Well, on the Virtual Terrace, a lot of people are asking what ban he will get, and one of the higher grades includes "running in". He never ran in. Ablett did his usual s***thouse impression (probably from an offside position no doubt), and grabbed Lee by the collar and put him down, then said something. Child blew for the initial penalty to us. Briers got up, and as Ablett was turning around, he did his own s**thouse impression and threw a punch at him.



Then there were handbags. Child has a word with his TJ's, and then gave the penalty to Leeds. Didn't put it on report, didn't send him off or to the sin-bin. There were questions that he actually didn't see the incident, but he must have done as he changed his decision and gave the penalty to Leeds. If he hadn't have seen the decision or already blew up for the penalty to us (which he did), he shouldn't have changed his mind, so he must have seen something.



Either way, he bottled out of sending him to the sin bin/sending him off. Leeds fans were furious, Lee Briers was lucky, Warrington fans were chanting there is only Lee Briers, Carl Ablett was on the receiving end for a change, and for once in a long time, a decision actually went against Leeds.

people are saying, inconsistency with the referees, I'm just watching the game back, I'm seeing the general inconsistency in Leeds favour, 1st half, Joel moon decides to turtle on top of the ball prevention the funny half to pick up the ball, play on.



5 minutes later, cooper does same thing, penalty.



second half, carvell penalised for knee in on Maguire at the play the ball. next set, Maguire does the exact same thing, no penalty.



IHarrison got penalised for pushing Bailey over at the play the ball, Jones Buchanon has just blatantly pushed someone over, at the try line after a load of wrestling on the floor.





as I said on the vt, I can't see why people are feeling sorry for Leeds, they still got plenty of favourable calls, as they always do

It clear on tv that Ablett's first contact is Brier's face and then grabs the collar.

Ryan Bailey didn't take a single hit-up in the last 30 minutes of the game. Plenty of pointing to other forwards to do the hard work but for the "extra prop" not to take a hit-up for 30 minutes is alarming.

So Child got it wrong by not penalising Ablett in the first place? There was no punch?



For the Sinfield try the Watkins pass to BJB was fine, the inside ball from BJB to Sinfield was forward for me.

Just what I was thinking. At the match, Ablett made the tackle and the play stopped. Briers DID NOT react to the tackle but Ablett turned and clearly said something to him as he went past and that is what incensed Briers. No-one on here knows what went on, and shouldn't be so quick to judge.

it really was nothing....Briers shouldn't have reacted but the limp punch he threw hit the SH1th0us£ on the shoulder...it was handbags and if it had happened back in 1988 it would have been way down the list of things to talk about.



I reckon he might kop a 1 match ban reduced to a fine with an early plea....at the most.



This is Lee Briers...not Ryan Baily or Mickey Mac...he hasn't said boo to a goose more than twice in 15 years.



And for Sky commentators to suggest that he should miss the rest of the season (probably his best chance ever to get a GF ring) is nothing short of a disgrace....and if I was Smithy...no more Sky interviews for a while.

Pray4ablett

Also did you see after the briers punch the game REALLY went up a few notches in intensity... What did bailey do? That's right... He jogged over to the other side of the pitch and stood next to the centre... He made sure he was well out of the action for a good while.



The biggest coward in rugby.



Fair play to ablet, he took the ball in.... He got smashed and left on the floor, but at least he got involved.

Strange thread this. It's as if the Briers incident was the only thing that happened in the game. I was there and can remember quite a few superb moves and 7 excellent Wire tries. We should be celebrating a superb win.

briers hasn't been in trouble for years. He'll cop an early plea and either get one game or a fine. It was absolutely nothing anyway. it was such a poor attempt at a punch that he must have been coached by Audley Harrison.

Thought it was only me in the whole RL community that saw this.

Warrington won the battle, but the war is still far from over. Never read so much rubbish as in this thread.



Regarding the briers incident, taking into account all the factors he should end up with a match ban, but wouldn't be at all suprised to see him get off with a fine. The RFL disciplinary has form for worming out of banning players for big semi's and finals, and it's happened with many players over the years including leeds. Someone with briers record, it'll probably be a slap on the wrist and a bag of sweets.



The incident had little impact on the result. Warringtons pack dominated leeds giving monoghan and briers the platform to pick off the defence with great effect. It reminded me of warringtons CC win over huddersfield earlier this season. In those conditions when warrington are on it they are very difficult to stop.



I wonder how different the dynamics of the game would have been had it been played on the thursday night in the rain.



Warrington are now the bookies favourites to win the grand final, with a week off and another home tie they will be difficult to stop. Should huddersfield and leeds bounce back the club call then becomes very interesting. Who would you like warrington to pick?



If leeds bounce back next week it would be fatal to underestimate them. They have overcome worse defeats and odds many times before in knockout playoff rugby and being able to put 20 points on warrington despite being dominated will be a positive to take out of the defeat.



But then pick hudds, your b*tches, you are sending out a dangerous message. If Hudds lose it will be easy, pick hull. If leeds lose and hudds win, again, very tricky. Saints are lower ranked but are looking very dangerous.



Warrington are in a good position but theres still alot of danger in the circumstances as well. A week off hasn't done teams much good on many occasions in this playoff format. In 2010 leeds suffered. In 2011 warrington suffered. In 2012 wigan suffered. One team often get's caught out by it each season, and bar the 2009 final where both finalists had a week off, the team that haa played each week has won the final.

Cheers for that Flex.

Quite agree Leeds had their fair share of favourable calls which were not highlighted by the idiots commentating.

In the first couple of minutes JJB delibrately tripped Waterhouse in the free play - always thought that was a straight red?







Carvell left his knee in, in retaliation for Maguire elbowing him in the chops with his ball carrying arm, missed by the officials.







Harrison was reacting to Bailey's sly punch to Ratchford's head in the initial tackle again missed by the officials. How M Monaghan never got a penalty for being pushed over on the Leeds try line I will never know.



All these incidents are the norm in any game of Rugby League, sometimes the officials see them, sometimes they don't, that is the nature of sport. I know some are not bothered by the Sky team but yesterday they really did plunge to new depths. Rugby League in this country is currently going through a rocky patch and I'm affraid Eddie and Stevo are doing nothing to help with their embarrassing commentary, always focusing on the negative aspects of the game instead of the positives.

You only have to watch a televised NRL game as a comparison to really see how bad they are. Over there the Briers incident would have been laughed off (literally) and forgotten about after 2 minutes.



Sky have done a great job over the years supporting Rugby League and their visual coverage is far superior to the BBC....if only they could get rid of those two muppets.....