Munster Vs Blues
Munster Vs Blues
By Andrew Collins
September 20 2008
The Blues travel to Cork on the back of their first win of the season against Ulster last Friday. Cardiff have been far from impressive so far this term, although are actually 2 points better off from the three fixtures than last season.
Dai Young has made several changes to that side, most notably Ceri Sweeney coming in for Nicky Robinson at stand off. The latter was booed by sections of his own fans in the victory last Friday, somewhat harshly, although Sweeney went on to provide the pass for Leigh Halfpenny's decisive try.
Elsewhere, Martyn Williams injury looks set to keep him out until the Calvisano Heineken Cup opener, so Robin Sowden-Taylor starts at 7, while Halfpenny, who was also injured, is replaced by Richard Mustoe.
Other changes include Spice coming in at scrum half, Jamie Roberts at 12 for Alfie, Gareth Williams and Felise are added to the front row, and Andy Powell is a straight swap for Mark Lewis at eight.
The Blues did the double over Munster in the league last season, but last week, the Irish put seven unanswered tries past the Dragons, who just yesterday beat Ulster by 2 points away from home.
It continues the ridiculously hard start to the season for the Blues, who faced the three previous Magner's League champions in 6 days, only to now take on the reigning Heineken Cup Champs.
The match is being shown live on S4C from 7.10pm, with kick off 20 minutes later.
Ben Blair; Richard Mustoe, Jamie Robinson, Jamie Roberts, Gareth Thomas; Ceri Sweeney, Jason Spice; Gethin Jenkins, Gareth Williams, Taufa'ao Filise, Bradley Davies, Paul Tito (capt), Maama Molitika, Robin Sowden Taylor, Andy Powell.
Gary Powell, T Rhys Thomas, Scott Morgan, Mark Lewis, Darren Allinson, Nicky Robinson, Tom Shanklin.
Pack was much better. Sweeney was OK. Muster were poor. I didn't think the ref was too bad. RST offending in the "red zone" was asking for trouble.
Ref warned MUNSTER a little earlier for persistent offending at the breakdown - no warning to the Blues.
RST was on his feet, won the ball and at no point did the ref call hands off at the tackle that eventually saw RST yellow-carded. That decision totally swung the game - 14 points conceded whilst we were a man down when up until that point we had been very effective in defence (apart from the first 2 minutes of course!).
Two incidents of the irish team tackling Blues without the ball in midfield as we pressed into their 22, both ignored!
Munster continued to offend at the breakdown, were even penalised for it, and no yellow card - how the hell can ANYONE think that Peter Alan had an alright game - he was feckless and clueless as usual.
And don't anyone say 'Blues can't balme the ref for their loss' cos in this particular instance the television evidence points to a pretty water tight case against the ref - I rest my case m'Lord!
As Munster were playing their first team a strong second half was always on the cards from Men-O-Cork.
Was concerned to see Tito talking to the touchline interviewer and from the little of the match I caught I thought our lineout was poor in the last 10, so why did he go off?
Quote:HeadCoach
RST was very harshly dealt with.
Ref warned MUNSTER a little earlier for persistent offending at the breakdown - no warning to the Blues.
RST was on his feet, won the ball and at no point did the ref call hands off at the tackle that eventually saw RST yellow-carded. That decision totally swung the game - 14 points conceded whilst we were a man down when up until that point we had been very effective in defence (apart from the first 2 minutes of course!).
Two incidents of the irish team tackling Blues without the ball in midfield as we pressed into their 22, both ignored!
Munster continued to offend at the breakdown, were even penalised for it, and no yellow card - how the hell can ANYONE think that Peter Alan had an alright game - he was feckless and clueless as usual.
And don't anyone say 'Blues can't balme the ref for their loss' cos in this particular instance the television evidence points to a pretty water tight case against the ref - I rest my case m'Lord!
I judge a ref initially on the "feel" I get during a game. I later rerun the game and watch incidents in more detail. During the game I felt he made errors (both ways) but nothing major. Watching the replays I may amend my opinion.
The fact that we, once again created little is more a cause of the defeat than the ref!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:09:22:07:58:27 by ATTR.
Still we should have got something out of the game,
WISH I STILL LIVED IN CARDIFF
I disgree with that opinion as is my right to do so - do not then patronise me by telling me to 'watch with both eyes' just because my opinion does not align itself with yours.
I too record and rewatch the game more than once and I will repeat, if you didn't get the message the first time, that IMO RST was on his feet whilst he won the ball, he was pushed over by the Munster open-side after he had secured the ball - he did not go off his feet in order to prevent Munster from winning that ball,which was the reason for the warning to Munster.
However, in this instance the awarding of the penalty against Sowden-Taylor is less of a problem - I have less issue with the initial decison to penalise him, it is THE IMMEDIATE ISSUING of a YELLOW CARD that was harsh since NO WARNING WAS ISSUED TO THE BLUES and the warning he gave to Munster was not a general one but one SPECIFICALLY FOR MUNSTER.
I don't expect every decision to go in the Blues favour, but I do feel that EITHER referees must be consistent in issung yellow cards as soon as they see negative play OR issue warnings to EACH side, not a mixture of both.
I also have to say that in two of the Blues games - Leinster and Munster - the touch judges have given no support to the referees for incidents in try scoring situations.
1; RST is not supported by his own feet and is therefore off his feet.
2;The ref does not need to issue any warning before issuing a yellow card.
3;The Assistant referee's will only offer assistance as requested by the referee.
4; Why do so many Cardiff fans think that so many refs have an issue with Cardiff?
The ref calls it as he sees it. Live with it. We lost because we were not good enough to score points OUR fault nobody else. Look to the players, coaches and the board for your scapegoats!
