It's always a bit of both, tbh.



We kept the pressure up all game - probably for the first time this season and our plays came off. Defence was solid, though it is far to say Oldham didn't offer much and, as said earlier, you can only play what's in front of you.



I thought Oldham had a bit of bad luck with injuries, which was unfortunate for them and certainly didn't help their cause, though giving away penalty after penalty is just bad discipline and down to them alone. As a match it was a total mis-match - though, if you must watch a game which ends 82 - 0 , I have to say it's certainly better to win than to lose.

Yes I agree we played some good rugby most of the game. The second half was best as we didn,t seem to be trying to score in the first 2 plays of each set. Can't remember how many times we lost the ball within first 3 tackles in the first half hour. Also as said above we stiuck to playing for full 80 mins and Oldham shot themselves in the foot with their indiscipline

Definitely a bit of both. We scored some opportunistic tries from their unforced errors, and bagged a couple while they were down to eleven men.

But at the same time, we scored some tries that involved some nice passing movements and good support play. Joe Keyes in particular looked very composed at six and had a hand in a number of tries via both cut-out passes and well timed short ones.

Chisholm scored his trademark solo effort by running across the defence and darting through a gap, then bagged another when Oldham were attacking by doing well to pick up a grubber kick that was down by his shoe laces and ran 90 yards to score.

I haven't seen the incident in question, but I understood it to be only if the player is close to the play or it's a head injury. If the player is well behind the attacking line and it's anything but a head injury, the referee isn't supposed to stop it, is he? It may be also that if he's well behind the defensive line, they may stop it due to a break potentially causing the play to go his way, but it's so unlikely behind an attacking line that they don't stop it.



If they did stop it every time, it would encourage gamesmanship whenever a team was looking dangerous. Which we all know is part of the game now whether we like it or not. (Not saying the Oldham player was party to that of course)

If anything it makes me feel all the more bitter that we put together a performance like that when it doesn't really matter.



Maybe our group of lads can have that sense of flair and freedom from taking to the pitch knowing the game counts for eff all, and so they are devoid of any pressure.. Bless em.

" Treatment to an injured player, by not more

than one attendant, may be permitted while play proceeds if, in

the opinion of the Referee, such treatment is not likely to interfere

with play.

The attendant shall not place anything on the ground likely to

interfere with play, or carry anything of a rigid nature likely to cause

injury in the event of a rapid switch in play causing an unforeseen

collision"



That's the paragraph in the operational rules. As soon as a 2nd person (normally the Doc) enters field of play, the ref "cannot permit play to proceed". Equally if the emergency equipment begins to come on ie oxygen, stretcher etc. as it is unsafe to continue.



If it's just the physio, play can continue, as soon as it starts to escalate, it can't.



The Doctors professional obligations are covered under the RFL medical standards.

It was bit like watching your horse romp home by a distance in the amateur Plate race at Cartmel, when it had been entered for Royal Ascot, but it didn't qualify as the old trainer used to think starting off with the other horses wasn't necessary, and you didn't really need a proper jockey.

That makes sense. As I say, I didn't see the incident in question. I suppose it depends on how many people were tending to the injured player. If it was just the physio, the referee was ok to play on. If there was a doctor and a physio, he should have stopped it.

You can see why Oldham weren't happy then. There were both teams' medical staff and the doctor on the field. They brought the stretcher out while we were kicking the conversion and had to hold fire with kicking off while the poor lad was carried from the pitch.



That said it makes no difference we were more than good value for the score line. I was most impressed with the way we defended our line against repeat sets in the last ten minutes. Still defending like it was the first minute. As some have said its the right attitude to have.

The referee was highly inexperienced too (he is only 20 years old and studying at Durham Uni), so I think he deserves to be cut a little bit of slack, especially because he will likely get a b0ll0cking from the RFL for allowing a quick PTB in the Championship.

Likely to be demoted to the Pennine league imo...allowing a quick ptb in the Championship could be the end of life as we know it and it simply must be stopped before it gets out of hand.

Are you Hobbo in disguise?