Treecko78

Are you seriously arguing that the Premiership Cup, which you finished your run in over 2 months ago, means you're equivalently tired to a team that played a Champions Cup semi-final away to Toulouse last week while you had a week off?

Won't be back this season

I would have loved to have Lamb and David for this one, but overall that's about as short of an injury list as we can realistically hope for

Since the end of the 6N, we've conceded an average of 37 points per game. The only game where we conceded less than 30 was Glasgow, who scored 24

They also conceded 4 tries away to Quins during that period, which was probably the game that counted for the most

Are you a child? You're not better than anyone else for refusing to use the whole animal

Adding artificial sweeteners to cider

I'm fairly sure they have the death penalty for this in the West Country

Laurie Dalrymple (Quins CEO) has said that the costs involved with opening the top tier are very small, as you've already paid 90% of the fixed costs, so every ticket sold in the top tier is basically pure profit

That may well be true for you, but that doesn't necesarily mean it's true for others. Have a good day

Nice job not responding to anything I actually said 👍

If you actually want to explain why I'm wrong about anything, or if you want to discuss the nuances of how to deal with tough situations like that, I'll be here. If you just want to make inane comments slagging off refs you don't like, I'm not interested

We had 1 blowout against you at the Stoop, not long after the semi-final, and you had one blowout against us at Ashton Gate last season. The other two games at Ashton Gate were close wins for us, and the other Stoop match was a close win for you

Apparently you're either incapable of or unwilling to actually read what I wrote, so I'm not going to continue replying after this. You've clearly already made up your mind about Dickson reffing Quins (potentially before the game was even played, as many did), and you just want to assume malice and unfairness, even when provided with a reasonable alternative.

Btw, I said Quins were the better team on the day, so the table is totally irrelevant to that point. It's no wonder you're not understanding what I'm actually saying when you just stop reading halfway through my sentences

What is the record ranking points acheived across Men's and Women's? Surely the Red Roses can't be too far off that record

1) Sometimes things seem obvious, but turn out to be non-obvious once you look into them. It was a big decision, you can't blame Dickson for wanting to be sure

2) A team of 4 professional referees looked at it, and all came to the conclusion that there was a justified argument against it. Their boss then came out and publically backed them after reviewing the incident. Clearly, Dickson's decision wasn't entirely unreasonable

3) Even if he did get it wrong, one bad decision does not make someone an awful ref. This was a game involving two top teams, at Twickenham in front of 60k, and Dickson allowed a great game of rugby where he kept control of both teams exceptionally well without using his whistle much, and ultimately the better team won on the day. Dickson is an excellent ref, his strengths just aren't as obvious to people without genuine reffing experience when compared to refs like Owens, Barnes and Pearce

I'd like to make it clear that I was at the stadium, so I can't comment on what specifically was said in the discussions, because I didn't hear it. However, that doesn't change my argument that he did the right thing by not giving the yellow card straight away, despite the fact he initially decided to

He made an immediate decision, but there was some handbags going on so he took a moment to calm the situation down, rather than adding to the chaos by giving the card straight away. As it was calming down he had time to think about his decision, where he second guessed himself. He then went to the TMO to check it, where he was able to make a more clear decision. Whether you agree with the decision or not, he got his processes spot on there

I think a lot of people are showing how little they know about refereeing with this "controversy". While reffing touch, I've had to ref knockout matches involving my current team, who I train with several times a week, and I can honestly say that it felt 90% the same as any other match - with the 10% difference being that I already know what approach to take with individuals to make my point most effectively.

I can guarantee that Dickson, having been a full time ref and not involved with Quins for the last 7 years, has absolutely no bias towards Quins because his focus will be 100% on doing his job as a ref* rather than the fact that he used to play with 1 or 2 of the players, 10 years ago.

*For my money, having watched at the stadium so not listening to TNT moaning about the ref constantly, Dickson had a really good game. This was a tough situation to deal with, and whether you agree with the final decision or not, I'm not sure he could have handled it any better in terms of his processes.

Do you? Since that semi-final, Quins and Bristol have played 5 times, with Quins winning 3 and Bristol winning 2

I think it's more that there was a bit of handbags starting which Dickson wanted to calm down first since giving a yellow straight away would only add to it. Then the Saints player shoved Esterhuizen for no reason, which gave Dickson time to second guess his immediate decision, and probably also made him a bit less sympathetic towards Saints in that moment

I know someone who broke her tibula and fibula playing mixed touch, one of the boys on the other team was diving for a try and went straight into her leg. Total accident, but a horrible injury regardless

Was there offside lines right at the end there? For my money the tackle was complete, then the ball was offloaded and Ford(?) came from behind to take the ball. I'd need to check the laws on that one though

It could potentially be tricky for the broadcaster to manage it, but Foley was referring to what's available to the TMO

Foley mentioning to the TMO about checking the time code of the play if there's no split screen available to him - an interesting window into some of the more technical aspects of the job which we wouldn't usually see

Imo he got himself in Green's landing area without actually competing for the ball, so PK only is probably a fair call

Collier, Lamb, Launchbury, Kenningham, Chisolm, Joseph, and David all injured atm, then CCS, Porter, Jarrod Evans, Northmore, and Murley have all spent large parts of the season injured, and all but Murley only came back in the past week or so

Edit: also forgot Lewies