Law Discussion - Week 9

There was nothing this week like the explosion of controversy and anger that was set off by the final whistle in Wellington last week, but there are still incidents to discuss – just to keep our laws sharp.

So far we have given some statistics from the week and have placed some clips of incidents on the South African referees’ website – www.sareferees.co.za.

From time to time we have given things said by referees and commentators – for instruction or for amusement. We shall start with something a commentator said this week, lest it  convey a wrong message.

1. Things they say

i. Odwa Ndungane of the Sharks races down the right wing and chips ahead into the Highlanders’ in-goal. Ndungane and Matt Saunders of the Highlanders converge on the bouncing ball, both with hands out to the ball bouncing high. At about shoulder height, Saunders’s right hand makes contact with the ball which flies into touch-in-goal.

The referee consults the television match official, saying: “Can you tell me who’s played the ball, attempting to ground it?”

One of the Highlanders tries to help the referee in his decision making by telling him that it had been knocked back in in-goal.

Agreeing with this the commentator says: “It’s in in-goal. You can hit the ball, if you like, out.”

The TMO advises the referee that the Blue player had played the ball in in-goal.

The referee asks him if it had been a deliberate act but the TMO assures him that “they were both attempting to go for the ball”.

The main commentator remarks that the referee was wanting to know if the ball had been knocked out deliberately.

His co-commentator says: “If he had headed the ball out, would that have been deliberate? No.”

It’s not doing things deliberately that makes them illegal. Lots of things players do they do deliberately and they are good – catching, passing, kicking, tackling, scoring tries. They do many things deliberately and provided they are within law they are good. It’s when a law is deliberately broken that there is trouble.

There is nothing wrong with deliberately knocking the ball with the hand, provided that it is not forward.

There’s nothing wrong with kicking the ball or heading the ball – in in-goal or in the field of play.

But it is wrong to knock the ball out of play deliberately, whether in in-goal or not.

Law 10.2 UNFAIR PLAY

(a) Intentionally Offending. A player must not intentionally infringe any law of the game, or play unfairly. The player who intentionally offends must be either admonished, or cautioned that a send off will result if the offence or a similar offence is committed, or sent off. After a caution a player is temporarily suspended for a period of ten minutes playing time. After a
caution, the player commits the same or similar offence, the player must be sent off.
Penalty: Penalty Kick
A penalty try must be awarded if the offence prevents a try that would probably otherwise have been scored. A player who prevents a try being scored through foul play must either be cautioned and temporarily suspended or sent off.

(c) Throwing into touch. A player must not intentionally knock, place, push or throw the ball with his arm or hand into touch, touch-in-goal, or over the dead-ball line.
Penalty: Penalty Kick on the 15-metre line if the offence is between the 15-metre line and the touchline, or, at the place of
infringement if the offence occurred elsewhere in the field of play, or, 5 metres from the goal line and at least 15 metres from the touchline if the infringement occurred in in-goal.
A penalty try must be awarded if the offence prevents a try that would probably otherwise have been scored.

ii. We have a Mextedism. It was during a discussion of the many changes to the Crusaders’s side and the inexperience of some of the players.

MM: “Thinking about the decision-makers in the Crusaders’ backline – this will really show you if they’ve got it or not. Relative virgins at this level.”

iii. In the match between the Blues and the Brumbies, the referee reversed a penalty after Troy Flavell had smacked an opponent. Then the second time, Nick Williams of the Blues was guilty of dissent, the referee penalised him.

Commentator to Flavell after the match: “Talking back doesn’t help with a referee who’s lining you up.”

If the sense of this is that the referee is gunning for Flavell’s team, it’s a nasty statement, bordering on the libellous.

2. Knock-on

Caleb Ralph of the Crusaders kicks the ball high. Rayno Benjamin of the Lions waits for it, facing front and does not catch it. It bounces up in front of him as Ralph challenges. Benjamin then knocks it back from there.

The referee orders a scrum.

Knock-on?

Law 12 DEFINITION KNOCK ON

A knock on occurs when a player loses possession of the ball and it goes forward, or when a player hits the ball forward with the hand or arm, or when the ball hits the hand or arm and goes forward, and the ball touches the ground or another player before the original player can catch it.
‘Forward’ means towards the opposing team’s dead ball line.

Firstly, the ball probably struck Ralph’s hand and secondly Benjamin did not catch the ball.

3. Why no quick throw?

Peter Playford of the Brumbies kicks down into touch. Isa Nacewa of the Blues fetches the ball and throws in quickly.

The referee does not allow the throw/

Why not? The ball was the same ball that went out. Nacewa threw in beyond five metres and he did not throw in forward.

One of the players on the Blues’ bench had nudged the ball back to Nacewa. The ball had been played by a person in touch. This negated the possibility of a quick throw-in.

Every one who booed was wrong.

4. Advantage?

The Waratahs play the Western Force and start running inside their 22. Five metres or so inside their 22, Burgess passes and is tackled late by Drew Mitchell of the Western Force but play continues. Play goes on till the Western Force have the ball and Lachlan MacKay speeds forward. Unfortunately for him, prop Troy Takiari causes obstruction and the referee stops play where this happens, five metres inside the Waratahs’ half.

