Law Discussion - 27 January
We have incidents from three matches to discuss this week: Sale vs Harlequins, Auch vs Toulouse and Saracens vs Bath – all enthusiastic matches, won by Sale, Toulouse and Saracens.
There are some clips from the Sale-Harlequins match on <i>www.sareferees.co.za</i>.
<B>1. The siren’s call</B>
In two of the matches – Auch vs Toulouse and Saracens vs Bath – a siren/hooter was used to signify that time was up.
The time shown on the clock was also time played. The clock was stopped for stoppages.
It is possible after all!
One wonders why the Heineken Cup is so frayed around time’s edges.
<B>2. Messing up a mark</B>
Just inside his 22 and near the touch-line on his right, veteran prop Omar Hasan of Toulouse caught a kick, claimed the mark and was given it. Highly experienced player, this nonetheless seemed a new experience for him. He looked bemused and, obviously following orders, he passed the ball to a team- mate – without first kicking it.
The referee ordered a scrum.
Right?
Yes. The ball had to be brought into play by a kick and Hasan, the catcher, was required to take the kick.
He could have wanted a scrum!
Law 18.6 <I>SCRUM ALTERNATIVE
(a) The team of the player who made the mark may choose to take a scrum.
(b) Where the scrum is. If the mark is in the field-of-play, the scrum is at the place of the mark, but at least 5 metres from the touch-line. If the mark is in-goal, the scrum is 5 metres from the goal-line on a line through the mark, and at least 5 metres from the touch-line.
(c) Who throws in. The team of the player who made the mark throws the ball in. </i>
This happened on 18 minutes.
<B>3. When is a wheel wheeled</B>
Auch wheel. The referee stops the scrum and awards a scrum to Auch, which delights the Auch forwards.
Just a little question: when is a scrum wheeled enough to be stopped and possession is turned over?
Law 20.11 <I>SCRUM WHEELED
(a) If a scrum is wheeled through more than 90 degrees, so that the middle line has passed beyond a position parallel to the touch-line, the referee must stop play and order another scrum.
(b) This new scrum is formed at the place where the previous scrum ended. The ball is thrown in by the team not in possession at the time of the stoppage. If neither team won possession, it is thrown in by the team that previously threw it in. </i>
Firstly, more than 90 degrees. For Under-19 players it is more than 45 degrees. For seniors it is more than 90 degrees. More than.
The middle line must have moved beyond being parallel to the touch lines.
But what happens when the scrum splinters, breaks off in the middle so that Auch are pushing straight ahead and Toulouse have wheeled away. What has happened to the middle line then?
This happened after 22 minutes.
<B>4. Mark the place</B>
Richard Wigglesworth of Sale Sharks is about to put the ball into a scrum. The scrum collapses. The referee awards a free kick. Wigglesworth who still has the ball in his hands taps and plays the ball to Sebastien Chabal who charges, mad flying.
Sadly, the referee, who is otherwise clear in his instructions, does not audibly explain the reason for the free kick. Collapsing the scrum is not a free kick.
Law 20.9 (a) All players: Collapsing. A player must not voluntarily collapse a scrum. A player must not voluntarily fall or kneel in a scrum. This is dangerous play.
Penalty: Penalty Kick
Maybe it was for going down too quickly. That would have been a free kick but Sale looked the earlier of the two.
Maybe it was because Harlequins yielded, meaning they did not take the “hit”.
Accept that it was a free kick, look at the place of the kick.
Law 21.1 <I>WHERE PENALTY AND FREE KICKS ARE AWARDED
Unless a law states otherwise, the mark for a penalty or free kick is at the place of infringement. </i>
There would not seem to have been any infringement by Harlequins at the place where Wigglesworth was standing.
The infringement happened, presumably in the scrum. Then that is where the mark should have been and the kick could have been taken anywhere behind that, which is why scrumhalves often throw the ball to the No.8 when there is a free kick at a scrum.
Taking it where he did certainly gave Wigglesworth an advantage.
It’s not pedantic to require a kick to be taken properly so that one team does not get an unfair advantage.
This happened after 12 minutes.
<B>5. Hand kick</B>
Harlequins split their line-out and Nicolas Spanghero wins the ball in the back group, playing it down off the top to scrum-half Danny Care who scoots through a hole in the middle of the line-out.
With Chris Mayor of Sale in front of him the scrum-half chips the ball but it is not going to clear Mayor until Care flicks the ball with his right hand high over the jumping Mayor’s head. Care darts round Mayor to gather the ball before it touches the ground. He sprints ahead and dives to score a try.
