Steff Evans cleared to play in Pro12 Final

First topic message reminder :

Evans has been great this season and was having a fantastic game and was unlucky with the circumstances but he has strangely been cleared and not banned because apparently Samson Lee was the one who made the tackle dangerous even though Evans was the one who took Ringroses legs above the horizontal. Yet another baffling and contradictory judgement handed down


The incident for anyone who didn't see it

PhilBB wrote:

No9 wrote:

marty2086 wrote:Evans cleared to play, Nigel Owens reffing his own club, Joey Barton has got his Paddy Power account fired up

Suggestion that Nigel Owens is biased is unbelievable. He is probably the most unbiased ref there is. I honestly didn't think he'd show bias if he were to referee Wales v All Blacks in a World Cup final. It makes a pleasant change from having Irish referees in charge when Welsh regions play Irish ones... Now there is some bias...

Owens has the nickname O'wens in Wales.

He has a 73% record of Irish wins in games between Irish and non-Irish teams:

http://www.cardiffrfcfans.co.uk/analysis/ref_by_nationality_of_teams.php?refereeID=31&countryID=3

His record of games between Ireland and New Zealand is interesting, too, if you're really that bothered.

In most of those games Irish teams were favourites or hot favourites. Leinster winning v Zebre for example is included as evidence of Owens bias towards Irish teams!

I don't think anyone really believes Owens favours the Irish teams, the problem for many Scarlets fans is he over compensates when controlling games involving his home region to make sure he is not been biased to the team he grew up supporting.
I don't for 1 minute believe he would deliberately give a wrong decision involving any team but I have watched him give all the 50 50 calls to whoever we are playing every time he referee's the Scarlets. He also tends to over use the TMO to check every little aspect of a play when we score, not something he does with other teams.
TBH I would imagine the vast majority of officials do the same thing to try to be impartial. That is the reason we should always have neutral officials controlling games, especially games as big as this one.

PhilBB wrote:
Owens has the nickname O'wens in Wales.

He has a 73% record of Irish wins in games between Irish and non-Irish teams:

http://www.cardiffrfcfans.co.uk/analysis/ref_by_nationality_of_teams.php?refereeID=31&countryID=3

His record of games between Ireland and New Zealand is interesting, too, if you're really that bothered.

Phyliss head constituting all of Wales

2ndtimeround wrote:I don't think anyone really believes Owens favours the Irish teams, the problem for many Scarlets fans is he over compensates when controlling games involving his home region to make sure he is not been biased to the team he grew up supporting.
I don't for 1 minute believe he would deliberately give a wrong decision involving any team but I have watched him give all the 50 50 calls to whoever we are playing every time he referee's the Scarlets. He also tends to over use the TMO to check every little aspect of a play when we score, not something he does with other teams.
TBH I would imagine the vast majority of officials do the same thing to try to be impartial. That is the reason we should always have neutral officials controlling games, especially games as big as this one.

Hes in a no win situation tomorrow. They should have got an English or French ref for it.

profitius wrote:

2ndtimeround wrote:I don't think anyone really believes Owens favours the Irish teams, the problem for many Scarlets fans is he over compensates when controlling games involving his home region to make sure he is not been biased to the team he grew up supporting.
I don't for 1 minute believe he would deliberately give a wrong decision involving any team but I have watched him give all the 50 50 calls to whoever we are playing every time he referee's the Scarlets. He also tends to over use the TMO to check every little aspect of a play when we score, not something he does with other teams.
TBH I would imagine the vast majority of officials do the same thing to try to be impartial. That is the reason we should always have neutral officials controlling games, especially games as big as this one.

Hes in a no win situation tomorrow. They should have got an English or French ref for it.

Fully agree they should've got a neutral ref, although i can see the argument that he's meant to be the best around. Also both sides are used to him, which is probably better than having an English/French ref, especially for neutral fans watching, as there should be less confusion around his calls.

I personally don't like having him ref our matches, as I too get the feeling he is being very careful to avoid claims of looking after his boys. Pretty sure all fans tend to have a ref they feel that way about (Barnes, Clancy and Rolland spring to mind).

Rory_Gallagher wrote:If you lot haven't noticed, you are the ones who continually bring up this crap about crowds and booing and all the rest of it. But since you have brought it up, Irish crowds still don't chant "cheat" and I'm very glad they don't. So no, they aren't the same.

I've never said that welsh crowds are angels but this comment by you is ridiculous and typically irish . It reminds of the times an irish player has started a fight only to have a welsh one finish it; aferwards they've always come on here to state that only the welsh player should be punished (Williams vs Trimble; Davies vs Sexton). The thing that makes us laugh the most is the Irish rugby-football fans thinking they're an exception all the time - just get off the horse lads it's getting annoying now.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:If you lot haven't noticed, you are the ones who continually bring up this crap about crowds and booing and all the rest of it. But since you have brought it up, Irish crowds still don't chant "cheat" and I'm very glad they don't. So no, they aren't the same.

Anyway, hopefully the atmosphere will be good for tomorrow's game and no red cards please.

Rory have to say, our supporters (Ospreys) has to be up there as either worst or close to worst, for the cheat chant, I never have and never will use that chant. I try to make a point of watching our game back on the box before doing a detailed reply, and invariably the chanters are wrong. Yes mistakes are made, and basically IMO it is normally down to incompetence NOT bias. I travel to our games with my Brother in Law who is in his mid 60s and he is one of the worst for these excesses, I just turn and look at him, and then phone him the following day to tell him he's wrong.