He then consults with his assistant who is indicating foul play. The assistant tells him of Mitchell’s illegal tackle, using the shoulder. The referee then goes back to the penalty against Mitchell, five metres inside the Waratahs’ 22.

Would it have been possible to have penalised Takiari instead and given the penalty five metres inside the Waratahs’ half.

Presumably the referee was not going to penalise Takiari but give a scrum for accidental off-side, which seems a sensible decision. For that reason he went back to the penalty.

The Waratahs then kicked out, near where the scrum would have been.

Much ado about little!

5. In or out?

Tonderai Chavhanga of the Stormers took a pass and raced for the corner against the Cheetahs as Jongi Nokwe swept across to tackle him.

Chavhanga grounded the ball just inside the cornerpost. But was he in or out?

The Cornerpost is not in question as the experimental law variations have done away with it as a factor to decide try or no try.

Not much of Chavhanga was infield – just his right hand and arm as he grounded the ball. The rest of his body was over the touch-line.

But was he out.

It would seem that no part of his body touched the touch-line or the ground beyond it before he had grounded the ball in the Cheetahs’ in-goal.

Under his body there was Jongi Nokwe and he certainly touched the touch-line and the ground beyond it before Chavhanga grounded the ball.

If Chavhanga is in contact with a player who is in touch, is he in touch?

It would seem not.

Law 19 DEFINITION

The ball is in touch when a player is carrying it and the ball carrier (or the ball) touches the touchline or the ground beyond the touchline. The place where the ball carrier (or the ball) touched or crossed the touchline is where it went into touch.

6. You’d have to be harsh not to give these.

Here are two tries awarded which may just in the strictest letter of the law not have been awarded. You would have had to be a harsh man not to give them.

i. The Cheetahs attack.  Conrad Barnard gives to Meyer Bosman who forces his way ahead. Bosman gives to Jonker who darts for the line. Tackled, Jonker stretches for the line, but he cannot reach it. He releases the ball and Barnard is on hand to pick up the ball. The TMO advises that a try was scored.

When Jonker went to ground and when he stretched out he was lying lengthwise, -parallel to the touch-lines and Barnard was at his waist. Barnard darts ahead to pick up the ball which is in front of Jonker.

That means that Barnard had entered the tackle from the side.

Or so it seemed.

ii. The Hurricanes attack. Conrad Smith breaks and heads for the line. Wynand Olivier grabs him from behind and Zane Kirchner tackles from the side. Held, Smith goes to ground on his backside. Still holding the ball in his right arm he uses his left arm to lever himself back off the ground while Hurricanes get in behind him and drive him over the line.

The law required him to release the ball and not get up with it.

It would take canonisable virtue for a player to release the ball in that circumstance.

7. Grounding not holding

Jaco van Schalkwyk of the Lions kicks the ball so that it rolls into the Crusaders’ in-goal. Scott Hamilton of the Crusaders goes beyond the ball. With both feet over the dead-ball line. He then leans forward and grounds the ball.

What the commentator says is true – at least partly. If the ball had been rolling when Hamilton, feet on or over the dead-ball line, picked it up, it would have been dead because the ball carrier was over the dead-ball line and so the Crusaders would have had the option of a scrum.

But all Hamilton did was ground the ball. It did not matter where his feet were. That meant that the ball was made dead in the in-goal area, kicked by an opponent and so a drop-out.

If Hamilton had been in the Lions’ in-goal and had grounded the ball as he did, it would have been a try.

Law 22.11 BALL DEAD IN IN-GOAL

(a) When the ball touches the corner post, the touch-in-goal line or the dead ball line, or touches anything or anyone beyond those lines, the ball becomes dead. If the ball was played into in-goal by the attacking team, a drop out shall be awarded to the defending team. If the ball was played into in-goal by the defending team, a 5-metre scrum shall be awarded and the attacking team throws in the ball.

(b) When a player carrying the ball touches the corner post, the touch-in-goal line, the dead ball line, or touches the ground beyond those lines, the ball becomes dead. If the ball was carried into in-goal by the attacking team, a drop out shall be awarded to the defending team. If the ball was carried into in-goal by the defending team, a 5-metre scrum shall be awarded and the attacking team throws in the ball.

8. Unplayable

Louis Ludik of the Lions kicks high. Scott Hamilton of the Crusaders catches the ball and Ludik grabs him. Two Lions players join in and so do two Crusaders.

It is a maul.

That maul then falls to ground and the ball is unplayable.

Because this is from a maul when the ball is caught from an opponents’ kick, the ball goes to the catcher’s side, i.e. the Crusaders.

Under the experimental law variations which apply to the Super 14 this is no longer a scrum but a free kick.

Law 17.6 (h) Scrum after a maul when catcher is held. If a player catches the ball direct from an opponent’s kick, except from a kick off or a drop out, and the player is immediately held by an opponent, a maul may form. Then if the maul remains stationary, stops moving forward for longer than 5 seconds, or if the ball becomes unplayable, and a scrum is ordered, the team of the ball catcher throws in the ball.
‘Direct from an opponent’s kick’ means the ball did not touch another player or the ground before the player caught it.
If a maul moves into the player’s in-goal, where the ball is touched down or becomes unplayable, a 5-metre scrum is formed. The attacking team throws in the ball.

When the experimental law variations are in working, instead of a scrum there is a free kick. In this unusual case the free kick would be in the favour of the catcher’s team.