Law Discussion - 8 January
We have three matches to extract some law situations this weekend – Biarritz vs Montauban, Bath vs Gloucester and Harlequins vs Leicester Tigers.
There are in fact many things to talk about, as there always are.
Let’s start with the start of a match.
1. Mud Bath
The weather was execrable on Friday as the rain teemed down and the cold bit. Bath, where it seems to get wetter than in many other places, was the venue for the match between Bath and Gloucester, rivals geographically and rivals for the top place on the Premiership table.
The field was sodden and the kick-off was delayed as the ground staff got stuck in to remove surface water, which they did so effectively that there was no splashing about – just some sticking in the mud.
Who would decide whether or not the pitch was playable?
The referee?
What would his criteria be?
Law 1 says that he must not start the match if any part of the ground is considered to be dangerous
Dangerous could include frozen hard, under water, fogbound or being bombarded with lightning.
Matches have been played in much worse conditions that those prevailing in Bath. Some may remember that match in New Zealand when Scotland played in 1975 with Pat McDavitt to referee, or the World Cup semi-final in Durban in 1995 when Derek Bevan refereed and earned a controversial gold watch or the day the Taff broke its banks in Cardiff in 1960 and the referee, Jack Taylor of Scotland, offered the captains the chance to stop it and both captains voted to continue their epic battle. Those were much worse conditions than these. In 1991 a referee, Albert Adams of South Africa, stopped a Test because he thought conditions dangerous. That was 43 minutes into the match between the USA and France in Colorado Springs and lightning rained down on the field knocking out the electronic scoreboard.
Rugby is a winter sport and adverse conditions occur from time to time, generally enjoyed far more by the players than the spectators! But then it is a game for players.
In this case, Kate Oram, the club’s media manager, reports: “The Referee, Coaches and Groundsmen all had a discussion about the conditions of the pitch and the safety of playing and felt that it was not bad enough to cancel the fixture.
“There were some concerns voiced by Gloucester, but Bath were all ready and raring to go.”
2. Whistleless he went
In the Bath mud the referee, who had an excellent match in the trying conditions, was knocked over. A maul suddenly slewed across and Lee Mears of Bath backed into the referee who was knocked down onto his back in the mud. He sprang immediately to his feet and went on without showing any concern for what had happened. Imperturbably but unable to whistle for his whistle was clogged with intransigent mud.
In no time he had a replacement whistle and was able to blow it for a scrum.
It is a “be prepared” lesson for all of us. A wise referee has a spare. A wise touch judge also carries a spare.
Francis Palmade, the great, methodical French referee, had five whistles on his person, just in case. He also had two watches, just in case.
3. A palpable trip
Harlequins attack down the left, keen to get back into the game after stumbling to 28-6 down in the second half.
Replacement left wing, Simon Keogh races down the touch-line into the Harlequins 22 as Tom Varndell dashes in to tackle him. Somehow, brilliantly, Keogh gets a pass infield to De Wet Barry. Barry did not get the ball because he was prone on the ground.
Instead Ollie Smith of Leicester, falling back, falls on the ball. Mike Brown of Harlequins falls on Tait and is penalised.
The pass it seems would have been perfect for Barry – if he had been standing. He would then have had about 15 metres to get to the line with nobody in front of him but rapid Smith just behind him.
Barry was not on his feet to catch the pass because before it got near him Christophe Laussucq, the Leicester scrumhalf, shot out a right foot and tripped Barry.
Watching with the revealing certainty of slow motion, Laussucq looked deliberate.
Clearly the match officials missed it. The touch judge had been concentrating to see that Keogh did not step into touch before passing infield and also in avoiding the area of collision between Keogh and Varndell. The referee was infield and may have had his line of vision blocked. He had a better view than the touch judge had.
Yellow card?
Certainly.
Penalty try?
It is possible that a try would probably have been scored. It may even have been probable. A referee would give careful consideration of awarding a penalty try.
Television viewers could see what happened. If they could, the citing commissioner could as well.
Citing happens in the Premiership.
In the World Cup Phil Vickery was cited for tripping Paul Emerick, found guilty and suspended for two weeks. Mirco Bergamasco was cited for tripping Dan Parks, found guilty and suspended for two weeks.
