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If the ref had a good game, I will say so. It's not hard. When the ref gives a team warning after an offside penalty where a replay right after showed the guy wasn't offside, it's sad. When he gives a 50/50 penalty against them five minutes later 30m from the oppositions' line and issues a...

No, the Reds needed the ref to ref both teams, not just them. It's not a complex thing, you'd think that you could grasp that simple point. Sure, it wasn't the right tactics, but they weren't game losing tactics to the Lions either. Unless the ref did what he did. Which is gift the Lions...

Or, you could admit the ref was absolutely horrible and cost the Reds the game. Is that so hard? Wonder what you would be saying if that happened to the Brumbies....

I wouldn't say that, there's been a few poor performances other ways, but they tend to favour the home teams, even in SA derbies.

Reckon the Stormers deserved the bonus point from that. The penalty try from one scrum that collapsed 3m to 4m out was harsh. As someone mentioned, Grant missing so many kicks, a few of them quite easy, really cost them. Both teams were depleted, but I thought the Brumbies a little more hurt...

Agree, he was a huge gamble after his time in the AFL. But it's a gamble that has paid off handsomely for the ARU. I think it was fair to say he was unlikely to play for the Wallabies in his first year before the start of the season, but by mid-season it was becoming clearer how good he was...

Stormers are struggling on their tour, but I actually think they will go into this one as favourites. They pushed the Brumbies and deserved the bonus point that they lost right at the end. Let's not mention the refs, but Reds are penalising themselves out of games, and they must take a fair...

I actually think there's two reasons: - home side bias, most (not all) contentious refereeing performances tend to favour the home side, particularly when the crowd gets going - familiarity with the SA teams / players thanks to the Currie Cup - we saw that last week with the Sharks v Reds

Yeah, I agree with Blue. I thought I made it clear in my earlier posts that the best explanation is incompetence. In recent history SA has actually had more than its fair share of top refs. Currently, the refs being selected for games from SA are just bad. And it's not just the SA refs -...

I think Hodgson's age may work against him. He's 33 this year.

Generally I'd say that Hanlon's razor applies, but given the recent spate of refereeing controversies involving SA teams with SA refs in SA again foreign opposition, you'd think that there is a reasonable explanation. I actually think that the incompetence of SA refs is a fair excuse, as is...

At the end of the day the less said about this game may be better. When Nick Mallet says the Reds were ripped off by a SA team, you just need to move on and hope Lyndon Bray deals with it correctly. http://www.sarugbymag.co.za/blog/details/reds-have-reason-to-feel-aggrieved There will be...

Hey whatty, how about that quarter final where Pocock legitimately owned your entire team? Great game; one of my favourites! My favourite thing about it was the cracker of a game Bryce Lawrence had. Shame your fellow South Africans sent him death threats. Ruined his career. So sad from your...

Oh, and I love Horan, and he was indisputably (at least in Australia!) the best 12 in the professional era, but he shows just why playing ability doesn't necessarily correlate to commentating ability. edit: Agree with Dismal, the best from the Australia's lot are Gregan, Sharpe and Kafer...

I find some of the SA commentators to be just as bad as our (and NZ's) lot. Just as biased and annoying, primarily talking about their team, and so on. Inability to understand why the ref is awarding a penalty when you can hear the freaking ref mike. I actually don't mind TJ, so long as a...

Oh, and at the Reds, McVerry spent most of his time behind David Croft. As a result he got a lot of his games off the bench and/or out of position. Remember him being fairly solidly built for an openside, though.

Well, at least Tom McVerry is an openside, and he'll be the only one on the Brumbies books. Wonder if he will get any game time.

Definitely no try, you can't push yourself to your knees and propel yourself forward before playing the ball. How the ref could over rule the TMO on something so black and white is beyond me. Swings and roundabouts for the Blues - they benefit from the wrong ruling this time. Both teams...

Interesting selection. McVerry is a bit of a journeyman, solid player, nothing more. Became a regular squad member during the Reds' worst period; doubt he would've made other teams at the time.

Intereresting selections, exactly how many players are out of position in that backline? I count 4?