Law Discussion: GP and the ELVs

England’s Premiership has – as has the rest of the rugby world, adopted the experimental law variations, but just to keep the world guessing they are different from those used in the Tri-Nations whose last round match millions will be watching on Saturday.

The Tri-Nations match will be played under the  ELVs that obtained in the Super 14; the Premiership – and other rugby – will be played under those introduced on 1 August and played everywhere expect in the Tri-Nations.

There are differences.

The Tri-Nations’ ELVs are not quite the same as those used in the Super 14. Then there was an off-side line at the tackle, in the Premiership there is no off-side line at the tackle. In the Tri-Nations, the maul may be collapsed, which was not true in Super 14. But it is true in the Premiership.

In the Super 14 the team throwing in determined the maximum number their opponents were allowed in the line-out. That is not so in the Tri-Nations. There is no restriction on the numbers in the line-out other than fitting in between 5m and 15m.

1. Sanctions

The big difference is in the sanctions.

When Northampton Saints played Worcester Warriors there were 22 penalties. 15 were at the tackle. Of those 15 two were for side entry and one for a deliberate infringement after warming. That means that 12 of those penalties, under Tri-Nations, ELVs would have been free kicks. Play speeds up at free kicks.

The number of infringements at tackles has nothing to do with any kind of ELV. It follows a decree in May that came forth from the IRB insisting that the full might of the law apply to the tackle. The difference is in the sanction.

2. Offside at scrums

The ELVs require backs to be back 5 metres from scrums.

Watch the referee’s assistant help to mark the place five metres back for each side.  (See Worcester vs Northampton, 19 minutes for a clear case of help from the assistant.)

The idea of this change was that there would be more space for the backs to operate in. The backs would be ten metres apart and that would create space especially as the 16 forwards and two scrumhalves were occupied with the scrum. That took away the clutter of 18 players. The six backs of the team winning the ball had some 70 metres to play in – luxury, or so it seemed.

This was not an obvious advantage in this match. The No.8s did not pick up to charge ahead. Scrums were so often a mess that the backs could do little with them – three penalties plus free kicks, resets and collapses. Messy scrums are not good for backs.

In the first half the Worcester Warriors one a scrum to attack from – clean away. The ball went for scrumhalf to flyhalf to Sam Tuitupou at inside centre. He immediately cut back and took the tackle. Gone was space.

Four Worcester Warriors players contested the ball at the tackle to one Northampton player. The other Northampton players fanned out in defence. Six against six with 70 metres top play in was gone. The 10 metres between the backlines was gone.

On one occasion Northampton Saints had a chance to move the ball but their handling was not up to scratch and James Downey took the tackle. It took four of the ball-carrier’s side to secure the ball against two from Gloucester. Gloucester’s had 13 men on their feet to defend. The attackers were down to 10 men.

There were no tries in the match from scrums.

3. Collapsing the maul

It is not just a matter of diving in and bringing the thing down. There are laws governing collapsing the maul. The player who brings it down must be in the maul and he may do so only by grabbing the opponent between the shoulders and the hips and then pulling him down.

Greg Rawlinson of Worcester Warriors was in the maul. He grabbed the shoulders of Scott Gray and pulled him down. Gray was nor carrying the ball but he was “an opposing player in the maul”.

There were no real efforts at mastodon mauling in the game.

When New Zealand played Samoa, the All Blacks rumbled a maul forward from a line-out. First prop Simon Lemalu, then lock Filipo Levi grabbed at Kiwi legs in the maul in an effort to stop the formation’s advance. The referee penalised them telling them that they were pulling legs to collapse the maul.

Experimental Law Variation 3

Players are able to defend a maul by pulling it down.

A defending team may pull the maul to ground.

To do this a defender must grasp an opposing player in the maul anywhere between the shoulders and the hips and then pull that player to the ground.

If the maul is brought down by any other action it is regarded as a collapse which remains illegal.

4. Quick throw-in

The very first throw in from touch in the Gloucester-Leicester Tigers game made a point. Right at the start of the match Rory Lawson kicks for touch.  Big Tiger Alesana Tuilagi is wafting at the spot, grabs the ball and throws in to Jordan Crane. The throw-in is not nearly straight but it is backwards. The ELVs allow that.

In the Currie Cup match between the Valke and the Lions wing Trompie Ntshinga threw in quickly to Earl Rose but the throw was forward. The referee stopped that.

In fact, apart from throwing in skew at a quick throw-in, the laws governing throwing in from touch remain as they were. This includes the requirement that the thrower keep his feet in touch.

Harry Ellis of Leicester Tigers, from within his 22, kicks the ball out into touch on the full. Ryan Lamb waits for the ball as it goes our. He straddles the touch line, left foot in touch and right foot well in the field of play. In that position, right foot well in the field of play, he throws in quickly to Olly Morgan who gives to James Simpson-Daniel who races down the right.

OK?

No.

Even for a quick throw the thrower’s feet must be in touch.

Law (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 a 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.

But the referee could perhaps not see that Lamb’s foot was far into the field and that acting as he did speeded up the quick-throw-in. But this situation falls right within the assistant referee’s area of jurisdiction.

Law (d) When to lower the flag. When the ball is thrown in, the touch judge must lower the flag, with the following exceptions:
Exception 1: When the player throwing in puts any part of either foot in the field of play, the touch judge keeps the flag up.
Exception 2: When the team not entitled to throw in has done so, the touch judge keeps the flag up.
Exception 3: When, at a quick throw in, the ball that went into touch is replaced by another ball, or after it went into touch or it has been touched by anyone except the player who takes the throw in, the touch judge keeps the flag up.

