Bloody hell! My car has done 22,000 miles in the last year. No idea how many of those are rugby miles, but Id be prepared to say it its a pretty high percentage. My daily commute accounts for 5,500 miles.

 And they talk about commitment! That’s a whole load of refereeing miles! Someone should do a special loyalty card for us!

Happy whistling for those out this weekend. Im out flagging on Sunday. Lucky me. Just a nice local game – 174 miles each way. Lovely.

Evening all

Sorry for the delay in the weekly posts – crazy week at work! Had a fun trip up north at the weekend. Visitors were, to be fair, pretty poor up front. Lost 9 of their 14 lineouts which shows that it was an interesting afternoon!  End result 40 odd points to 6.

Worked really hard at the breakdown and we have good quick ball all afternoon – happy days!  Issue of the day was scrums. Frankly we had a dominant scrum to the home side, but there were competitive props. Hope that makes sense. They were having their own little battles which caused it to be untidy all day.

We had plenty of practice at it. 43 scrums of which 13 were reset. We also 6 pens and free kicks – one of them a penalty try for the defending 5m scrum crumpling going backwards. 

I went through the full range of options – FK, pen, chats, pen, pen try. My only outstanding option was to yellow card.  Now, main prob was the loose head. He was replaced on half time and his replacement wasn’t much better. My thought was this: Would a yellow, therefore bringing the first guy back, have solved the problem?? – none of us officials present thought so.

Chatting about it yesterday with a colleague, his view was that I should have done it anyway. If the guy coming back was still causing probs, he should have gone too. If that means uncontested, then so be it. His view was that I accepted the problem and didn’t go through the full range available to me. An interesting view which I have some sympathy with. Will certainly be discussing that with my coach and probably changing my mindset in the future.

Anyway, thoughts as ever are welcome. Barnesy is on the TV doing a fine job (again) with Samoa v USA. Should concentrate on that!

Well, its the end of week 1 of the RWC 2007 and Ive seen a fair few games. Just back from Cardiff having seen Wales victory in the second half against Australia and a great game between Fiji and Canada.

Now just watching and France v Namibia game and wish I had something controversial to write about.

It seems, and rightly so, that the RWC is, so far, all about the players. It always worries me when the ref becomes the story – a bit like Graham Poll in our football fraternity.

Good stuff.  Saw Spreaders today and he reffed exacly the same as he did on the TV last Friday night. The only thing that seems slightly different is the advantage interpretation. Some guys are calling it over v quickly, others less so. I guess it will all level out sooner or later.

Steve Walsh had a good game yesterday, I thought. Could have been a bit harder on the late hits. Alfie and Latham could/should both have had spells in the bin, I thought. 

Sure Paddy O will be calling a meeting of all officials to go through a few things in the next week or so. If that’s all that’s on the agenda, then happy days

 Great! I get to this stage of my blog and some numpty Namibian tries to decapitate Chabal. Missed it in real time and the slow mo doesnt look that bad, but Mr Rolland (who’s not one of those refs to readily go in his pocket), delivered a straight red.

Did I speak to soon?

Thoughts welcome as ever!

I’m sure some of you may be interested in the appointments. They’re not that easy to find so here you go: 

World Cup match official appointments

 Also, a very interesting steer from Paddy O’Brien here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/6980531.stm

Should be an interesting couple of weeks. Im sure I’ll end up commenting on here at some stage about something. Your thoughts welcome too.

Dontcha just love club reporters? Just saw this description, taken from the visitors site,  of the final moments of my game on Sat:

“We held firm, won the ball and a pinpoint pass found Petty outside the 22 metre line. He struck the ball so sweetly that it sailed over the top of the uprights and referee {Refblog} took a full 5 seconds to decide that we had now won the game, 16-13.”

Well if it had sailed over the top of the uprights it would not have been awarded, hence my well considered (!!!) decision that it had sneaked inside the left post.

Hey ho. Law book on its way to the Midlands!

Well, a nice gentle starter for 10. Not!

