This Season
Upcoming Matches: January
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15 Dec 2007
S2W: Hove IV 12 v Chichester III 55
Played on the same pitch as the mad bath I had last weekend, but on drier mud!
This was one way traffic in the first half with Chi running in 7 tries
down the slope with the wind behind. 0-50 at the break and Hove not convinced
this was Chi's 3rds!
Change of ends changed the nature of the match with Hove scoring 3 tries before Chi
got the last.
Was video'd and look forward to seeing the evidence by the end of the week. I
suspect I missed a blatant offside after a fly hack and a number of not through the gate.
My positioning wasn't as good as usual - I was staying very close to the
breakdowns and didn't get into much of a rhythm.
At one Chi lineout the thrower was taking an age before throwing in, so I blew
and told him he needed to get it in quicker - which he then did. Chi's next lineout
was on Hove's 5m line and he took an age again so I gave a FK against. Chi player queries
decision, Hove take quick tap and move the ball forward steadily, but the Chi player is
still moaning to me on and off, so I decide by the time he's got almost to the half way line
I'll give the penalty against him for dissent. I could have given it sooner, but since
Hove were making ground and the more we moved on the was worse he making things for himself
I decided I'd just wait a while!
Enjoyed this one, good feedback after, including Hove players who said (even though
they'd lost) I was much better than a few weeks back (23 Nov which they'd won!) and
where I'd let their opposition put me off my game. That had been a 'moan-y' game ... this
had been a 'smile-y'.
9 Dec 2007
U16F: Hove 19 v Medway 34
Just to make fellow refs jealous on a weekend where the majority of fixtures in the
county were cancelled because of the weather...
My game this weekend was Hove U16 v Medway. There were supposed to be
six matches at Hove today and they all got cancelled apart from one - I
got lucky because M were already on the road when the pitches were
inspected, so I got the game.
Great game, too.
M played down the slope first half and ran in 5 tries to nil despite the
territory being more evenly shared. 2nd half H scored three tries
to make it 19-27 before M scored last.
Plenty of open play for the backs and plenty of battles and recycled ball
from the forwards.
One kicker even converted a try from the touchline straight into the diagonal
wind - amazing kick.
Not one collapsed scrum all day and only one not straight in the lineout
despite the strong wind!
Rain on and off throughout including one torrential downpour. Mud bath
second half making Id difficult near the end.
Smiles all round :o)
2 Dec 2007
U16L: Horsham 19 v Crowborough 17
Well done those players on a day of torrrential rain and high wind.
The lead swapped hands many times, so an exciting match throughout,
especially 2nd half after 5-7 at half time.
C had a conversion attempt at the end for the draw, but a very difficult
kick. H were almost timed out of one of their conversions with the kicker's players
ignoring his shouts for someone to hold the ball and me refusing to let the
coach do it! kicker converted it with a drop kick with 2-3 seconds left, so sort
of won the match with that.
Day than marred by a mass brawl on the U17 pitch immediately after we finished
which unfortunately included one of the adults tackling an opposing player
with some force. It was right in front of me, so I was asked to send in a
report which I've done.
24 Nov 2007
U16F: Hove 26 v Old Reigatians 31
26-5 at half time!
H seemingly much stronger, but lot's of replacements and playing into the wind changed things
completely second half ... plus heavy penalty count, two big interceptions and a YC for
repeated not-10s.
Really hard, exciting game and much more satisfying than yesterday's.
23 Nov 2007
S2W: Hove IV 10 v Midhurst 5
Didn't enjoy this one very much - far too many players not knowing the laws and
querying loads of (correct!) decisions, including:
- "they aren't allowed to wheel the scrum"
- "it's our put in" after that team had won it against the head and carried
on wheeling it beyond 90deg
- "they can't charge a free kick till I've kicked it"
- "but we were going forward when the maul stopped"
- "that was a professional foul" after SH had taken the ball from a
scrum back into his in-goal and touched it down in last play of match.
I also didn't like one player claiming that I'd given a forward pass because
someone in the crowd called for it.
I should have started penalising the chat in the second half - good learning.
I did have a chat to M skipper and a couple of their senior players after to suggest
his team needs to learn the laws, but not convinced he took it on board.