That applies whether he is an assistant referee or just a touch judge. It is a primary function.

5. Taken back in

Experimental Law Variation 4

If a team puts the ball back into its own 22 and the ball is subsequently kicked directly into touch, there is no gain in ground.

That sounds straightforward. Look at these two:

a. To start the second half, Carlos Spencer kicks off for Northampton Saints. He kicks off straight down the middle of the field.  Dale Rasmussen of Worcester Warriors catches the ball and is immediately tackled to the ground by Jon Clarke. There is a tackle/ruck in the Warriors’ 22. Warriors get the ball back to flyhalf  Matthew Jones who kicks out on the full. The referee has a discussion with his assistant about tackle or no tackle, which is interesting if not wholly relevant.

i. When Rasmussen Caught the ball his left foot was outside the 22 but his right foot was on the 22. In other words he was in his 22 as far as the law is concerned. That ,means that he did not take the ball back into his 22 and Jones was quite entitled to kick out on the full and have the line-out formed where the ball went out.

ii. If Rasmussen had had both feet outside of the 22 and was then tackled when he was outside the 22 and driven back into the 22, he would have been deemed to have taken the ball back and the line-out would have been opposite where Jones kicked.

iii. If Rasmussen had caught the ball outside of his 22 and then stepped back into his 22 and then been tackled, the line-out would have been where the ball went out.

The last, iii., was not what happened but was what the referee was referring to.

b. There is a scrum to Leicester Tigers about half a metre outside of their 22. When the scrum goes down not even all of the front row feet are over the 22, but when the Tigers heel the ball and Harry Ellis picks it up the referee calls to warn them that they had taken the ball back into their 22.

Right?

Yes.

Experimental Law Variations 4

Law 19.1 (d) Defending team takes the ball at that team’s 22 at a scrum or a line-out. When a defending team throws the ball into a scrum or a line-out outside that team’s 22 and the ball then crosses into that team’s 22 without touching an opposition player and then a player from the defending team kicks the ball directly into touch before it touches an opposition player or a tackle takes place or a ruck or maul is formed, there is no gain in ground.

6. Line-out numbers

Experimental Law Variation 6

There is no restriction on the number of players from either team who can participate in the line-out. (The law does till require that there be a minimum of two players from each team.)

This, it seems, has sounded the death knell of the short line-out and clever variations. The defending team just plonks eight players into the line-out and competes – eight against seven. Winning the line-out is far less certain than it was. Northampton Saints at one stage lost four of their throws in succession.

Eight? But don’t they have to have a player in the tramlines?

Yes.

Experimental Law Variations 7 & 8:

The player who is in opposition to the player throwing in the ball must stand in the area between the 5-metre line and the touch-line but must be two metres from the 5-metre line.

That law does not say how close he must be to the line-out and it was interesting to see teams with a wing standing a long way back from the line-out but inside the tramlines. That enabled his side to have eight in the line-out and still leave him back far enough to be able to cover across quickly. At the same time it leaves them vulnerable to a pop back to the hooker.

7. In or out

This has nothing to do with ELVs

a. Gloucester have a penalty but Ryan Lamb fails to find touch. Instead the ball bounces down into the Leicester in-goal where Tom Varndell grabs the bouncing ball. He has one foot in in-goal and one foot in the field of play. It seems that he may well consider running it out but instead dots it down.

Because he is deemed to be in in-goal even if one foot is in the field of play, the referee orders a drop-out.

Law 22 A defending player who has one foot on the goal line or in the in-goal who receives the ball is considered to have both feet in in-goal.

b. Carlos Spencer of Northampton Saints kicks downfield and the ball rolls into the Worcester Warriors in-goal. Chris Latham of Worcester gets back and waits for the ball. With one foot on the dead-ball line he leans forwards and collects the ball which is still rolling.

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.

When Latham gets the ball, it becomes dead. because Spencer kicked the ball and it became dead, Worcester have the option of a drop-out or a scrum,

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.

8. Advantage

LAW 8 ADVANTAGE
DEFINITIONS
The Law of advantage takes precedence over most other Laws and its purpose is to make play more continuous with fewer stoppages for infringements. Players are encouraged to play to the whistle despite infringements by their opponents. When the result of an infringement by one team is that their opposing team may gain an advantage, the referee does not whistle immediately for the infringement.

8.1 ADVANTAGE IN PRACTICE
(a) The referee is sole judge of whether or not a team has gained an advantage. The referee has wide discretion when making decisions.
(b) Advantage can be either territorial or tactical.
(c) Territorial advantage means a gain in ground.
(d) Tactical advantage means freedom for the non-offending team to play the ball as they wish.

The debate about tactical advantage goes on and on. It’s fairly clear in words; the practice may not be as obvious.

Leicester Tigers throw in at a line-out but knock the ball on. Gloucester clean up with a ruck and present excellent ball to their scrumhalf Rory Lawson who passes to his right to Alasdair Strokosch who is a good five metres behind the ruck. Strokosch has a man inside of him to his left and four players outside of him to his right. He chooses to charge at the oppostion and runs seven strides to make contact. Gloucester get the ball back and this time Peter Buxton charges. He is tackled and loses the ball forward. The referee stops play and awards a scrum to Gloucester for the knock-on in the line-out, saying: Everything done under pressure. Everything done under pressure. Always under pressure.”

It’s hard to see that there was not tactical advantage in a case such as this. Strokosch chose to charge and Buxton’s poor play lost the ball forward. Strokosch could gave played to the man on his left or the man on his right or kicked. He turned space into pressure.