But the referee awards a penalty against him.
What for?
Law 12.1 <I>(e) Intentional knock or throw-forward. A player must not intentionally knock the ball forward with arm or hand, nor throw-forward.
Penalty: Penalty kick. A penalty try must be awarded if the offence prevents a try that would probably otherwise have been scored. </i>
This happened after 57 minutes.
<B>6. Penalty? Penalty try? </B>
After a penalty Harlequins have a throw-in to a line-out five metres from the Sale Sharks line but Chris Jones of Sale Sharks gets up highest and knocks the ball down to his side. The ball is bouncing at the Sale goal-line with Will Skinner of the Harlequins homing in on the ball.
Before Skinner can get to the ball, two things happen – Richard Wigglesworth of Sale slaps the ball back over his dead-ball line and Magnus Lund tackles Skinner before he can get to the ball.
There were two grounds for penalties – against Wigglesworth and against Lund.
The place for each would have been different.
If the penalty had been against Lund it would have been where he tackled Skinner without the ball.
If it had been against Wigglesworth it would have been 15 metres from touch.
Law 10.2 (c) <I>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. </i>
The question of the penalty try is worth considering.
If Skinner would probably have scored if Wigglesworth had not knocked the ball dead, the referee could well have given a penalty try.
If Skinner would probably have scored if Lund had not tackled him without the ball, the referee could well have given a penalty try.
Wigglesworth could well have earned an admonishment or a caution, the latter going hand in hand with a yellow card.
<B>7. Knock-on off-side</B>
Danny Care, the Harlequins scrum-half, is in the fly-half position when he chips ahead. Richard Wigglesworth comes sweeping round and gathers the ball. As he does so, Care tackles him and Wigglesworth loses the ball forward. Sebastien Chabal bends down and collects the ball with Will Skinner and Nicolas Spanghero of Harlequins in close attention.
The referee penalises Chabal.
Right?
Law 11.7<I> 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 </i>
Skinner and Spanghero could certainly have played the ball before Wiggles worth, tackled, could have got to the ball.
This happened after 33 minutes.
<B>8. Tackler plays</B>
Big Kris Chesney of Saracens takes an inside pass and bursts down the middle of the field. Nick Abendanon, the Bath fullback, tackles him. Both go to ground, Abendanon to the side of Chesney. Chesney places the ball well back from his body as Abendanon leaps to his feet by the side of Chesney and slightly to the Saracens side of the flank. Abendanon sees the ball lying free and dives on it.
OK?
There is no problem with his approach to the ball as, being the tackler, he did not have to come through the gate.
Law 15.4 <I>THE TACKLER
(c) The tackler must get up before playing the ball. </i>
Abendanon gets to his feet.
But then he dives on the ball.
The law requires “other players” to be on their feet when they play the ball. Those who are not other players are the tackler and the tackled player.
Law 15.6 <I>OTHER PLAYERS
(a) After a tackle, all other players must be on their feet when they play the ball. Players are on their feet if no other part of their body is supported by the ground or players on the ground.
Penalty: Penalty Kick </i>
Abendanon was the tackler.
This happened after 38 minutes.
<B>9. “Get out of there, 4 White”</b>
Bath, in white, kick off. Kris Chesney of Saracens, with help from two team-mates, rises high and catches the ball.
As he comes down his two team-mates cling to him and Matt Stevens of Bath touches him while Steve Borthwick of Bath goes a little way past the Saracens pod of three and then makes for Chesney.
A maul forms.
The referee says to Borthwick: “Get out of there, 4 White.”
But what if Borthwick had got there before there was a maul, which is a distinct possibility. Would he then have to “get out of there”?
No – provided that he stayed caught up in the maul that formed once he had got, legitimately, where he got.
This happened straight after the first whistle.
<B>10. Great position</b>
Glen Jackson of Saracens chips ahead with his left foot. He goes for the ball, hands down to the ball. The ball is then knocked back towards the Bath line. Jackson gathers it and passes to his left where Brett Russell scuttles over for a try.
This is where guesswork could have undone the referee but in this case the referee did not need to guess. He was right on the spot and able to see that a “White hand”, in other words a Bath player, had knocked the ball back.
The referee was in a splendid position and a slow motion replay showed that he was right. Just being in such a good position made his decision all the more credible.
This happened after 59 minutes.
