Great post Jim enjoyed it and great example of what this forum is about. People being able to give an open opinion of events and how they feel things went on the day.
On reflection I was probably too hasty to post on Saturday following the game, and should of handle it a little more delicately, particularly given the extent of my opinions. However, my opinions are out now, and I am happy to take the backlash from the forum for speaking out of turn about a match official.
What I do have is the benefit of review, so not only can I give my personal opinions from the day as you have, but also statements based on review.
With regards to my statement of a dominant set piece the game had 19 scrums (11 for Morley, 8 for Driffield) Driffield won 2 scrums against the head, and Morley moving back behind the mark on 14 of the 19 scrums. One on the 80th minute which collapsed and resulted in a free kick against Driffield, and 4 scrums which Morley moved forward whilst Driffield was down to 7 forwards. At Lineout time Driffield won 2 of Morley’s lineouts with Morley not able to compete against Driffield taking none of Driffield’s or even disrupting, Morley had 2 questionable not straight decisions whilst Driffield had 1 (all of which in my opinion are perfectly acceptable throws down the middle, but it’s the referee’s opinion which matters)
I have the same information for penalty counts but don’t think I need to continue with that on the forum, as it was clearly too high by Driffield and only 3 Penalties against Morley in the 80 minutes clearly showed the exceptional standards Morley operate in the area – Eddie Jones would be incredibly happy with those numbers.
“If it looks, acts and barks like a dog it's a dog!” – I like this saying, Driffield No.8 penalised for calling an offside, and a quiet word with one of the Driffield coaching staff in the second half for being overly vocal on the touchline, both of which the referee handled brilliantly as not acceptable behaviour and showed zero tolerance in the area against Driffield during the game. Morley also challenged decision throughout the game, with one example of your very experience fly half aggressively challenging a try scored as he felt it was held up with not even a word about his conduct, zero penalties in this area for Morley, as it should be.
“It's a horrible phrase to use that Driff were 'dragged down to Morley's level', I would rather say that they failed to adapt to Morley's game plan” – Just tried to find when I made this statement, an unable to do so? Morley played some good rugby, and certainly league position does not reflect the quality of the Morley side, I did say they slowed the game down at the breakdown, which was clearly the game plan you speak of, executed well. However, they couldn’t sustain it for 80minutes, and believe if they had the score line would have been much tighter.
Also never mentioned the referees age, Saturday’s official is clearly highly experienced with a low tolerance for ill-discipline which is exactly how it should be, and Driffield had been slow to react to how they were being officiated. Learning opportunity for the Driffield players and coaching staff I believe.
I do agree appealing from the touchline can be an issue, but certainly not a problem club on this matter. However, this does not excuse this on the occasions it does happen and believe this is something that is easily addressed and corrected.
**I would also like to note the quality of the 3 young Morley players – Fullback, wing and flanker (believe 2 of which have only a couple of senior games between them) exceptional talents and show a bright future for the Maroons if this is the quality of player being produced **