S14, Wk 5, Incidents

We have already given the statistics for Week 5 of Super 14 and now we discuss the laws in action, taking some incidents from the seven matches.

Two of these incidents have clips to illustrate them on the South African Referees’ website – www.sareferees.co.za. We shall also mention them here. The one is an attempted try by Derick Hougaard of the Bulls, the other a try by Lelia Masaga of the Chiefs.

Later we shall do our scrum report again, just to see if the new procedures are maintaining their innocence or not.

We have two questions from readers.

1. Getting the sack

It happened more than once over the weekend, but here is one incident.

Sean Hardman of the Reds throws in deep in the line-out. At No.6 Mitch Chapman leaps up high and catches the ball. When he comes down from his Olympian height to earth with team-mates gathered around to form a maul, Cobus Grobbelaar of the Lions grabs him and pulls him to ground.

The referee calls:”Only one man,”

This is the action called sacking, a term taken from gridiron football. It’s a relatively recent term in gridiron – about 30 years old – and there is means to tackle a ball-carrier as distinct from any body else who may be fair game.

In rugby football it has come to mean grabbing a ball-carrier legally when there is an attempt to form a maul and bringing him to ground.

In the Reds-Lions case, there is no maul when Grobbelaar grabs Chapman. Grobbelaar is alone in attacking the Reds’ formation. That is the “one man” the referee refers to.

Because there is no maul Grobbelaar cannot be penalised for collapsing a maul, which is stating the obvious. The referee was explaining this. Sometimes the referee will use verbal shorthand and refer to the action as sacking.

2. Way too far

Willie Wepener of the Lions throws into a line-out. They throw to No.6 where Ernst Joubert rises high to catch the ball. When he comes to earth, just on the touch-line side of the 15-metre line, he gives the ball to Enrico Januarie who passes it to Cobus Grobler on his right who is about ten metres beyond the 15-metre line.

Grobler, an obvious man on the field with a curly mop of blond hair as his beacon, had been near the front of the line-out, started peeling off as Wepener threw in. We ran on a wide arc. The referee, aware of the beacon, twice warned him not to go beyond the 15-metre line, but Grobler bobbed on. The referee penalised him.

Why?

Was it the wide arc?

No.

Law 19.11 PEELING OFF DEFINITION

A line-out player ‘peels off’ when leaving the line-out to catch the ball knocked or passed back by a team-mate.

(a) When: A player must not peel off until the ball has left the hands of the player throwing it in.
Penalty: Free Kick on the 15-metre line, in line with the line of touch.

(b) A player who peels off must stay within the area from that player’s line of touch to 10 metres from the line-of touch and must keep moving till the line-out has ended.
Penalty: Free Kick on the 15-metre line, in line with the line of touch

Grobler did all that.

But, because the outer limit of a line-out is 15 metres from touch, when he crossed the 15-metre line, which was before Joubert passed to Januarie, he had left the line-out.

Law 19.13 (e) No player of either team participating in the line-out may leave the line-out until it has ended.
Penalty: Penalty Kick on the 15-metre line

If he had listened to the referee’s two kind warnings he would not have been penalised.

That was a relatively easy one to pick up. The harder one is when the ball is thrown deep and the defending player at the backs slips out over the 15-metre line,.

When the Highlanders played the Blues in Auckland, the Highlanders threw into the line-out. The ball was caught by James Ryan near the back of the line-out and held. Ryan went high for the ball towards the back of the line-out but well within the 15-metre line. He came to ground and a maul formed round him at that place. The line-out was not over. As Ryan came to ground, so Daniel Braid, who was at the back of the Blues line-up and just inside the 15-metre line, started shuffling/dancing, infield about five metres over the 15-metre line.

He was liable to penalty though, unlike Grobler, he did nothing about being where he went.

3. From the side?

Mark Gerrard of the Brumbies runs down the left touch-line. towards the Bulls’ goal line. Jaco van der Westhuysen of the bulls in desperation ankletaps Gerrard from behind. Gerrard stumbles and falls to the ground leaving the ball behind him. Johan Roets, the Bulls’ fullback, comes from behind Gerrard and behind Gerrard dives at the ball, which is about three metres from the touch-line, into touch.

Was what Roets did illegal?

There had been no tackle, for Gerrard was not held.

There had been no ruck or maul.

Gerrard was not Roets’s team-mate.