Will Laussucq be cited?
Maybe a distinction is made in the case of excessive vigour/danger in the trip. But Laussucq’s trip was cynical enough to be worthy of some action.
The penalty against Brown was fair enough for he had dived on a player on the ground. But the real miscreant went undetected.
Should the TMO have the freedom to speak and the referee the freedom to consult him? It may be worth a thought.
The trip happened after 56 minutes of the match.
4. “From a catch”
Christophe Laussucq of Leicester Tigers kicks high and, ever zealous, Lewis Moody chases the kick. Simon Keogh catches the ball and as he does Moody slams into him. Both go to ground. It is a tackle, a clear and hard tackle, a tackle in terms of the law.
A heap forms and the referee decides that the ball is unplayable. He gives the scrum to Harlequins, saying: “From a catch, lads.”
This was wrong reasoning.
There was a tackle.
Law 15.8 8 DOUBT ABOUT FAILURE TO COMPLY
If the ball becomes unplayable at a tackle and there is doubt about which player did not conform to law, the referee orders a scrum immediately with the throw-in by the team that was moving forward prior to the stoppage or, if no team was moving forward, by the attacking team.
That’s it – nothing about “from a catch, lads”.
The “from a catch” law applies only to the maul; – not to the tackle or the scrum.
Law 17.6 UNSUCCESSFUL END TO A MAUL
(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.
In the Keogh-Moody incident, there was no maul. This law does not apply. Only the law of the tackle applies and that does not include any reference to a catcher.
This happened after 57 minutes of the match.
4. Tap, tap
There are referees who seem to get a match bustling along and there are those who manage to slow things down. The tap kick is an example.
a. Steve Malonga of Biarritz catches the ball in a line-out and Biarritz move the ball forward in close formation with Malonga in the van, his back to the opposition. No Montauban player is involved. Then prop Pascal Peyron of Montauban pushes against the formation. It is a maul. The second Montauban player, big Salemane Sa, grabs Malonga’s collar and pulls. Sa goes down without succeeding to pull any Biarritz player down – a collapsed maul in which no maulers collapsed! – and Biarritz rumble on till the referee blows his whistle and awards a penalty to Biarritz. Scrumhalf Julian Dupuy of Biarritz stands where the referee is standing, directly behind him, in other words in line with the mark, taps correctly and darts off. The referee watches him dart and then blows his whistle, calls him back and gives a penalty – on that very same mark – to Biarritz.
Reason to stop? Perhaps because there may have been some emotion to quieten down. Otherwise the referee had no right to stop Dupuy from doing what he was doing.
The incident happened after 23 minutes.
b. Bath and Gloucester’s exchange kicks. Willie Walker kicks and Nick Abendanon of Bath hoists a high kick and chases. The ball drops to ground as a Gloucester player tries to catch it with big Daniel Browne near him. The ball bounces back but the referee steps in and awards a penalty against Browne for being within 10 metres of where the ball was landing. Immediately scrumhalf Rory Lawson taps on the run and the ball is going left till Chris Paterson, fresh on the field and resplendent in clean tops, breaks and races over 50 metres to score a splendid try.
Allowing a tap kick produced a splendid moment in the match – just what the tap kick was meant for.
The incident happened after 59 minutes of the match.
5. Quick, quick
Like the tap penalty the quick throw-in is a way to get the game going quickly.
Law 19.2 QUICK THROW-IN
(a) A player may take a quick throw-in without waiting for a line-out to form.
(b) For a quick throw-in, the player may be anywhere outside the field of play between the place where the ball went into touch and the player’s goal-line.
(c) A player must not take a quick throw-in after the line-out has formed. If the player does, the quick throw-in is disallowed. The same team throws in at the line out.
(d) For a quick throw-in, the player must use the ball that went into touch. If, after it went to touch and was made dead, another ball is used, or if another person has touched the ball apart from the player throwing it in, then the quick throw-in is disallowed. The same team throws in at the line-out.
