Calcutta Cup match thread

[Big D]

Great, exciting game. Not brilliant performances and both sides will want to work on fixing the deficiencies but Scotland more clinical and edged it.

Two points:



Slight correction: if you sub a prop (say Marler) for George then when the first scrum happens you can then make a temporary sub for the rest of the sin bin period (back row off, Marler back on). You can make front row subs repeatedly in order to keep scrums being contested.

Also, people saying scrums advancing should be reward enough and no need for a penalty: it’s all about safety. That’s the first priority of a ref. A retreating scrum is not a safe place to be and it’s right it’s blown and a penalty awarded. That’s not really commenting on the final few minutes but I can sympathise with O’Keefe for not wanting the game decided on a 50:50 call.

Yes, I totally get the safety argument, but the side going forward doesn’t have to be rewarded with a chance to score points every time. Apart from the fact that it gives a further advantage to the side with a dominant pack, many referees decide who has the upper hand early on and then relentlessly penalise the ‘weaker’ team. This could have happened yesterday as England were stronger in the scrums overall, and the ref could have just awarded them a pen, when the overhead footage suggests this would have been dubious at best.

Just reduce most of the scrum penalties to free kicks. Much fairer, and will lead to a better game, as there will be no point in using your scrum to milk penalties.

That’s just an invitation to the weaker scrum to collapse each time as conceding a free kick is preferable to giving up metres as you are pushed backwards.

The ref started with free kicks yesterday, but when Scotland continued to infringe, he switched to penalties (until the end, when he chickened out of making a decision). In general, that seems the right approach to me.

He also chickened out penalising Marler in the last set of scrums. He obviously decided he wasn't giving a penalty come hell or high water.

[JM2K6]

Yes, that's what everyone is saying.

[Flockwitt]

On the positive side of the reffing I was happy to see the player getting pinged for not releasing the ball after being tackled and getting straight back to his feet. Last year when they were enforcing a fast release of the tackler too many players were getting away with this.

[TheNatalShark]

Yesterday I was absolutely flabbergasted with my team mates almost universal support of Ben Youngs.

I just don't get it.

[Blackmac]

Great, exciting game. Not brilliant performances and both sides will want to work on fixing the deficiencies but Scotland more clinical and edged it.

Two points:



Slight correction: if you sub a prop (say Marler) for George then when the first scrum happens you can then make a temporary sub for the rest of the sin bin period (back row off, Marler back on). You can make front row subs repeatedly in order to keep scrums being contested.

Also, people saying scrums advancing should be reward enough and no need for a penalty: it’s all about safety. That’s the first priority of a ref. A retreating scrum is not a safe place to be and it’s right it’s blown and a penalty awarded. That’s not really commenting on the final few minutes but I can sympathise with O’Keefe for not wanting the game decided on a 50:50 call.

Yes, I totally get the safety argument, but the side going forward doesn’t have to be rewarded with a chance to score points every time. Apart from the fact that it gives a further advantage to the side with a dominant pack, many referees decide who has the upper hand early on and then relentlessly penalise the ‘weaker’ team. This could have happened yesterday as England were stronger in the scrums overall, and the ref could have just awarded them a pen, when the overhead footage suggests this would have been dubious at best.

Just reduce most of the scrum penalties to free kicks. Much fairer, and will lead to a better game, as there will be no point in using your scrum to milk penalties.

That’s just an invitation to the weaker scrum to collapse each time as conceding a free kick is preferable to giving up metres as you are pushed backwards.

The ref started with free kicks yesterday, but when Scotland continued to infringe, he switched to penalties (until the end, when he chickened out of making a decision). In general, that seems the right approach to me.

He started with free kicks as that is the sanction for that infringement.