Law Discussion - 20 January

The Heineken Cup ended with a sudden bang this weekend, solving all sorts of problems – joy for some, hopes dashed for others. It was a wet weekend and a watershed one.

The matches we have taken incidents from are: Glasgow Warriors vs Saracens, Leicester Tigers vs Leinster, Munster vs London Wasps, Gloucester vs Ulster and Bristol vs Cardiff Blues.

1. Glasgow boo

Rugby has many sounds – the spectator’s cry of support, crowd singing, the whistle with its various tones, the referee’s call, the players’ grunts and so on. They are a part of the game. But surely the ugliest sound of all is booing – and it’s not part of the game.

There was a good crowd at Firhill when Glasgow Warriors hosted Saracens. The big home crowd was lively but not always hospitable.

On one occasion Glen Jackson received a kick. He straddled his 22, left foot well over the 22, right foot anchored in the 22. The ball dropped and had not yet reached the 22 when Jackson, leaning forward, caught it and claimed a mark.

The referee gave the mark.

The crowd booed.

They owe the referee an apology, for he was wight and they were wrong.

Law 18 DEFINITION

To make a mark, a player must be on or behind that player’s 22-metre line. A player with one foot on the 22 metre line or behind it is considered to be ‘in the 22’. The player must make a clean catch direct from an opponent’s kick and at the same time shout “Mark!”.

2. Varndellism

a. Tom Varndell of Leicester takes a short pass near the touch-line on his right. Rob Kearney of Leinster tackles him and a heap forms. Varndell is near the touch-line and the ball is near the touch-line.

Lying there Varndell palms the ball back. He does not hold the ball. He touches the touch-line. The touch judge raises his flag for a line-out to Leinster.

Commentator: Shoulder on the line whilst he is touching the ball.”

Right?

Wrong.

Even if the whole of Varndell’s body had been in touch when he played the ball the ball would not have been out because it did not touch the touch-line and Varndell did not pick it up.

Law 19 DEFINITIONS

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.

This happened after 15 minutes.

b. Brian O’Driscoll of Leinster kicks ahead down the touch-line on his left. Gordon D’Arcy is in hot pursuit with Tom Varndell just ahead of him. Varndell reaches the bouncing ball first and bats it the short distance into touch.

The referee penalises Varndell and gives the mark 15 metres in from touch.

Right?

Yes.

Law 10.2 (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 touch-line, or, at the place of the infringement if the offence occurred elsewhere in the field of play, or five metres from the goal-line and at least 15 metres from the touch-line 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.

This happened after 49 minutes.

3. Dead or alive

a. Peter Stringer passes back from the field of play to Ronan O’Gara who is deep in his narrow in-goal. O’Gara reaches up and catches the ball. He turns right and kicks.

As he turns right his right foot clips the dead-ball line.

Play goes on.

Should play have gone on?

No.

Law 22.11 (b) When the ball or a player carrying it touches the corner post, the touch-in-goal line or the dead-ball line, or touches the ground beyond those lines, the ball becomes dead. If the ball was carried or played into in-goal by the attacking team, a drop-out shall be awarded to the defending team. If the ball was carried or played into in-goal by the defending team, a 5-metre scrum shall be awarded and the attacking team throws in the ball.

The referee would have known this. Seeing it from his position would have been seriously difficult.

Could he have consulted the television match official?

Yes.

The IRB’s TMO protocol:

The TMO could therefore be requested to assist the referee in making the following decisions:

* Try
* No try and scrum awarded 5 metres
* Touch down by a defender
* In touch – line-out
* Touch-in-goal
* Ball dead on or over the dead ball line
* Penalty tries after acts of foul play in in-goal
* All kicks at goal including dropped goals.

The difference here would have been between a five-metre scrum to Wasps or a line-out downfield.

This happened after 56 minutes.

b. Daniel Cipriani kicks down field. The ball bounces in the field of play and then rolls on and on into the Muster in-goal where Ronan O’Gara carefully monitors its progress. It loses impetus but still has the energy to roll over the dead-ball line.

The referee gives Munster the choice between a drop-out or a scrum where Cipriani kicked the ball.

Was the flyhalf confused? Did he suggest that it should not have been the scrum option because it was a rolling ball?

The referee was right.

Law 22.8 BALL KICKED DEAD IN IN-GOAL

If a team kicks the ball through their opponents’ in-goal, into touch-in-goal or on or over the dead ball line, except by an unsuccessful kick at goal or attempted dropped goal, the defending team has two choices:

To have a drop-out, or
To have a scrum at the place where the ball was kicked and they throw in.

It was not a confusing situation.

This happened after 33 minutes.

4. “I need to be consistent”

Phil Vickery trips and is cited. Mirco Bergamasco trips and is cited. Dan Murphy trips and is cited. Christophe Laussucq trips and is not cited.

Some people ask: “Consistency?”

But in the same match.

Munster tap and the Munsterman is tackled before he has run 10 metres – yellow card for Simon Shaw.
Munster tap and the Munsterman is tackled before he has run 10 metres – no yellow card.

Same match.

The second incident was close to the Wasps goal line, the area some referees refer to as the red zone. They are more likely to dish out cards there for actions called cynical or professional – neither a particularly good choice of words.