... and my video man didn't turn up :o(
Decided I'd take up the offer of an U16 game next day at same club to get this
one out of my system.
18 Nov 2007
U16L: Pulborough 14 v Worthing 20
W playing down the slope and with wind behind scored three tries 1st half - all out
on the wing, so unconverted. P, keeping the ball tight and making good progress at
times, deserved their try. Half time 7-15.
Had a word with coaches at half time to try to get the scrums to stay straight -
not too bad 2nd half.
Tetchy match on and off with a couple of breaks to talk to skippers. YC to P centre
for a high tackle on a winger straight after on of these breaks. Very silly.
Difficult match for scrums and discipline, but got through OK.
11 Nov 2007
U17L: Bognor 5 v Pulborough 44
0-39 at half time, so agreed with coaches to be strict on P offenses 2nd half.
They also put on a mass of replacements, so a 5-5 2nd half.
All happy at the end - B having been competitive 2nd half and P knowing they could
have won 80-0.
3 Nov 2007
Hants Senior Merit: Chichester II 26 v Winchester II 10
Another step up in standard for me and thank you to those who passed on information,
tips and encouragement in the week leading up to this one - it worked!
C were top of the division before the match and W were mid-table, so the result went
with form. No scores for 37 mins of the first half when the first real threat on
either try line saw C score a try - just - with the ball clipping the line. Small
grumble from one W player, but I was right next to the grounding (and called it right!).
Half finished with penalty score to W, so 7-3 at the interval.
The territory C had enjoyed in the first half turned into points in the second with
tries after 12, 19 and 23 mins, W scoring a really well worked try through phases from
their own half in the last play of the match.
I had no problem with the speed of this match, was very happy with the set pieces,
pretty happy with the tackles, rucks and mauls and managed a couple of slightly edgy
moments OK.
My decision to get in closer at rucks than I have been doing lately when the ball was
still being contested paid off both in terms of spotting offences in the rucks
and managing the periphery. Result was quicker whistles and clearer penalty decisions.
Sometimes not getting away from rucks as far as an assessor might like was something I
prepared to sacrifice for this match.
Only one real black mark I'd give myself and that was a penalty for blocking that I
gave to the attacking team that everyone agreed should have been a penalty to the defending
team for crossing - I saw it all, but didn't interpret it right. Secondary signals at
penalties were missing sometimes - I do them all the time for scrums and free kicks,
so need to get this into my head / routine.
Good feedback after, so I'm going to chalk this one up as the first time I
have moved up a standard and been really satisfied with how things went :o)
27 Oct 2007
S2W: Horsham III 14 v St Francis I 49
My 10th Men's match and a chance to 're-ref' two teams that hadn't previously seen
me at my best!!
H were in the first match I ref'd - enough said!
StF had me in my first Div2 game last season and skipper didn't talk to me after
- I did miss loads of stuff and was too indecisive.
So, I'd been looking forward to this one to get my credibility back ... job done :o)
Two points of note - H constantly querying if lineouts had been straight (I thought
they were really good all day) and H back row player as ball carrier going into
tackles with forearm leading at head height. I penalised him twice for this - apparently
he does it all the time and never gets called for it.
20 Oct 2007
S2W: Littlehampton 14 v Barns Green 40
I didn't have a good one at L last year v Worthing 3rds, so had been
looking forward to going back to show them how much better I can do!
It went really well - never perfect of course.
L took the lead and competed well, especially up front in the first half, but
the scoring was almost all one-way. The match had a couple of interesting areas.
One was the sheer number of scrums - this became a standing joke in the second half.
Not sure if there was anything I could have done about it.
Another was sacking in the lineout. BG said that they had learned this tactic
in a training game against a much higher level team. L complained a few times in the
first half about pulling down, so I told both teams to leave the jumpers in the air
(I hadn't seen a problem, though). Turned out at half time that what they meant was
a BG player pulling mauls down immediately after they had formed at the lineouts.
So, now I knew what they meant I focused on the sacking very closely. This was my first
experience of this and I penalised BG at the first lineout explaining that the maul had formed.
They stopped trying to sack after that, but I'm not happy I know how to judge the
exact point at which a sacking (legal) becomes a collapsing (illegal). Need to get some opinions
This did make me realise, though, that although I call "maul" around the pitch, all I do at lineout
mauls is stick my hand up. I'll start calling as well in future - partly as a trigger
for looking for collapses and partly to stop any late 'sacks'.