There was no reason to penalise Roets for diving at the ball in the way he did.

Penalty for knocking the ball into touch?

In that case the penalty would have been 15 metres in from touch.

Roets was penalised three metres in from touch.

It looked wrong but may well not have been wrong.

4. Four-man front rank

The Sharks put the ball into the scrum but the Crusaders put pressure on them and the ball is sitting there in the tunnel.

Jacques Botes, the Sharks flank on the left side of the scrum, swings out and swings his left leg into the scrum to knock the ball back to his side.

OK?

No – for two reasons.

Law 20.9 (f) Locks and flankers: Staying out of the tunnel. A player who is not a front row player must not play the ball in the tunnel.
Penalty: Free Kick

The other reason is more serious.

Law 20.3 (f) Binding by all other players. All players in a scrum, other than front-row players, must bind on a lock’s body with at least one arm. The locks must bind with the props in front of them. No player other than a prop may hold an opponent.
Penalty: Penalty Kick

Binding?

Law 20.3 BINDING IN THE SCRUM DEFINITION

When a player binds on a team-mate that player must use the whole arm from hand to shoulder to grasp the team-mate’s body at or below the level of the armpit. Placing only a hand on another player is not satisfactory binding.

Botes was not doing that. He kept a grip on lock Johan Ackermann’s jersey but his shoulder and whole arm were detached from him.

So Botes was wrong for two reasons. How would you penalise – free kick or penalty?

The reason why he was unbound was not to attack the opponents but to play the ball, and the penalty for that is a free kick. The free kick looks the reasonable decision.

5. Another primitive off-side

You may not see it for months on end but suddenly we have had a rash of them.

Willem de Waal of the Cheetahs kicks a high up-and-under, which the Cheetahs chose with Marius Joubert in the van. Under pressure Dwayne Sweeney of the Chiefs knocks the ball sideways. It bounces high and in the direction from which it had come. Jamie Nutbrown, the Chiefs’ scrumhalf, falling back jumps and grabs the ball.

Referee:”In front of the last player who played the ball.” Nutbrown was in front of his team-mate Sweeney.

7. Off your feet

a. The Cheetahs led 22-19 and time was virtually up. Just inside the Cheetahs’ half the Chiefs went through phase after phase, left and right, without making headway.

They went left and flank Steven Bates charged. Tiger Mangweni of the Cheetahs brought him down and held onto him. First man there was Hendro Scholtz who had a fine match in the loose.

Scholtz went down to get the ball. If he got it the Cheetahs would certainly win. But the Chiefs, winless in the 2007 Super 14, were desperate, too. Lock Toby Lynn slammed into Scholtz and hooker Tom Willis arrived and also opposed Scholtz.

Referee: “Roll away, White.” Scholtz did not roll away but brought the ball out to his side.

Afterwards the Cheetahs’ coach that he could not see what Scholtz had been penalised for.

If the ball was on the ground when Lynn made contact with him, there was a ruck.

If it was not a ruck, Scholtz was still in the wrong. There had been a tackle and he was a player off his feet playing the ball.

b. The Force play the Waratahs. Sharp young Curtly Beale shapes to drop and then goes darting. Brendan Cannon grabs him by the lower leg and holds on. Beale comes to ground with Cannon holding onto him, in other words a tackle.

Beale plays the ball back away from his body and Gareth Hardy, the Force prop, dives on it as it rolls away.

Commentator: “The penalty is a little bit baffling. Was there a ruck yet?”

There are replays during which his voice becomes more strident.

Commentator:“It’s not yet a ruck. Why can’t you dive on the ball? You can dive on the ball if the ruck’s not formed. The ball was loose on the ground.

“Tough one.”

Law 15.6 (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.

8. Try or knock?

Lelia Masaga of the Chiefs races at the Cheetahs goal-line and as Meyer Bosman grabs him he is goes to ground well over the goal-line, the ball mainly in his right arm. As he goes to ground he rolls over and the ball slips from his right arm. His left hand then comes down on the ball and he grounds it.

The referee referred the matter to the television match official who took his time examining a difficult case till he gave his verdict: “You may award the try.”

Knock-on?

The ball left Masaga’s hand in a forward direction, but that is not enough in itself for a knock-on.

The ball did not touch Bosman. It was not a knock-on on that score.

His left hand had the ball before it touched the ground. Not a knock-on on that score.

