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Thorn said he was hoping Paisami would be back for the Crusaders game, but that call would be made next week.

How does any spectator know if it was a knock on? Unlike League where a dropped ball in any direction is for some bewildering reason considered a knock on, in Union it must be propelled towards the opponent's goal line. If Tupou lost the ball in contact and it went directly to ground or...

Can anyone confirm which Laws will apply for SRTT, given the two comps just completed used differing trial type Laws? I am assuming they are reverting to World Rugby International Laws. It will be interesting to see how teams adapt to a different set of Laws from what they have just worked...

Petaia should actually be an easy one. He is mostly more liability than asset where the occasional good thing may lead to a try but when balanced against the three or four poor things which usually result in turnover of possesion (and at international level probably lead to an opposition try)...

Unfortunately,an AR does not have the benefit of hindsight as you do. He/she makes the call as the offence occurs (ie much closer to the time of photo 1 rather than photo 2 in this instance) and communicates that to the Ref who then processes the incoming message along with thinking about the...

Umbrella type defence patterns are designed to attempt to keep the ball constrained to the inside backs. Not sure if this was the case here however if it were then it is intended to cut off wider play and allows defences to tighten up in the middle. The bottom line being that it is not just...

Perhaps whoever was throwing the shadow you can see in the bottom right of the first picture, which is clearly out of alignment with the rest of the shadows.

1. A Souths kick for touch from midway between the halfway and ten metre line that went wrong and ended up over the dead ball line, however the nearside AR and Referee both got the spot for the scrum about ten metres wrong. There was very little game time after the kick so the Ref did not have...

GPS v Souths was a stop start affair due in part to some inept refereeing and both teams struggling to get a rhythm going in the first proper hit out of the year. GPS able to put some put ground attacking moves together and looked dangerous when it clicked, while Souths resorted manly to kick...

Petaia has always been the victim of overhype since he started playing regularly against men. For his 10% X factor he has 60-70% poor ball handling/security, poor kicks, poor decision making and increasing lack of confidence; with the remaining 20-30% being just average. In the last game he...

I understand that the critical problem at GPS last year was actually hookers rather than props. In a highly unusual year the four top hookers (Nguamo, Simkin, Casey and Freney) were all out and the fifth string hooker had to step up and not only start but play the full 80 in at least two games...

As referees we are coached to look mostly at the tight head, not the loose head. If the tight head is taking a couple of forward steps then the scrum is likely to be rewarded, as long as he is not deliberately angling in (which is different from the opposition loose head getting driven out)

Who does Bond have trials against?

I believe most clubs will be starting inter club (as distinct from intra club) trials in about a month - ie three weeks before Easter. Easter is time off then first competition round the first weekend after Easter.

Not a lot of change room options. Club Rugby Finals days would be a challenge. Even a curtain raiser before a main game would be difficult. Will there be a phase 2 (in the future building space??) or an option for demountable change room space?

Biggest takeaway for me was that the squad has poor depth. Not many, if any, of the guys given their opportunity to show they can play at Super level grasped it. If not for the experienced guys on both sides the game would have been quite poor. The trial probably showed Thorn more about what...

In the early 1980's there was a comp called the XXXX Cup. Each country region would have an internal competition (between cities) to then be selected in either the North Qld, Central Qld, or Southern Qld rep teams. The three teams would then come to Brisbane and play a Brisbane team in a four...

Plus someone with referee expertise on call, similar to the NFL. Might go someway to limit the appalling lack of knowledge around what the current laws actually are and how the laws of the game are applied under the annual guidance given to referees.

Liking the look of the Nine/Stan deal.

The Ref can ask the TMO to check his general play decisions. Listen to Berry on the run in genaral plan and you would have heard him asking the TMO to check things he was doubtful about. Berry was trying to let the game flow but would come back if his call was wrong.