Quote:HeadCoach
ATTR you have expressed an opinion about the ref.
I disgree with that opinion as is my right to do so - do not then patronise me by telling me to 'watch with both eyes' just because my opinion does not align itself with yours.
I too record and rewatch the game more than once and I will repeat, if you didn't get the message the first time, that IMO RST was on his feet whilst he won the ball, he was pushed over by the Munster open-side after he had secured the ball - he did not go off his feet in order to prevent Munster from winning that ball,which was the reason for the warning to Munster.
However, in this instance the awarding of the penalty against Sowden-Taylor is less of a problem - I have less issue with the initial decison to penalise him, it is THE IMMEDIATE ISSUING of a YELLOW CARD that was harsh since NO WARNING WAS ISSUED TO THE BLUES and the warning he gave to Munster was not a general one but one SPECIFICALLY FOR MUNSTER.
I don't expect every decision to go in the Blues favour, but I do feel that EITHER referees must be consistent in issung yellow cards as soon as they see negative play OR issue warnings to EACH side, not a mixture of both.
I also have to say that in two of the Blues games - Leinster and Munster - the touch judges have given no support to the referees for incidents in try scoring situations.
Top post
Sadly all fans feel that there team are the most hard done by in every game from the evil little man in the middle. They can't all be true. We all see a game through tinted glasses and less than both eyes. However, ask yourselves some pertinent questions and consider the logical answers.
In most (99%) case the ref could not give a monkeys about who wins.
During the heat of the game many incidents occur outside the field of vision of officials.
The ref make a judgment call in a split second from HIS angle of view not mine. You may well see it differently or he may see something you do not and vice versa.
Yes there are, of course, referees who are corrupt, bent or whatever. We are humans like the rest of you and are individually subject to the same influences upon us as you.
Still all this misses the point as to where responsibility lies for the failure of Cardiff teams time and time again!
In fairness to him, for the worst decsio of the Leinster game Macpherson was in mid-field and probably unsighted. The penalty try shout (which was right in front of where I stand) had to be made by the touch judge on the North side (an aspiring welsh referee no-less - viewed as the natural successor to Nigel Owens on the internatioal board!)
How in @*&%s name he managed to miss it I really do not know as it was, at best a one-handed slap out of the air by the defendng winger who was the last defender with a clear overlap outside!
I go back to my point about touch judges, I've done the training and reffed at junior level and you simply have to rely on huge support from your colleagues on the line. If referees mss something, I fully understand cos it' easy to do, but touch judges are trained to keep an eye on off the ball incidents and deliberate professional foul / foul play. Sadly, many just seem to go to sleep!
Some refs tell their ARs to assist fairly comprehensively others do not so it is hard to know why an offense has not been reported to the ref. I think we need dedicated ARs but resources suggest that it will not happen.
Re the red zone and repeated offenses. It is frustrating that sides have more leeway in the middle of the park than close to the line. However, as long as both sides are treated the same things even out.
The standard of ML referees is a concern. However, let's not loose sight of the more pressing worry about the standard of OUR side
Quote:ATTR
Assessors do watch and report on referees at ML and other games.
Let's face it, the current assessor system contributes nothing to the quality of refereeing.
Every other job of responsibility now requires some degree of accountability - rugby refereeing does no such thing.
Even in cricket, if the umpires are assessed as making a consistently regular error, they are shown video footage, and retrained to account for this weakness.Who sees the rugby referees errors - it's not a transparent system and therefore there is a distinct lack of trust in the integrity of the referee position.
Mistakes are acceptable - consistent, unchecked error should not be acceptable.
I think referees in rugby have a much harder job than umpires in cricket. I also feel they make far less errors that the people on the terraces and in the stand think (due to poor knowledge of the laws etc).
Still it is much easier to blame the ref rather than the team when things go wrong.
Quote:ATTR
And you know this does not happen in Rugby?
I think referees in rugby have a much harder job than umpires in cricket. I also feel they make far less errors that the people on the terraces and in the stand think (due to poor knowledge of the laws etc).
Still it is much easier to blame the ref rather than the team when things go wrong.
Methinks I have touched a bit of a raw nerve ATTR!
Yes I do[/b] know that this does [b]not[u][/u] happen in rugby.
I have a few friends who are referees and one who is a top level assessor and they will openly admit that the assessor system currently in operation in rugby is flawed.
It is not supportive of the referee and his future development, it simply assesses his relative success in specific areas of the game noted by the assessor himself - far too subjective and not enough objective data is used - unlike in current cricket system.
You show your own ignorance by trying to compare the cricket unpire with the rugby referee. It is like comparing chalk and cheese - neither is easy and neither use the same skills.
You are just displaying all the arrogance I would expect from an overdefensive, insecure referee - you sure you're not on the international board!???
At no point have I said that the refereeng job is easy, on the contrary, having refereed myself, I know it is very difficult and mistakes are expected and accepable to anyone who understands the game. What I have a prolem with is referees who use human error as an excuse for poor decsion making - there is a difference.
I reinterate what I stated before, don't say things like, 'Oh well in that case your knowledge must be poor' just because I don't agree with you. You really must learn to understand what opinion means. I think we'll just have to agree to disagree with each other.
You keep getting tetchy like that ATTR and I'll be thinking your Nigel Whitehouse!!!
I've done both and in my opinion Rugby is harder. The game is more dynamic and viewing angles are far more critical and easily obscured.
I refered to supporters in general and not you specifically (I have never met you how so how could I comment on your knowledge?). Most comments I hear around me at games I watch show a totally inaccurate knowledge of the laws of the game. In many cases people quote laws that were changed 20 or more years ago. So I do stand by my comment about supporters in general (and it must be said players and coaches!).