(e) At a quick throw-in, if the player does not throw the ball in straight so that it travels at least 5 metres along the line-of-touch before it touches the ground or another player, or if the player steps into the field-of-play when the ball is thrown, then the quick throw-in is disallowed. The opposing team chooses to throw in at either a line-out where the quick throw-in was attempted, or a scrum on the 15-metre line at that place. If they too throw in the ball incorrectly at the line-out, a scrum is formed on the 15-metre line. The team that first threw in the ball throws in the ball at the scrum.
(f) At a quick throw-in, a player may come to the line-of-touch and leave without being penalised.
(g) At a quick throw-in, a player must not prevent the ball being thrown in 5 metres.
Penalty: Free Kick on 15-metre line
(h) If a player carrying the ball is forced into touch, that player must release the ball to an opposition player so that there can be a quick throw-in.
Penalty: Penalty Kick on 15 – metre line
a. Montauban are on the attack but Biarritz win the ball back from a tackle/ruck. They heave a long kick downfield where Montauban’s scrumhalf Cedric Garcia collects the ball. He stands a while at the place, poised, and then throws in to catch the ball himself.
The referee stops him and has a full line-out, telling him that he had to do it immediately. He had taken too long.
What are the reasons for stopping a quick throw-in? Wrong ball, ball handled by other than the thrower, foot in the field of play, throw skew, throw not 5 metres, line-out already formed. None of these applied here.
There is nothing in the law which puts a time limit on the throwing in of the ball.
The incident happened after 50 minutes of the match.
b. Nicolas Brusque of Biarritz kicks the ball a long way downfield and over the touch-line on his left. Denis Cech of Montauban catches the ball and throws in to himself. The throw is towards the Biarritz end of the field. Cech catches the ball and play goes on.
English commentator: “It doesn’t have to be straight. The crowd, some of them, are remembering the old laws where whenever you threw in it had to be plum straight but it isn’t.”
The commentator was wrong. The laws as they stand require the ball to be thrown in “plum straight”. If the latest experimental law variations do become law some time later this year they will require the ball to be thrown in straight or backwards – not forward as happened here.
Why did the referee not stop play? He was some 50 metres down the field and would have had to guess to blow, which is not a good thing to do. He did not have the position of some spectators sitting in the stand opposite the place and voicing their disapproval.
The incident happened after 43 minutes of the match.
c. From inside his 22, Nicolas Brusque kicks a long kick into touch on his right, something he does often in the match. Wing Jean-Emmanuel Cassin of Montauban gathers the ball inside his 10-metre line and takes a quick throw in. Steve Malonga of Biarritz a long way downfield from Brusque when he kicks sees this and dashes forward to grab Cassin who manages to get the ball infield to fullback Fabien Fortassin who kicks.
Malonga OK?
Yes because the ball was dead till Cassin brought it into play. He could not be off-side while the ball was dead.
The incident happened after 5 minutes of the match.
6. Precedence
Johne Murphy of Leicester kicks infield and Chris Malone jumps. In the air he calls mark as Lewis Moody of Leicester tackles him while he is in the air.
The referee, who was about 10 metres away and had a clear view of what happened, awarded a free kick to Harlequins for the mark but then had a conversation with his touch judge and changed it to a penalty.
The more severe penalty was in order because of the danger inherent in an air tackle.
The incident happened after 13minutes of the match.
7. Good communication
Las week we mentioned the case where the referee may have put the touch judge off when he said that he was “Inside” when kicking for touch from within his 22 after he had taken the ball back into his 22.
It happened again this weekend when Leon Lloyd of Gloucester took the ball back into his 22 and then from within his 22 kicked directly into touch. The referee called: “Taken in.”
The incident happened after 76 minutes of the match.
8.Grounded
a. Takudzwa Ngwenya of Biarritz is tackled by Yoan Audrin of Montauban but manages to play the ball back to where Denis Cech of Montauban is standing. Cech knocks the ball back with his right hand but Ngwenya, lying on the ball, grabs the ball. Play goes on. Samiu Vahafolau of Biarritz grabs the ball and ploughs ahead.
OK?
No.
Cech was all right because there is no off-side line at a tackle and he was beyond am metre from Ngwenya but Ngwenya was not right to grab the ball because he was lying on the ground.
