Recent content by Gracie

Always happy to admit I may have got it wrong nad therby learn and this weekend I had just such an occasion. All insights appreciated to the following scenario: Last play of the game and I award a penalty to red who kick for touch and take the have a line out in blue 22 Red knock on in the line...

It's been more than 24 hours since the Pro 14 final and having had time to reflect I'm still mystified by Nigel Owen's decision to only award a yellow to Rob Carney for a dangerous tackle that saw him take Stuart Hogg out in the air while following up his own kick. Hogg was injured out of th...

Having just watched the higlights of Eng v Ireland, I find myself thinking that this was not a YC. While it was late, so penalty, it was no later than the one in the second half on May from which Slade scored and the evidence shows the tackle was not high an there were wrapped arms. Was it...

Having watched Scotland v Fiji and England v NZ, as both a referee and a fan I'm left concerned by the role of TMOs. My concern is that it the person in a studio not on the field that is making decisions on an inconsistent basis. Park my partisan head in the Scotland referrals and lets look at...

One of those decisions in a game where you doubt yourself! Blue BC is wrapped up by red defender, other players quickly join in and 'maul' is called. Blue manages to get their knees to ground to immediate cries from his side that the red player must release him. Red player quickly releases the...

Never-ending penalty advantage (anywhere in the opposite half it seems), non-existent officiating of the back foot with players consistently ahead of the back foot, players flying over their own players at the breakdown and blockers going ahead of the breakdown, These are just some of the...

Was it me? As Edinburgh's Damien Hoyden broke through with just Fergus McFadden between hime and the try line, McFadden took the player out at head height with his shoulder. As the TMO indicated there had been a “no-arms tackle and the commentators expected a RC, Mitrea, decided on a penalty...

First up an enthralling game, I was disappointed to see GC as the ref and he did nothing to change my view on his abilities. From start to finish he allowed Toulon tacklers to hold onto the tackled player on the ground, far from penalising this, he then penalised the Bath player for holding on...

Is this really allowed? Watching this WC I'm struck by the way the southern hemisphere teams in particular go past the ball at the breakdown. In part this is the tactic of flopping over the breakdown to stop the opposition competing, but all too often it involves running round in front of the...

16 minutes in and already I find myself concerned that the ref is missing things; penalty against Georgia when NZ player clearly not supporting his weight after 12 mins then RMG disengaged from scrum to take on the Georgian player, pls don't let this be trend

Watching the 6N games this weekend, does the back foot no longer count as offside at the ruck? The failure by all referees to give the attacking see the space they deserve is so frustrating. This is especially true in the red zone. Defending sides are able to defend halfway up the breakdown...

For once watching rather than reffing, when an interesting situation arose. Close game between two poor sides, dull but good playing conditions. Yellow winger breaks away on his now and is ten yards out from the try line when the one covering player from blue come across and takes the winger...

Interesting situation today and I'd appreciate some views. Blue team in a maul situation consistently sought to enact a choke tackle on red players and then drag the player to ground. Once grounded they simply hung on and awaited the turnover and a scrum in their favour. It appears legal...

Is it me? Aus consistently putting ball in straight (but pinged once) NZ consistently squint feed (but only pinged once). It seems pretty clear from Aaron Smith's body position that he is going to put it into the second row and he is, It is a situation made more obvious by NZ hooker pushing only...

Joubert had a very poor game, he seemed to have no idea about the scrum whatsoever. He appeared to have no confidence in his own decision making and gave a series of baffling decisions against Scotland - so much so that at the close they would not take a scrum - ruining the game to a large...