I reckon the reason it looks like some teams are picked on but in reality aren't, is in no small part due to the grey matter in between the ears of the most influential players. The smart captains and halves work the game out very early. They assess what they can get away with and push it to their advantage as long as they can. Even to the point of accepting a few penalties until it becomes too perilous (ie the ref calls them over and says right mate, that's 3 in a row, im gunna sit someone down). I've seen it lots of times. That last penalty may have stopped points being scored so for the opposition it looks to all the world like a stitch up. The ref is taking the action so is blamed straight away but the reality is the captain (at least the smart ones) have influenced and in a perverse way manipulated the game. The smart captains do these things (smith absolute master at it). It's a boon if both coach and captain have that footy brain (the reason why Toovs and Lyon were so successful). Im not sure we've had that nouse in our side for a while. We might now though and its no coincidence that we are where we are IMHO. Just raving though, carry on.
