I was never a fan of the challenge. I used to listen to a podcast by Gavin and Kasey Badger. About a year before it was introduced, they went through all the issues with a captains challenge and how it had been trialed and essentially failed in some games in the past.
I normally try to understand the bunkers rulings, even if i dont necessary agree with them. A lot of the time it is easy to see, and often difficult to argue against, what the bunker has ruled even on decisions that have been deemed howlers by the majority of fans. There are very few where im left wondering how did they not see ...whatever it is... like the knock on by Dearden today. Even then i try to tell my self theyve more angles maybe Dearden technically knocked it back trying to drag it backwards towards him and we just couldnt see that on our angle and get over it pretty quickly
But more and more i find myself dismayed at the bunker not even giving consideration to what is being challenged. There was one such incident earlier in the season that stands out when Seyfarth challenged a call. He was penalised for holding down in a tackle. He got up claiming he was being held down. The replay showed the attacker with Seyfarths jersey in his hand and the force of the attacker pulling on the jersey stretching it tight to about a foot off Seyfarths body. Yet the bunker didnt even look at if the attacker was holding him down. There's been plenty of other instances where i've felt similar against other teams but cant recall the exact scenarios now.
A lot of the usual gripes of fans with regard to the bunker dont bother me. I dont expect a hard 10 second window enforced. By the time a captain gets to position, discusses what happened with a couple players and assess if he should challenge and communicate that to the ref it will always be more than 10secs.
But i feel if we are going to limit what can be challenged, often ignore the challengers version of events and occasionally get the wrong decision any way, what is the point.