Shaw was about six metres from David Wallace when he tries to tackle him and gets handed off for his troubles. Shaw does not actually tackle him. The action is about 45 metres from the Wasps line. (This happened after 35 minutes.)

But when Denis Leamy takes the tapped ball from Stringer and charges, he is tackled about five metres ahead – tackled and put down and it is closer than 10 metres to the Wasps line. (This happened after 45 minutes in the first half.)

That does not seem consistent.

Rob Hoadley of Wasps breaks down the right and Denis Leamy of Munster jumps on him. They both to ground and Leamy uses his hand to flip the ball back. He is sent to the sin bin. (This happened after 22 minutes.)

Mick O’Driscoll of Munster ploughs ahead and Lawrence Dallaglio of Wasps jumps on him. They both to ground and Dallaglio uses his hand to flip the ball back. He is sent to the sin bin. (This happened after 53 minutes.)

That is consistent.

Anthony Foley picks up and charges. He makes little headway before being tackled. Phil Vickery is on hand and folds over Foley, killing the ball. The referee has time to tell Vickery to move away but a deaf ear is turned to him. That is a penalty only. (This happened after 45 minutes.)

When the referee sent Shaw to the sin bin, he said to him: “I have to be consistent with professional fouls.”

He is right.

5. Benefit of the doubt

Leicester Tigers batter at the line. Seru Rabeni batters. The ball comes back. Frank Murphy picks up and darts but is brought down.

The referee awards a five-metre scrum to Leicester.

commentator: “Interstingly the referee said: ‘Held up over the line, Leicester ball.’ Benefit of the doubt.”

Benefit of the doubt does not exist.

If Murphy was help up over the line it was a five metre scrum to Leicester.

If Murphy had been short it would still have been a five-metre scrum to Leicester as there was no maul. Murphy was tackled but he was certainly going forward and so his side would get the put in. The ball does not need to touch the ground for a tackle to take place.

Law 22.10 10 BALL HELD UP IN-GOAL

When a player carrying the ball is held up in the in-goal so that the player cannot ground the ball, the ball is dead. A 5-metre scrum is formed. This would apply if play similar to a maul takes place in goal. The attacking team throws in the ball.

This happened after 71 minutes.

6. Forward bounce

Under pressure near his line Jamie Robinson of Cardiff Blues passes backwards towards his fullback Ben Blair. The ball hits the ground before it reaches Blair. Some people called for a forward pass.

Commentator: “If it goes backwards and then bounces forward, that’s OK.”

The commentator is right.

This happened after 57 minutes.

7. Putting on-side

Tom Arscott of Bristol kicks downfield from inside his 22. The ball stays in and lands inside the Cardiff half where Jason Spice gets the ball and pops it to Xavier Rush who runs, across field first and then left into the advancing phalanx of several, menacing Bristol players, including Matt Salter, Alfie To’oala and Sean Hohneck.

Commentator 1, referring to Arscott: “He really has to chase down to put the men on-side.”

Commentator 2: “Arscott didn’t get there in time.”

Salter, To’oala and Hohneck were closer than 10 metres of Spice. They did not retreat. In fact they advanced. It did not matter how quickly or how far Arscott zoomed past them, they stayed off-side.

But what about the pass to Rush?

Law 11.4 OFF-SIDE UNDER THE 10-METRE LAW

(a) When a team-mate of an off-side player has kicked ahead, the off-side player is considered to be taking part in the game if the player is in front of an imaginary line across the field which is 10 metres from the opponent waiting to play the ball, or from where the ball lands or may land. The off-side player must immediately move behind the imaginary 10 metre line. While moving away, the player must not obstruct an opponent.

(b) While moving away, the off-side player cannot be put on-side by any action of the opposing team. However, before the player has moved the full 10 metres, the player can be put on-side by any on-side team-mate who runs in front of the player.

Penalty: When a player is penalised for being off-side in general play, the opposing team chooses either a penalty kick at the place of infringement or a scrum at the place where the offending team last played the ball. If it was last played in that team’s in-goal, the scrum is formed 5 metres from the goal-line in line with where it was played.

Law 11.5 BEING PUT ON-SIDE UNDER THE 10-METRE LAW

(a) The off-side player must retire behind the imaginary 10 metre line across the field; otherwise the player is liable to be penalised.

(b) While retiring, the player can be put on-side before moving behind the imaginary 10-metre line by any of the three actions of the player’s team listed above in Section 2. However, the player cannot be put on-side by any action of the opposing team.

Salter, To’oala and Hohneck are not put on-side when Spice passes the ball.

This happened after 30 minutes.

8. Whose ball?

Ben Blair of Cardiff Blues kicks a low ball at the touch-line on his right. It bounces. Anthony Elliott of Bristol comes to gather the ball, which he does. When he does so his left foot is on the line and the ball has crossed the plane of the line.

Whose ball is it?

Elliott is in touch.
The ball is in touch.
Blair kicked it.

Bristol ball.

This happened after 84 minutes.

9. Some things they said

Referee: “I’ll referee this my way today.”

Referee: “Speak with your players. Keep your mind.”

Referee: “I don’t need help to referee.”

Commentator: “Now he knows what Heineken rugby is all about. It’s all about the side that triumphs.”

The player he was talking about was Doug Howlett. He played in 62 tests for the All Blacks and more than 150 first class matches in Super rugby and the NPC, starting when he was still at school. He may know about rugby and the importance of triumph!