So, good game. Good learning.
13 Oct 2007
Friendly: Haywards Heath 3rds 53 v Tunbridge Wells 3rds 3
TW went ahead and had decent share of territory in the first half, but couldn't put
points on the board.
This was one of my higher level games and it went OK, but I can do better than
this! Tackles / rucks were the weaker areas and I should have bossed them better,
but suffered a bit from reluctance to penalise experienced, higher level players.
Lots of moaning on the pitch which I got under control to some extent, but could
help smile at the TW player who said HH weren't allowed to wheel the scrum. TW had
a very young team and I suspect this was a player who was used to junior laws.
Set pieces were good overall. Must have called about 6 forward passes against HH -
mostly in situations where they were in the clear. Only one real complaint - from a
player who passed from a stationary position 3m from his own line to a player who
caught it on the 5m line and said I couldn't have judged it because I wasn't level
with play.
Decent enough comments from players and coach afterwards which were in contrast to the
moaning during play and surprised me. Things like "... better than most of the refs
we get at this level" go down well! And a couple of players commented on my speed
around the pitch (you shouldn't have been close enough to see that one"!).
23 Sept 2007
U17L: Haywards Heath 10 v Pulborough 5
Exciting battle with no scoring until 5mins before half time when P went ahead having
had the better of the half and unlucky to have made a forward pass when having an
easy earlier overlap.
HH more up for it in the 2nd half scoring after 17mins. Both teams had chances, but
it was HH's stronger pack that took this in the end.
Scrums needed a lot of managing because of missing P regulars and HH did well to
dominate yet allow us to stay contested. Had to YC HH No9 who got overheated before
half time.
Plenty of moans from the sidelines as usual at this venue, but pleased to see that they
have appointed someone as a ref contact.
15 Sept 2007
Div2: Crowborough II 43 v Haywards Heath IV 7
Really enjoyed this one and never had so many "thank you"s and hand shakes after a match!
Scrums went v well once they got used to my rhythm (slower that they were trying
to go at on the engage). HH LH wasn't binding too often in the first half, but the
whole thing was very stable so I decided to manage rather than penalise. Both teams
won ball against the head and both won turnover ball for 90deg.
Lineouts were a treat - only one not straight and a number won against the throw.
Tackles / rucks were a bit messy, so didn't let them go on too long - stopped
them much quicker than I was doing last season. Both teams seemed baffled when I
gave turnover ball at mauls where player and ball had gone to ground and ball
got stuck - they thought rucks had formed. They should have known better!
Through last season I was concerned that my penalty count was generally too low - it
feels like it's more 'normal' now and in this game I probably gave the greatest
variety of penalty that in any other game I've done (offside at ruck, offside
at scrum, holding on, tackler not moving, in at the side of ruck, handling on
the floor, +10 for back chat). The backs must have been angels!
This was my 7th men's match and I'm just starting to feel at home on a pitch where
the other 30 all know the game better than I do.
8 Sept 2007
Schools U16: Seaford Coll 5 v Glynn 52
My first Saturday morning schools game and first match of the season. Warm welcome,
top quality pitch, cleanest rugby shower I have experienced and great gravy on the
sausages after!
The early season rust I was expecting took the form of poor positioning and
excessive ball watching - must improve significantly next week - but it was nice
to be out in the middle again and a relatively low key match was the right start point.
This was a good open game constantly moving between forward and backs, but Glynn had
that bit more power up front and much more pace in the backs. Players were brilliant
moving away from the tackle area and the match went almost 8 minutes before the first
whistle!!!
August 2007
Grading News and Goals
Letter arrived with news of my Level 10.
Goals for the season are:
- To get back into the reffing habit asap (I remember feeling very rusty 1st
few matches of last season).
- To ref more Men's matches and fewer U15/16/18 ... to feel as comfortable
on the pitch as I have been with juniors, and do more L11
matches before taking on more L10s.
- To get my fitness back after being limited to once a week exercise through last season.
Experience at start of season:
6 Men's matches
11 x U17/U18/U19
17 x U15/U16
3 x U13/U14
4 x Ladies
6 x Sevens/Tens
