagging over my constant selection of JvdF) and when Harry was named I assumed (didn't know at the time he was selected by Coughlan) it was a case of him being credited with his own and his brother's work - the woman behind me, judging by her screaming, appeared to be of the opinion we only had one Byrne on the pitch for most of the match.

Must say, I find it had to tell them apart during a game. Their short, back n sides dont help either.

[Oldschool]

Happy to get out of that with a bonus point, the conditions were pretty awful and the Ospreys continuously slowed the play, Botha might be able to scrummage be looked constantly knackered and is way overweight.

Don't like having a go at refs but the high tackle on Tracey, the grounded try were hard to understand. Also thought Anscombe deliberately knocked on with Jordan in position to score. The officials were way too slow, a friend timed the ball in play during the in bin and I think he said it was less than 5 minutes.

Another good shift from Penny. Thought Ross Byrne did well too and such a joy to see Lowe back. Have to say I was a bit bemused by the Harry Byrne Man of the match, thought he did alright but sometimes you wonder...

Good to get the BP win.

I have felt in the past when the ref, touchies and TMO were all Irish that there were some funny decisions - it feels like they are so busy trying to not be seen as biased towards the away team that they actually end up being ridiculously biased the other way!

I would have had Ross as my MOTM (or perhaps Penny - but I'm trying to steer away from picking 7s because I get a slagging over my constant selection of JvdF) and when Harry was named I assumed (didn't know at the time he was selected by Coughlan) it was a case of him being credited with his own and his brother's work - the woman behind me, judging by her screaming, appeared to be of the opinion we only had one Byrne on the pitch for most of the match.

Must say, I find it had to tell them apart during a game. Their short, back n sides dont help either.

Surely you can tell the difference between a mom performer and A.N.yother.
Or the difference between 12 and 10. It's 2 BTW