New side to the league v well established league side.  Visiting coach starts off by saying “Ive had a shocking week” before telling me he’s lost 4 key players since Thursday – 1, 9, 10, 12. Great me thinks! Never one to take too much coach chat before the game. Usually, they want to plant the seed of doubt, usually against their opposition. So as ever, we find ways of responding without saying anything!

Warm day, bit of a slope on the pitch.  First half pretty instense. Home side score first with great try – big Samoan (prob) centre waltzed 40m+ through a few holes.  Visitors head back into it. Driving maul, phase to phase – good stuff. Home side try to disrupt – once, then again 10m out.  Severe warning – next one goes. Perhaps a little lenient.

Next major play is visitors attacking just over 10m line. Big centre high tackles. Not a yellow in itself, but takes a 10 min spell for his forwards!   Not an easy one to manage from a spectator viewpoint. Crowd think Im harsh. On its own, Id agree, but try to point across pitch at various previous offenses to indicate its a team yellow. What else could I have done? Any thoughts?

Visitors come back with try just as the 10 mins runs out.

Second half tight. Discipline (physical and tactical) is pretty good. Ends up 13-13  as time clocks up. Visitors possession and go through plenty of pick-and-go phases. No pens, me’s hoping – working my butt off to make sure game doesnt end on my penalty. About 10 phases in – set up and drop goal. Not expecting it (idiot!) so have to move quickly to check it goes inside left upright. Spreaders-esq delay while Im in best position to award!

Personally, think 13-13 would have been a fair result, but pleased to say result wasn’t caused by me. Both coaches happy.

Worked hard on the issues raised last week, so my coach is pleased.  Await his considered remarks later on.

Got two weeks off now from panel activity – one my fault (RWC in Cardiff) but no games in my league next weekend. Will head back to society. Need a game so I can work on my sprints/match- fitness.

Any news from your end?

Well, tomorrow is dawning quickly and the first league Saturday of the season is nearly upon us.

I’ve had the proverbial kick up the backside after last week’s outing from my coach (after raeading assessors correct comments)

The kit bag is packed

The accomdation is booked (staying with Little Sis – hope she’ll supply me with an invoice!)

The refreshments are chilling

The pre-match prep is done

The routine for tomorrow is set

So…. let the games begin!

Good luck to all you chaps and chapettes on duty this season. May the whisltle treat you well, and the players even better.

The comments are open so please feel free to report your own activities or thoughts over the new season

Well, had my first 80 minutes of the season at the weekend. London Irish A v Esher – not the gentle ease in any of us would like to start the season off! But hey, was great to get that game at this stage! Would have bitten someones hand off for it last year!

Don’t know where you were on Saturday, but it was bloody hot in Sunbury on Thames, even with a 5.30 kick off.

It went surprisingly well. Was fast and furious at times, but ended up being rather disjointed. Had a few of those pens which normally I wouldn’t have blown but at this level, and at this stage, I wanted to start the season off as I mean to go on!  For example, a bit of seldging (he actually used the c word as they packs were setting). Other was the scrum half pushing his opp round the scrum. Just no need for it, but had I not dealt with it there and then, who knows where it would have ended up!

Was a little lazy at times, especially in the second half, as a wise owl in the stand pointed out to me later on. Its always good when you know you’re doing it and they spot it. Shows there are quality assessors around!

Wasn’t happy with my scrum. Set and engage went fine, but then started to pop up in second half. Blew a few gimme’s but few more I let go and reset. Sometimes they are the hardest. Will need to have a chat with a hooker or two in the next few weeks to get some advice.

Losing coach didn’t have a great deal to say which is always a good sign. What he did say was positive and in the right spirit so happy days!

Anyway, will hopefully see a DVD at some stage so may have more thoughts later on.

Have a good week readers!

For those of you who have never had the priviledge of seeing one of London’s finest referees on display, you have yet to see the joy that is our new Standard Chartered sponsored kit.

It’s almost luminous! Im off to apply some fake tan so I look OK on camera!

Have a fun weekend!

Good interview with Chris White in this month’s RW.  They don’t put it on the web but check page 104 (I think).

Always nice to see refereeing get a good press. Hopefully the RFU (if the IRB allow them) are doing some work with the media to promote our 4 guys in attendence. We are the most represented of all the refereeing countries.  Happy days!