RugbyRebels

8th penalty was another breakdown pen against Spain, I think for side entry. If so it's maybe a touch harsh, we'll have seen worse not given, but it's not accurate work from Spain and it's partly their own fault they're annoying the ref. A few phases back Spain turned over a Belgium ruck just outside the Belgian 22 and the ref waved play on, he's hardly looking for every excuse

7-1 to Belgium in the pen count

9th penalty

A high tackle from Spain, arguably two players were high in the same tackle. Neither dangerous, it is a penalty

8-1 to Belgium in the penalty count, this is proving a pointless review as there's nothing to see as regards some of the nonsense being spouted

Video does a (slightly biased) view of breaking down the penalties

For me it wasn't that too many of the calls against spain were an issue, it's that similar things were missed against Belgium
Also, generally, just poor refereeing
And, that advantage he called back - I'd love to know why!

10th Penalty

this one goes to Spain for Belgium holding on in the tackle. The Spanish player might be balancing his weight on his knee as he leans over the tackled player but the claimed biased ref lets it go and awards the pen to Spain.

Watching the match on 2x speed the striking things are just how slow the game is, on 2x it still at times feels like watching a normal game, and how often Belgium are winning in contact. Feck only knows why anyone is moaning about the ref based on the opening 30

8-2 to Belgium now on the pen count

11th Penalty

Another penalty to Belgium for a Spanish player holding on in the tackle, again the jackler might in another game be pinged himself. But the ref isn't showing bias to a team and more to allowing a contest that we don't always see (something he ref in the Scotland Vs England game was praised for on a global scale)

Belgium are suffering less as they win contact more often, and maybe Spain have had more ball too.


9-2 to Belgium on the penalty count

12th Penalty

A scrum pen to Belgium. Who knows when it comes to scrum penalties, we can see Belgium are going forward and such teams tend to get the decision.


10-2 to Belgium on the penalty count

Must be coming up to the yellow card early in the second half now, which basically KOed Spain entirely. You noted the game was not played at great pace. That was for sure. There didn't seem to be a lot of urgency about Spain. For one thing, they were unable to dominate possession against what is a somewhat underrated Belgian pack. By the time they figured out it wasn't going to be as easy as they thought, the frustrations had taken over and it was too late to adjust the game-plan.

13th Penalty

Another scrum penalty to Belgium, this one I think for the angle of driving of the Spanish loosehead. I don't like scrum pens, but it's not like they're not give.

11-2 in the penalty count to Belgium at HT, and frankly Spain have nothing to whine about, indeed based on this they rather owe the ref an apology

14th Pen

A breakdown pen given to Spain after they'd forced a turnover from Belgium. Fairly simple to give, and given, and given for the team the ref it's being claimed is biased against.

11-3 to Belgium in the overall count

This is the pen I suspect has people annoyed as the Spanish left winger went clear and they're wondering why on earth the ref didn't allow advantage to play out. I can't say it's obvious though if I was to speculate I'll go with Spain 10 is moving and creating a hole for Spain 11, and if the ref has seen that as blocking and can't then let Spain play on and instead calls them back then as before I don't know what the fuss is about

The TV coverage in looking at this is again not great.

15th Penalty

Another pen to Belgium, another pen where Spain were on attack and Belgium were faster to get over the ball with the ref allowing a contest. This same scenario didn't lead to any accusations of Nigel Owens being complicit in wanting to see England lose against Scotland.

12-3 to Belgium on the penalty count

16th Penalty

I think maybe it's given for offside (based on the referee's signal at x2 pace) which is maybe a touch odd. I don't feel too bad for the Spanish forward given he's flown into a ruck without binding but such actions aren't always penalised, ref seems to be getting fed up and speaks to Spain I assume about the number of penalties.

13-3 to Belgium on the penalty count

Renniks wrote:

Video does a (slightly biased) view of breaking down the penalties

For me it wasn't that too many of the calls against spain were an issue, it's that similar things were missed against Belgium
Also, generally, just poor refereeing
And, that advantage he called back - I'd love to know why!

Despite claiming to have no bias, I'm not so sure.

It is difficult to find too much fault though with his analysis, at least fo the selected incidents through the match. Some of the calls he claimed the ref got wrong were due to poor positioning by the ref. If the ref is the other side of the ruck to where a defender enters off side, should the touch judge be picking that up. We all know it happens in a match, even though it shouldn't.

That video does give a sense that the ref was favouring the Belgians, but I'm doubtful of how carefully those clips were selected to provide that point. I don't like his comment at the end that the Spanish players could be justified in jostling the ref. Absolutely no and as an aspiring ref himself, he should know better!

Whilst the refereeing team for this match was picked a long way in advance, they should have been changed when the implications became apparent. Spain did protest before the match and this was rejected, by a Romanian. Regardless of the referees performance (which looks to have been pretty poor) thats a terrible decision.

For what its worth, I think this game should be replayed. The standard of refereeing was poor and may have materially affected the outcome of the match and whilst there is no evidence to support the claim the ref was favouring a side, the neutrality of the ref was questionable given the implications for the Romanian side and should have been avoided.

I'd also hand out lengthy bans to any Spanish player who physically jostled the ref.