His left hand brought the ball into contact with the ground.

TRY!

There is a clip of this on the SA referees’ website.

9. Hougaard grounded

The Brumbies are under pressure. In their own in-goal Mark Gerrard kicks but Fourie du Preez of the Bulls charges down the kick to where Julien Huxley of the Brumbies is standing. Huxley knocks the ball forward but regather it before it touches the ground and he tries to run it out of the in-goal rather than concede a five-metre scrum.

Wikus van Heerden, Pedrie Wannenburg and Derick Hougaard attack Huxley as he gets just over his goal-line, Hougaard falling to ground on Huxley’s left. Huxley drops the ball forward.

Hougaard moves his body forward to fall on the ball which is under his chest. He then moves the ball forward and is over the goal-line, claiming a try when the referee blows his whistle.

The referee refers the matter to the TMO, asking if the ball was on or over the goal line when Hougaard first grabbed the ball.

The TMO reports that the ball was in the field of play when Hougaard flung himself on it and that Hougaard then moved it towards himself and over the goal-line.

The referee then awards a scrum for Huxley’s knock-on.

Why no try?

Hougaard had played the ball while on the ground. He should have got to his feet and then tried to get the ball over the goal-line.

Law 14.1 PLAYER ON THE GROUND

The player must immediately do one of three things:

Get up with the ball, or
Pass the ball, or
Release the ball.

A player who passes or releases the ball must also get up or move away from it at once. Advantage is played only if it happens immediately.
Penalty: Penalty Kick

2 WHAT THE PLAYER MUST NOT DO

(a) Lying on or around the ball. A player must not lie on, over or near the ball to prevent opponents getting possession of it.

(b) Falling over the player on the ground with the ball. A player must not intentionally fall on or over a player with the ball who is lying on the ground.

(c) Falling over players lying on the ground near the ball. A player must not intentionally fall on or over players lying on the ground with the ball between them or near them.
Penalty: Penalty Kick

Why no penalty?

The referee had been playing advantage to the Bulls for Huxley’s knock-on when Van Heerden and Wannenburg tackled him. The Bulls had not got advantage and so he ordered the scrum.

There is a clip of this on the SA Referees’ website.

10. Up goes the scrum

The Stormers have a five-metre scrum against the Hurricanes. They hook, hold and shove. The Hurricanes stand up and peel out and the Stormers shove on till Julian Melck picks up the ball to plunge over for the try.

Commentator: “The referee is technically obliged to reset if the front rows come up. I guess it’s interpretation as most refereeing these days is.”

It’s not just the matter of a reset. There is also the possibility of a penalty and the possibility of a penalty try.

The Stormers did score. They would have scored where they scored. In other words the scrum’s action did not deprive them of scoring in a better positron and so there was no need to award a penalty try.

The referee is told not to allow advantage when a player is lifted in the scrum.

Law 8.3 WHEN THE ADVANTAGE LAW IS NOT APPLIED

(e) Player lifted in the air. Advantage must not be applied when a player in a scrum is lifted in the air or forced upwards out of the scrum. The referee must blow the whistle immediately.

Were the Hurricanes lifted into the air or did they stand up? Clearly the referee believed that they had not been lifted into the air.

If the Stormers had forced them up, the Stormers would have been penalised.

Law 20.8 (i) Lifting or forcing an opponent up. A front-row player must not lift an opponent in the air, or force an opponent upwards out of the scrum, either when the ball is being thrown in or afterwards. This is dangerous play.
Penalty: Penalty Kick

11. Lifting

Reader: Law Discussion Question – Super 14, week 4, Western Force vs Lions, approx 70th minute. Two (or more) Lions players appear to lift a Force player off his feet and carry him over the touchline.

What is the rule here ? Can they do this ? I observe many occasions when player push or drive opposition over the touchline but to lift and/or carry a player over is probably not in the sprit of the game but is it a rule.

Thanks, Chris

Comment: It’s not just the lifting of the player which constitutes an offence. It is his safety that is in question. Which means that provided they did not dump him, there was no harm done.

12. Anticipated mark

Reader: Is it OK to call “Mark” when the ball is in the air and afterwards catch the ball? Should the referee award this anticipated mark?

Thank you very much,

Aitzol Ezeiza – Basque Country

Comment: No. The player must catch the ball and call mark at the same time.

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!”.