2ndtimeround wrote:I don't think anyone really believes Owens favours the Irish teams, the problem for many Scarlets fans is he over compensates when controlling games involving his home region to make sure he is not been biased to the team he grew up supporting.
I don't for 1 minute believe he would deliberately give a wrong decision involving any team but I have watched him give all the 50 50 calls to whoever we are playing every time he referee's the Scarlets. He also tends to over use the TMO to check every little aspect of a play when we score, not something he does with other teams.
TBH I would imagine the vast majority of officials do the same thing to try to be impartial. That is the reason we should always have neutral officials controlling games, especially games as big as this one.

Although I have no issue with Owens being the ref, I do notice that he does seem to over compensate his decisions (when refereeing Welsh sides) to prove he is not biased. I would say that the selection of Owens as ref probably favours Munster more than Scarlets, especially since Munster are at home (well sort of).

Oh, and on Stef Evans being cleared to play, no issue with it. The decision was correct (by the letter of the law) to send him of v Leinster but it would have been very harsh for him to get a suspension. No complaints here

wayne wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:If you lot haven't noticed, you are the ones who continually bring up this crap about crowds and booing and all the rest of it. But since you have brought it up, Irish crowds still don't chant "cheat" and I'm very glad they don't. So no, they aren't the same.

Anyway, hopefully the atmosphere will be good for tomorrow's game and no red cards please.

Rory have to say, our supporters (Ospreys) has to be up there as either worst or close to worst, for the cheat chant, I never have and never will use that chant. I try to make a point of watching our game back on the box before doing a detailed reply, and invariably the chanters are wrong. Yes mistakes are made, and basically IMO it is normally down to incompetence NOT bias. I travel to our games with my Brother in Law who is in his mid 60s and he is one of the worst for these excesses, I just turn and look at him, and then phone him the following day to tell him he's wrong.

We had a spell of it at Ulster following Paynegate where every decision that was contentious you'd get an element who would chant cheat, thankfully it was drowned out and eradicated fairly quickly

wayne wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:If you lot haven't noticed, you are the ones who continually bring up this crap about crowds and booing and all the rest of it. But since you have brought it up, Irish crowds still don't chant "cheat" and I'm very glad they don't. So no, they aren't the same.

Anyway, hopefully the atmosphere will be good for tomorrow's game and no red cards please.

Rory have to say, our supporters (Ospreys) has to be up there as either worst or close to worst, for the cheat chant, I never have and never will use that chant. I try to make a point of watching our game back on the box before doing a detailed reply, and invariably the chanters are wrong. Yes mistakes are made, and basically IMO it is normally down to incompetence NOT bias. I travel to our games with my Brother in Law who is in his mid 60s and he is one of the worst for these excesses, I just turn and look at him, and then phone him the following day to tell him he's wrong.

I've heard it chanted at Rodney Parade too. I don't believe anyone chanting it can genuinely believe the ref is cheating, but they chant it anyway.  

If 'incompetent' was as catchy as 'cheat' maybe they'd chant that instead.

wayne wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:If you lot haven't noticed, you are the ones who continually bring up this crap about crowds and booing and all the rest of it. But since you have brought it up, Irish crowds still don't chant "cheat" and I'm very glad they don't. So no, they aren't the same.

Anyway, hopefully the atmosphere will be good for tomorrow's game and no red cards please.

Rory have to say, our supporters (Ospreys) has to be up there as either worst or close to worst, for the cheat chant, I never have and never will use that chant. I try to make a point of watching our game back on the box before doing a detailed reply, and invariably the chanters are wrong. Yes mistakes are made, and basically IMO it is normally down to incompetence NOT bias. I travel to our games with my Brother in Law who is in his mid 60s and he is one of the worst for these excesses, I just turn and look at him, and then phone him the following day to tell him he's wrong.

Fair play to you sir, hopefully people such as yourself will set an example for the rowdier folk.

LordDowlais wrote:Red card and sending off was enough of a punishment, correct call by the ref, and the correct call by the citing panel, now lets just move on and not make a mountain out of a mole hill.

The kid was starring down a potential ban and could have missed out on getting capped for his country, I am glad common sense has prevailed on this one.

I don't see how the citing panel saying it wasn't his fault and the player getting a red card were both correct.
Only saving grace here is that Scarlets comfortably won the game. If Leinster had pipped Scarlets because they had to play an hour with 14 players on the field, only for the red card to be cleared after the fact, that would have been a complete farce.

What's the punishment or consequence on Mitrea for such a major incorrect decision in a league semi final?

It becomes a little of a mikey take if he gets any punishment for a correct decision!

No 7&1/2 wrote:It becomes a little of a mikey take if he gets any punishment for a correct decision!

Mitrea sent the player off. This was found to be 100% the wrong decision.

By a citing panel who.could themselves be wrong. The only question was who should have been sent off fair enough. That still splits opinions. The panel.thought lee should have been sent off. I'd go with that. Lee has got off scott free but you really can't blame the ref there. Maybe they need to make it explicit and say in these types of situation whoever is.involved in the foul play is sent off ie both of them in this situation.

Why can't the fact that the player was red carded and sent off be enough of a punishment ?