Quins vs. Saints - Saturday 1505

[Mikey Brown]

I couldn't really face the conversation around this at the time and only just watched it back now.

I'm still not sure what to think to be honest. Is it even a ruck? I'm not sure if that makes it worse for Care or not. There's a bit of a shove on Ramm who is running a bit of an odd line, who then goes and tackles Esterhuizen anyway.

So that's my summary - I'm biased and I don't have a clue.

[Adam_P]

He only 'tackles' Esterhuizen because he's pushed into him. The claim by the RFU defending Dickson that Ramm was beyond the tackle area when he was pushed is plainly untrue - as can be seen by stills from the footage.

Had he not been pushed, he could have formed a ruck or received an offload.

[Mikey Brown]

I wasn't meaning to claim Ramm should have been picked up for tackling Esterhuizen, but he was floating around for an offload and in the way of Care trying to get to the tackle/ruck. It did look a bit like he'd overrun it to me. I just don't see this whole mess as being that cut and dry, but of course I wouldn't.

It's a shame as it was a fantastic game in a lot of ways, but both sides have a handful of dodgy moments they can point to that directly robbed their team of valuable points. It was inevitable that any controversy would bring up questions of Dickson's club allegiance, so I don't know why they put anybody in that situation to start with.

I'm still rooting for a Saints win if things don't go Quins' way, for whatever that's worth. Quins might continue to fluke their way in to the playoffs but Saints have clearly been the best team this season.

[Adam_P]

It was inevitable that any controversy would bring up questions of Dickson's club allegiance, so I don't know why they put anybody in that situation to start with.

Yeah this is the main thing for me - it is so predicable any time he is selected to ref Quins. It just makes no sense when there are plenty of other refs to chose from. No matter what you think of him as a referee, it's not fair on Dickson to be put in these situations time after time.

Here's hoping Saints put more of their game on the pitch this weekend than we managed to do against your lot, and fingers crossed for another big underdog win a la Bordeaux for Quins against Toulouse!

[Mikey Brown]

Couldn’t be arsed to start a new thread. Have Saints announced their team? Seems weird to not see any sides this weekends semis yet.

[FKAS]

Couldn’t be arsed to start a new thread. Have Saints announced their team? Seems weird to not see any sides this weekends semis yet.

Games are Saturday 17.30 and Sunday 15.00 so I'd expect teams to be announced lunchtime today. No Friday night game.

[Puja]

Couldn’t be arsed to start a new thread. Have Saints announced their team? Seems weird to not see any sides this weekends semis yet.

They traditionally come out at 12pm on the Friday, so you're a touch early.

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Ah fair enough. Cheers.