17th Penalty

Ref allows Spain to challenge at the breakdown despite at least one of those challengers looking like a tackler assist who attempts no release, however when they go to floor and one of them then plays the ball whilst lying on the floor the ref has had enough. Hard to argue with, even though it's now

14-3 to Belgium on the pen count

Sandydragon wrote:
Whilst the refereeing team for this match was picked a long way in advance, they should have been changed when the implications became apparent. Spain did protest before the match and this was rejected, by a Romanian. Regardless of the referees performance (which looks to have been pretty poor) thats a terrible decision.

Do you know that's true Sandy? I know the Romanian ref himself, who we'll call Vlad, asked about being stood down, and the decision Vlad got back was no don't stand, go ahead, but that decision would be from a Frenchman. I don't know if Morariu the overall Romania boss was party to any decisions, I can't say he wasn't, only that I've not heard he was.

Also I've been going through the (penalty) decisions in the game, I've nearly done with the opening 50 minutes and quite frankly so far there's nothing Spain should be getting upset about other than their own ineptitude.

Whilst the refereeing team for this match was picked a long way in advance, they should have been changed when the implications became apparent. Spain did protest before the match and this was rejected, by a Romanian. Regardless of the referees performance (which looks to have been pretty poor) thats a terrible decision.

You may have missed it earlier but the refereeing commissioner for the ENC has been identified as Frenchman Patrick Roben, and it appears it was his call to deny the Spanish request for a change of referees. I'd love to see the Spanish qualify, but I don't think a replay is the solution. Imagine it. The Belgians might just think, stuff it, why go through all that preparation again, and gift the Leones an easy win. & Romanian outrage at such a scenario will make the current furore seem like a picnic. The Russians might even get in on the act and ask for their game against Spain to be replaced on account of the blatant gaffe in that game.

18th Penalty

Scrum penalty. Spain take off a lock to get a replacement front rower on after the yellow card, so I assume the 8man goes into the locks and Spain don't bring a back into the back row. Spain go backwards in the scrum, Spain get pinged. I don't like scrum penalties, but the ref doesn't do anything unusual here

15-3 to Belgium on the pen count

19th Pen

Well what can you say. It's another breakdown, Belgium perhaps drive Spain off their ball but it's a bit of a mess and it's not obvious what the ref will give. But Spain solve that problem by having one of their players say something daft to the ref, and seeing as one of his own teammates is trying to clamp his mouth there doesn't seem much doubt about that.


16-3 to Belgium on the penalty count

Thanks Rowan, if thats correct then it contradicts some reporting elsewhere that it was a Romanian who rejected the reassignment of the refereeing team - although I still think the decision not to change the team was a poor one that left the ref in a bad position regardless.

I take your point about a replay and it would be incredibly unfair on the Belgians, albeit Spain could be missing half a team through suspensions! Much of this looks like poor refereeing, which to be fair isn't exactly uncommon.

I think most of the penalties given were fair enough, the issue I suppose is whether the decisions were impartial, i.e. as per that video assessment further down the page suggest, did the ref ignore Belgian offences and penalise the Spanish? It does look like the ref got some calls wrong, but as Ive said before, most refs do and I suspect there was no TMO for him to use.

20th Pen

A blatant off the ball shoulder charge gives Spain their 4th penalty, it wasn't dangerous, but Belgium are maybe lucky not to get a yellow just for sheer stupidity.

Belgium are not only slow, they have almost no kicking game and a worse lineout. Spain just aren't at the races though, miles below their defeat of Romania (when btw Romania were I suspect cross about the ref)

16-4 to Belgium on the penalty count

21st Penalty

Penalty to Spain, it's a scrum and Spain get the drive on forcing Belgium to play the ball on the floor.


16-5 to Belgium on the pen count, and only 10 minutes left, so it'll be some going if the Belgian penalty count gets up to 28

22nd Penalty

A penalty to Spain for a blatant slap down of ball being passed down the line. Had the Ref had recourse to a TMO to see how much the Belgian player was making sure he knocked the ball on I think this would have been a yellow, especially coming after the shoulder charge, but there isn't a TMO.

It's 15-10 on the scoreboard after Spain kick their 3 with 4 minutes left in the match.

And it's 16-6 to Belgium on the penalty count

23rd Pen

Goes to Belgium smack in front of the Spanish posts. It's given for a Spanish player being tackled and then getting back to his feet with the ball. It's no obvious he was held in the tackle, there are bodies between the ref and what transpired, there were likely hands on the tackled player whilst he was on the ground. It's a risk to get back to your feet, then again maybe the ref has gone on what he thinks has happened - of course the ref might have a better view than the TV angle which isn't brilliant.

17-6 on the penalty count

24th Pen

Goes to Spain, Belgium are pinged either for hands in the ruck or going off their feet, either way it's a pen


17-7 Belgium lead on the penalty count

And that's the lot. I've only got 10 fingers/thumbs so I might have counted incorrectly as the match was underway, and I was watching on x2 spd, but I'm coming up way short of this being 28-8 or 24-4 in penalty count to Belgium. I'm assuming someone said there were 24 pens and only a handful for Spain, which became there were 24 pens for Belgium and only 7 for Spain, which maybe became there were 28 pens for Belgium and only 4 for Spain.

There's nothing in this match to suggest the ref was biased imo, some close calls, but there are in a lot of matches including some which have gone in Spain's favour.

Spain need to stop complaining, apologise to Belgian RFU and to the referee and the touch judges, and then take whatever bans their players will quite rightly have coming.