Law Discussion - from 24 November

We shall do this week’s law discussion in two sections – taking incidents from the Wales-South Africa match in Cardiff and then from two matches in England’s Premiership.

For those who like visual aids, there are clips on seven incidents from the Wales-South Africa match on www.sareferees.co.za.

On that site, too, is a competition which enables the winner to win a book on refereeing, entitled 101 Rugby Decisions by Justus Potgieter and Freek Burger with a strong recommendation from Andre Watson.

In Cardiff South Africa beat Wales 34-12 but they lost the yellow card count 2-0.

1. Scrumhalf in the way

Much mess in the misty scrum, all right.

It’s the second scrum of the match when the mist from the pre-match entertainment was still hanging over the field.

Dwayne Peel, Wales’s scrumhalf, feeds the scrum and Wales heel. The ball works its way back to the feet of Jonathan Thomas. After he has fed the scrum, Peel stays more or less where he was. He does not retreat. He turns his back to Rickie Januarie, the South African scrumhalf, and clearly impedes Januarie’s effort to follow the ball. This gives Thomas greater freedom in playing the ball at his feet. Januarie eventually petulantly shoves Peel out of the way.

The referee blows his whistle for a rescrum because the front rows had gone up.

Is Peel allowed to stand where he does?

Law 20.12 (b) Off-side for scrum-halves. When a team has won the ball in a scrum, the scrum-half of that team is off-side if both feet are in front of the ball while it is still in the scrum. If the scrum-half has only one foot in front of the ball, the scrum-half is not off-side.
Penalty: Penalty Kick

Both Peel’s feet are well in front of the ball and Peel is where he is for an obstructive reason. He is liable to be penalised. It is a situation which a referee can, of course, manage to see that it does not happen again.

This happens at the second scrum, between 1 and 2 minutes into the match.

2. Childish off-side

The Springboks pass back to flyhalf Andre Pretorius who is about five metres outside of his 22. He kicks high downfield. Ahead of him by some 15 metres is lock Johann Muller of South Africa. There are other South Africans there, including Jannie du Plessis and Jaque Fourie who, like Muller, move forward when Pretorius kicks. They are off-side because they are in front of a team-mate who last played the ball. They are liable to penalty for being off-side because they move forward. The referee calls to them to hold on but they keep on moving. Four times the referee calls Hold. It has no effect.

Eventually Morgan Stoddart, the Welsh fullback, catches the ball and darts forward. He is tackled by Muller about five metres inside the Welsh half.

When Pretorius kicked, Muller was about 12 metres inside his own half. That means, without being put on side, Muller had run some 17 metres to tackle Stoddart.

Law 11.1 (c) Off-side and moving forward. When a team-mate of an off-side player has kicked ahead, the off-side player must not move towards opponents who are waiting to play the ball, or move towards the place where the ball lands, until the player has been put on-side.

The referee penalises Muller. There is an option in such a case.

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.

Where would the penalty be? Where Muller moved forward, i.e. about 12 metres inside the South African half.

Where would the scrum be? Where Pretorius kicked the ball, i.e. about five metres outside the South African 22.

This happens after about 4 minutes into the match.

3. Lifting too soon

Jaque Fourie of South Africa is tackled into touch and Wales have the throw-in at the line-out.

Huw Bennett of Wales is to throw in. Wales have prop Gethin Jenkins in the front of the line-out, facing Ian Evans. South Africa have Bakkies Botha at the front of the line-out with hooker John Smit standing in the five-metre area but close to Botha.

Bennett throws in. Jenkins helps /supports/lifts Evans, gripping his thighs, and Smith helps/supports/lifts Botha, gripping his waist. Evans gets higher but Botha gets to the ball first and slaps it back to his side.

The referee awards a free kick to Wales, saying: “No.2 lifting too soon.”

Law 19.9 (g) Lifting. A line-out player must not lift a team-mate.
Penalty: Free Kick on the 15-metre line

(h) Support before jumping. A player must not support a team-mate before the team-mate has jumped.
Penalty: Free Kick on the 15-metre line

(i) Jumping or supporting before the ball is thrown. A player must not jump for the ball or support any player before the ball has left the hands of the player throwing it in.
Penalty: Free Kick on the 15-metre line

(j) Pre-grip below the waist. A player must not pre-grip any team-mate below the waist.
Penalty: Free Kick on the 15-metre line

(k) Support of a player. A player must not support a jumping team-mate below the shorts from behind or below the thighs from the front.
Penalty: Penalty Kick on the 15-metre line

Definitions: Pre-gripping. Gripping a team-mate in the line-out prior to the being thrown in.

Isn’t that interesting? A lot of it more honoured in the breach than in the observance as Hamlet would have expressed it though he was not talking about line-out law and observance.

