Penalty Tries

[First Try Tickle]

After watching last nights game on TV it was clear the cheating tactics of hudds worked a treat for them. The 2 obstuctions to stop us scoring cost us the match and therefore they won by cheating.

As this worked so well for them will this not mean they will do it again next week, and as they were only very slightly punnished is it not something other teams might try.

So should the rulling not be that the ref should go to the video ref to see if a penaly try should be awarded.

If it happens in football the defender would get straight red, and even though the first deserved 10 mins, the brown one should have been a sending off.

You cannot see it on TV, but the other Hudds players congratulated Brown on his try saving tackle, and you could see as he walked off it was what had been told to do.

The phrase "cheats never prosper" came to mind last night, but if it had been 22-0 at half time then i think we would have gone onto an easy win.

[Alex the Warrior]

I have always believed the criteria for awarding a penalty try were far too strict. I believe that if an opponent only has one man preventing him scoring and he commits a 'professional foul' a try should be awarded.

[MrDave]

Personally I think that penalty tries should only be awarded if foul play prevented a certain try, and it must be 100% certain that a try would have been scored.

I agree that teams shouldn't be able to get away with obvious cheating but I think the rule as it is, when applied correctly, is appropriate.

If referees start awarding tries for incidents that happen 10-20 metres away from the try line then it will lead to players deliberately looking for fouls when they are about to be tackle and then the officials have to decided which are genuine fouls and which players are trying to con the referee.

Imagine if Warrington make a break against Wigan in the Grand Final and Lee Briers is there only man in support, he knows he is too fat and slow to get to the line so instead starts to grab a chasing Wigan player and make it look like he is being held back before doing some elaborate soccer dive, referee believes Briers sob story and Wigan concede a try without the team getting anywhere near the line.

[cpwigan]

Under the rules of RL you would never get a penalty try. The first instance it happened should have been a sin bin and IMO that was Bentham's biggest mistake and it encouraged Huddersfield to continue with their tactics and led to repeated offences / serious foul play.

However technically and maybe by the rules of RL, stamping might be a send off not a sin bin. I do not know what the rule book says.

[First Try Tickle]

But also imagine Wigan are 4 points behind Warrington in the GF and with seconds to go Sam breaks clear, he has pat by his side and only Mathers to beat. Briers pulls back pat and the tries gone. We have a penalty and Briers sent for 10 mins, but wire win the match.

I agree about players looking for a foul, bet if its a video decision then theres more chance of the correct decision.

Then again, that wwould be my ideal situation, sam through the middle with Mathers to beat. No need for pat.

[Matthew]

From the way that Sam skinned the reigning man of steel - I'd give him better than 50/50 against any fullback in a one on one.

Whilst he may not drop as many as Mathers; last night Hodgson looked past his best to me. He doesn't have the pace or endurance that made him famous - which is excellent news considering who he is playing for next year (with a rumoured salary of 15 quid every two weeks)

[gpartin]

in any other teams sport deliberately fouling someone to prevent a score would be a sending off. Penalty tries are down too much to the ref's judgment rather than fact and there's too much in the game like this as it is.

[mike binder]

Under the rules of RL you would never get a penalty try. The first instance it happened should have been a sin bin and IMO that was Bentham's biggest mistake and it encouraged Huddersfield to continue with their tactics and led to repeated offences / serious foul play.

However technically and maybe by the rules of RL, stamping might be a send off not a sin bin. I do not know what the rule book says.

wat is a deliberate tripping sure its a straight red

[cpwigan]

They changed that rule Mike. A trip with the foot used to be an automatic send off but not even that is any more.

I agree with what GP is saying but it can be tricky. For example Saints for several seasons would build up big leads and deliberately concede penalties rather than tries. In a sense it was professionalism and could be called professional fouls.

Without checking the rules I would have thought stamping is a send off.

[gpartin]

They changed that rule Mike. A trip with the foot used to be an automatic send off but not even that is any more.

I agree with what GP is saying but it can be tricky. For example Saints for several seasons would build up big leads and deliberately concede penalties rather than tries. In a sense it was professionalism and could be called professional fouls.

Without checking the rules I would have thought stamping is a send off.

I think the definition of a professional foul is usually clear cut and was meant to be an automatic sinbin, in fact other than after warnings for repeat offences and the recent introduction of ten minutes for taking out a kicker, the sinbin was only used for professional fouls and realistically its only when refs are too useless to enforce it like last night that people start demanding harsher punishments as a proper deterrant. Now Bentham is fully aware of what a professional foul is and should have shown a card. Had he done this perhaps Brown would have thought twice about blatantly ankle tapping a player without the ball. Now the stance the RFL has taken is ridiculous charging Fielden for fighting but not charging Brown. Ankle tapping is just as bad as tripping because the player isn't braced and is far worse than fighting unless there's headbutting involved. Again it looks like they're clamping down on the wrong thing, priorities all wrong and it will creep into the game more. Mason should be up for the grapple tackle on Fielden which was clearly deliberate and targeted, he's an absolute thug.