Rugby Club Bar #3

A familiar bar for refs in this area as it is where we hold our monthly training sessions. Got served quickly, pint or two of Fuller's London Pride. Home captain also bought me a Lucozade without prompt too, or may be he left his own on the bar. Note the cabal of visiting alickados in the corner of the bar

Well we've got to stand somewhere

Ronan O'Gara yellow carded for scuffle

I didn't see this live, I was watching the Ospreys implode on the red button. Yet again we see see how little commentators understand about the referee's duty to manage the game and tempers.

Rugby Dump

The commentator is heard to say "everyone is in again" suggesting there had been trouble before so the referee will be concious that tensions are high and firm action is needed. O'Gara firstly comes in at the side to take the 9 out, whether Black 9 was standing as a blocker is relevant, neither action is material and as the Assistant Ref says its hand-bags. O'Gara has had his shot, Mignon can have one back as far as I'm concerned. O'Gara then pins the 9 to the floor and forces his fist into his face. Not very nice. Personally I would have asked the AR for a recommendation but Pearson the referee clearly has already set the conflagration in the context of the rest of the match and decided that someone needs to be carded to calm down everyone else.

As different match with a different lead up, then O'Gara would have stayed on the pitch, but it looks a fair decision to me. Lemy was lucky to stay on too, in the replay he is looking to separate the players but in the first run he looks to be running across to join, especially with the swinging arm and head lock. Good job the AR was looking the other way.

Once again its bollocks from Stuart Barnes, who have thought!

Medics Need Resuscitation

Back in my day the medical students of this illustrious London college swept all before them, winning the London Hospitals Cup each and every year. Yesterday they were beaten 78-0, and it is the third time I’ve reffed them this season in the league, each time its been a heavy defeat. The fact they are the arch rivals of my alma mater has nothing to do with that what so ever.

The game was barely a minute old when the visitor scored their first try but for the next 30 minutes the Medics held the tide, they worked well in the tight and scrambled defence saw them keeping out the Black tide. There were some minor issues with props not binding but there was a fair and safe fight in scrums, despite the physical disadvantage of the home side. The final ten minutes of the half saw three good tries, which finished off the contest. By now the visitors were securing fast ball and the excellent fly half was able to deliver double mis-passes which added width the home side could not cope with.

The first half ended with a yellow card for the Black hooker, as he attempted to pull down a maul using the head of the Red lock. Despite being down to 14 men, Black still racked up 4 tries, 1 in the first half and three at the start of the second. Red had by now completely lost all shape and as a few fresh legs appeared from the training match adjacent, some extra dynamism appeared. Unfortunately for Red, their best player, No8, was badly supported by his pack resulting in too many turnovers. There was to be another yellow in the dying minutes as Red flanker (one of the the fresh legs) brought his boot down on an errant leg in a ruck.

Despite the hammering the home side gave me a good score card and surprising the winning side were the ones to conceded two penalties for back chat.

Rugby Club Bars #2

Student bar again this time and the contrast could not be different to Saturday, would you believe there are 4 home team here today? A friendly bar man, referees get their first pint free but a chat with him resulted in a second free one too. They had sold out of all draft beer so it was a decent bottle of Old Specked Hen.

Couple of New Links

There are a couple of new referees blogging out there;

lsrfur-blog is a fellow London Society who is young and keen and viewed as a Referee With Potential
therugbyref operates someone in the South of England and is a couple of notches further up the ladder.

Please have a read about these guys too

Out of the way old man

There is an old saying, “Youth and talent is not match for age and skulduggery”; this was put to the test on Saturday as I took control of a student team verses an adult league team. The students train with the opposition so they were clear this was to be a full contact training match of four quarters. My enthusiasm dropped markedly on hearing this.

From the kick off it was clear that the students were up for it speed and accurate execution saw them quickly rack up three tries. The skulduggery was provided by the grey and balding no6 who was warned about where he put his feet and lashing out at being held back. He was quickly off the field as the the home captain rocketed into him on the floor (with a dropped knee that I missed). This was the second time the captain had done this and yet again I erred about carding him, had it been a competitive game I would have but I choose not to as I wasn’t sure it would have achieved much. On reflection, he should have walked, he had already been warned. Clearly, if I had seen the knee then a red card would have been the sanction.

The home side were able to finish the first half 33-0 as all possession was pushed wide quickly; 3-4 to one overlaps were frequent and surprisingly often squandered. The second half was less one sided as the substitutes were rotated and increasingly the students started to appear on behalf of the visitors. I became concerned in the final quarter as a new prop appeared, he clearly wasn’t up to it, small with poor technique. However, as this was a training match, I was able to talk with his opposite number and he agreed to protect him. Young props have to get experienced somehow and this was a good opportunity for him to cut his teeth. I am glad I spotted this and worked constructively with the team, but I warned his coach that he needs a lot more coaching before he is let loose in proper match. The next prop and referee may not be so obliging and the consequences disastrous. Final score 48-0