Given the reason the referee gives it’s hard to see why Smit was more culpable than anybody else. It must also go as one of the rarer, more esoteric decisions, rarer even than foot-up in a scrum!

This incident occurred after about 12 minutes of the match.

4. Where will the line-out be?

James Hook of Wales kicks down towards the South African 22 on South Africa’s right. South African wing JP Pietersen falls back and falling back catches the ball about a metre outside of his 22 but he is running back towards his line and keeps on running into his 22. He turns and, about one metre inside his 22, under pressure from Tom Shanklin, kicks the ball out about 10 metres outside of his 22.

The touch judge takes up his position about one metre inside the South African 22, i.e. opposite the place where Pietersen kicked.

Right?

Yes.

Law 19.1 NO GAIN IN GROUND

(a) Outside a team’s 22. A team member kicks directly into touch. Except for a penalty kick, when a player anywhere in the playing area who is outside the 22 kicks directly into touch, there is no gain in ground. The throw-in is taken either at the place opposite where the player kicked the ball, or at the place where it went into touch, whichever is nearer that player’s goal-line.

(b) Player takes ball into that team’s 22. When a defending player gets the ball outside the 22, takes or puts it inside the 22, and then kicks directly into touch, there is no gain in ground.

The incident occurred at about 59 minutes into the match.

5. Hands, Habana, hands

Right but why?

Tom James of Wales runs with the ball but Bryan Habana gets hold of him and drives him back in a tackle. Mark Jones is first there supporting James. Jones makes contact with Habana. Schalk Burger arrives and so does Jonathan Thomas of Wales who shoves against Burger.

Habana, the tackler, gets on his feet, leans down a hand made obvious by his white undergarment and palms the ball back. Unfortunately all is not clear after this as the clip does not show the ball.

The referee penalises Habana.

There are possible reasons for penalising Habana, two not clear, one obvious.

The one is not clear is if Habana was off his feet when he palmed the ball back because his torso was resting on Jones, who was off his feet.

It is not entirely clear whether Habana’s contact with Jones constitutes a ruck because Jones is soon off his feet.

But certainly the contact between Thomas and Burger constitutes a ruck – players of opposite sides on their feet in physical contact over the ball on the ground.

Because it was a ruck it was illegal for Habana to use his hand.

6. This will change

Apparently this will change, and it will be a good thing.

Let’s look at two incidents five minutes apart.

a. Gavin Henson cuts back with the ball, beating three South Africans on the way till Albert van den Berg tackles him. Henson and van den Berg go to ground. The first player there is Johann Muller of South Africa who bends down to grab the ball. He does so from behind and on his feet. What he does is legal.

Muller is grabbing at the ball and then two Welshmen arrive – Ian Evans, who dives past Muller and Duncan Jones who bears down on Muller. The referee calls “Away!”. Just as he calls away the ball comes back to South Africa. The referee penalises South Africa.

John Smit of South Africa approaches the referee with a question. The referee points and says: “Just move.”

b. Rhys Thomas of Wales charges. Wynand Olivier of South Africa tackles him. First there is Bismarck du Plessis who is on his feet. On his feet he bends to play the ball. He does so from behind the tackle.

The first Welsh player to arrive is Sonny Parker who drives into Du Plessis. If the ball is on the ground there is now a ruck.

Parker with help from Jonathan Thomas pulls Du Plessis down. If there was a ruck, it is now a collapsed ruck.

Presumably Du Plessis continues to play the ball. Even if it is no longer on the ground he is not allowed to do so because he is not on his feet.

The referee says Away, Green.

The ball comes back to South Africa.

The referee penalises Du Plessis and with much pointing sends him to the sin bin.

Again John Smit queries the decision. The referee says: “Number 16 off his feet.” (Number 16 was Du Plessis.)

Whatever wrongs Muller and Du Plessis may have been guilty of will be legal next year apparently, if the law at the tackle changes to allow the use of hands. One of the reasons for the change, they say, is to remove the referee’s subjectivity from the tackle, the most penalised aspect of play.

In both of these incidents a case could be made for holding on by the tackler – Henson in the first case, Rhys Thomas in the second. In neither case did the penalties player go off his feet at his own volition. Both Muller and Du Plessis were forced to ground.

If a ruck was formed before they were forced to ground – and we are talking of fractions of nanoseconds – then are not Duncan Jones and Sonny Parker guilty of collapsing a ruck?

Law 16.3 (c) A player must not intentionally collapse a ruck. This is dangerous play.
Penalty: Penalty Kick.

It would be good if all this is to change.

One little question: how brusque should a referee be? It is now less and less common for referees to be brusque in dealing with players. Certainly there should be no debate, but one wonders whether brusqueness does much good for the temperature of a game or for the spirit of cooperation. In both these incidents there is enough grey area to make questioning understandable.

The first incident happens after about 72 minutes in the match, the second after 76.