The incident happened after 6 minutes of the match.
b.Chris Hala’ufia of Harlequins charges but Lewis Moody fells him. Lying on Hala’ufia Moody pulls the ball back with his right hand and Leicester win a turn-over.
OK?
No.
There was a tackle and after a tackle only players on their feet may play the ball.
The incident happened after 57 minutes of the match.
9. Touch and go
a. Adrian Jarvis of Harlequins kicks a penalty towards the touch-line on his left. Standing in touch, Tom Varndell of Leicester jumps up. The ball crosses the plane of the touch-line and Varndell bats it back into the field of play. Varndell lands in touch.
The touch judge puts up his flag for a line-out where the ball crossed the line. Varndell and George Chuter debate the issue but the referee says: “Bob’s right.” And the debating stops.
Harlequins throw the ball into the line-out because Jarvis had kicked from a penalty kick.
The incident happened after 59 minutes of the match.
b.Mike Brown of Harlequins kicks for the touch-line on his right. With his feet just in the field of play Geordan Murphy of Leicester waits for the ball. The ball crosses the plane of touch but Murphy’s outstretched hands flick the ball back into the field of play after which it bounces into touch.
Harlequins throw the ball into the line-out.
The incident happened after 35 minutes of the match.
In both instances the touch judge was right.
Law 19 DEFINITIONS
If the ball crosses the touch-line or touch-in-goal line, and is caught by a player who has both feet in the playing area, the ball is not in touch or touch-in-goal. Such a player may knock the ball into the playing area. If a player jumps and catches the ball, both feet must land in the playing area otherwise the ball is in touch or touch-in-goal.
A player in touch may kick or knock the ball, but not hold it, provided it has not crossed the plane of the touch-line. The plane of the touch-line is the vertical space rising immediately above the touch-line.
10. Knock-on off-side
Would you penalise any of these?
a. Mike Malone of Harlequins kicks high. Brave Geordan Murphy of Leicester comes forward to catch the kick but knocks on. Ben Kay of Leicester is in front of Murphy. He grabs the ball and passes it back. Andy Gomarsall of Harlequins is close to Murphy.
The incident happened after 3 minutes of the match.
b. Geordan Murphy of Leicester Tigers kicks high and chases. As the ball comes down there are many players around. Tom Croft of Leicester goes up to catch the ball in a contest with two Harlequins, Mike Brown and Mike Malone. Crift knocks on. Johne Murphy of Leicester is in front of Croft with Harlequins players, especially Will Skinner and Gary Botha, close to him. He puts up hands to catch the ball but fails to do so.
The incident happened after 14 minutes of the match.
c. After Mike Malone has goaled a penalty for Harlequins, they kick off. Tom Croft of Leicester knocks on the kick-off. The ball flies forward, hits its point and bounces back to Tom Varndell who is behind Croft. Varndell grabs the ball.
The incident happened after 18 minutes of the match.
Which would you penalise?
Law 11.7 OFF-SIDE AFTER A KNOCK-ON
When a player knocks-on and an off-side team-mate next plays the ball, the off-side player is liable to penalty if playing the ball prevented an opponent from gaining an advantage.
Penalty: Penalty Kick
Off-side: Law 11 DEFINITIONS
In general play a player is off-side if the player is in front of a team-mate who is carrying the ball or in front of a team-mate who last played the ball.
You would probably penalise just a.
Kay is off-side and plays the ball and prevents Gomarsall from playing the ball.
Johne Murphy’s action may have been just a reklex. The knock-on, too, in that concourse of players may well have been unknown to him. You would probably not have penalised him.
Varndell was not off-side and so you certainly would not penalise him.
11. Dropping off the upright
Montauban are two points behind Biarritz with time running out. Left-footed Fabien Fortassen, well back from the forwards, drops for goal. The ball strikes the left upright and bounces back into the field of play. Lock Matthias Rolland and prop Pascal Peyron attack the place where the ball is.
The referee penalises them for off-side.
OK?
Oh, yes.
They were ahead of their player who last played the ball. The penalty is correct – with the option of a penalty where they were off-side, five metres or so from the Biarritz goal-line, or a scrum where Fortassen kicked the ball.
The incident happened after 74 minutes of the match.
