English Championship (tier 2) - Play-Offs

First topic message reminder :

So, The 8th (and for now final) Play-Offs for promotion to the Premiership will commence on the weekend of 29th April.

(1) London Irish face (4) Doncaster
(2) Yorkshire Carnegie face (3) Ealing Trailfinders

with teh matches to be held as followed:

Play off semi-final Leg 1 April 29
Play off semi-final Leg 2 May 6

Greene King IPA Championship Final Leg 1 Wednesday 17th May: Yorkshire Carnegie vs London Irish
Greene King IPA Championship Final Leg 2 Wednesday 24th May: London Irish vs Yorkshire Carnegie


London Irish and LeedsYorkshire choose the order of their semi-finals, with the highest ranked finalist choosing the order of the final matches. Although the four semi-finalists were already known before this recent round of matches - with only the placing of 3rd and 4th still open - LI will have been pleased that Jersey, who have beaten them twice in recent weeks,  were unable to sneak into the 4th spot (in the end losing out to Doncaster on number of wins).

It is interesting that the final round of matches featured the same match-ups we shall see in the semi finals, with Yorkshire beating visitors Ealing, and LI securing an away win at Doncaster. However all sides know that the scoreboards are reset in a fortnight and it is all to play for. It seems farcical that LI could finish 33 points ahead of Doncaster, yet still lose out to them. Not many will mourn the passing of this ludicrous play-off system.

Full fixtures will be updated when known.

If he'd been dazed in any way he should surely have been removed from the field for a HIA at least?

Doesn't lessen the offence mind. Was a bad tackle even if there was no real malice. Sitting in the stand seeing it on the big screen, I assumed it was being reviewed and that he would cop a card. Wouldn't have been surprised with a red or yellow as it was borderline between the two for me. That said despite all the directives the on field sanctions and bans handed out (or not) for various offences never seem to be that consistent. Not an easy task, but have seen players get away with a yellow for worse and punished more for less, even taking into account mitigation/guilty pleas etc.

Margin_Walker wrote:If he'd been dazed in any way he should surely have been removed from the field for a HIA at least?

Doesn't lessen the offence mind. Was a bad tackle even if there was no real malice. Sitting in the stand seeing it on the big screen, I assumed it was being reviewed and that he would cop a card. Wouldn't have been surprised with a red or yellow as it was borderline between the two for me. That said despite all the directives the on field sanctions and bans handed out (or not) for various offences never seem to be that consistent. Not an easy task, but have seen players get away with a yellow for worse and punished more for less, even taking into account mitigation/guilty pleas etc.

Yeah, at the time I was a bit surprised he wasn't. Just re-watched it and he had at least a couple of minutes of physio work on him doing the usual checks that his neck worked properly etc

He actually looked ok once he'd got up and stretched his jaw a few times so maybe he wasn't 'dazed' so much as a bit shaken up.

Looking forward to the game but think Irish may have a bit of a stroll.

First 20 minutes will decide whether it's a stroll or a nervy affair. If we can nudge ahead we'll settle and stroll it I reckon, but if they score first it could get a bit nervy.

Cyril wrote:
What was unbelievable was Doyle never even considered viewing the video.

I never watch Division 2 but do they actually have video replays available?

The comeptition regualltions make no mention of them or a video ref.

Pretty sure there was a TMO for the first leg - but at my age my memory isn't what it was

Generally speaking in the Championship, if there's television there, there's a Television Match Official.

So very few games in the league have them, but this one did.

Right on cue Doyle is announced as the ref for the AP final. At least they're not even pretending that referees are being held to account for their performances.

Just checking a point of law - don't you have to be the rear-most player to pick the ball up from a ruck?

Decent first half by YC but that's poor tackling for the Lewington try. He's pretty rapid though.

Think that might be game.

Lewi is quick and slippery but agree the tackling was poor ...

Ok, that's game. YC forcing it far too much but not sure what else they could do really.

Welcome back to the Prem Irish 

From one extreme to the other - Yellow just for touching someone in the air ...

Fair play to YC, they're not lying down.

The Irish bench is pretty tasty for this level 

Indeed

A little harsh yellow? The Irish yellow for 'taking out in the air' was maybe harsh too.

I think a tip is an automatic card ...

Heaf wrote:I think a tip is an automatic card ...

Yeah, by the law it's correct.

Court off and a penalty try.

Entertaining game anyway

It's like a Super Rugby scoreline (maybe not quite the skill level)

Yellow OK - penalty try is dubious ... but Sir has been trying his hardest to help them out

Ooh reds!

This is an insane game.

not sure how that ended up a pen to YC ...

Carley not shy with the card tonight

Fair play, Irish deserve the win over the two legs, but YC have been really gutsy.

I don't think that anyone (including me) thought that the score would be this close.

Another 20 minutes and Yorkshire would win this

Only kidding...

Carley calls release and then allows YC to crawl along on the ground ... a tactic they've used for both games ...

Heaf wrote:Carley calls release and then allows YC to crawl along on the ground ... a tactic they've used for both games ...

You're surely not saying that YC have had the rub of the green over the two legs?

I'd say it's 6 of 1 and half a dozen of the other actually ... e.g. their first try tonight looked suspect to me plus a load of other calls were just wrong ...

Come on Heaf, how can you complain about stuff like that when Irish clearly had the better luck with the refereeing decisions over both legs?

Anyway, the right team has gone up so the play-offs come to an end without another injustice.

With Worcester and Newcastle both much improved Irish will need a few signings to avoid the drop. Fortunately rumours have been swirling for months that they do have at least a couple lined up.

Heaf wrote:I'd say it's 6 of 1 and half a dozen of the other actually ... e.g. their first try tonight looked suspect to me plus a load of other calls were just wrong ...

Ah, ok. I thought Doyle was rough on YC in the first leg but it's all interpretation.

Irish deserved it over the two legs (and also over the season as a whole) so congrats

Pleased that YC put up a heck of a fight over the two legs though. Next season looks dodgy though with all the clear-out.

Just a thought, is there a more profitable match for a club to win in world rugby? I'm sure all money from the European cups and the AP are evenly distributed amongst the English clubs. With the Top 14 and Pro D2 both governed by the same organisation I imagine there is a smoothing of funds between the leagues.

Fuzzy Dunlop wrote:Come on Heaf, how can you complain about stuff like that when Irish clearly had the better luck with the refereeing decisions over both legs?

Anyway, the right team has gone up so the play-offs come to an end without another injustice.

With Worcester and Newcastle both much improved Irish will need a few signings to avoid the drop. Fortunately rumours have been swirling for months that they do have at least a couple lined up.

Not complaining just saying I think there were many dodgy calls/non-calls against LI too which overall I think evened it out ... but of course I'm biased

Only saw the first half.
Some scoreline in the end.
Well done to Irish.
Look forward to seeing them back in the prem.

Yorkshire scored 6 tries, that is pathetic...................

What a night.  That I think was the craziest game of rugby I have ever witnessed.  The last half hour was just harem scarem stuff but in reality completely irrelevant as we hade about a 30 point lead over the two legs by that point and the team appeared to just be waiting for the final whistle and the trophy presentation.

It was also the longest half of rugby I’ve ever watched I think, with Carley’s complete overuse of the TMO in stark contrast to JP’s absolute refusal to use it last week.  

I don’t really know what else to say other than we did it.  We’re back at the first time of asking.  Was good to find out post match who the confirmed leavers are, and whilst on a personal level I’ll miss a couple of the, like Tom Court (retiring) and Luke Narraway (Coventry) I don’t think any Irish supporter is lamenting the loss of any of them.