The Twickenham lines

Three to debate

The psalmist said: The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. The Irish would probably agree, the English vehemently disagree after three incidents in the Six Nations match between England and Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday.

There were three incidents, all try-bearing, two of which angered the English.

1. Horgan's first try

Brian O'Driscoll kicks a long grubber kick down the Irish right. Ben Cohen of England is back waiting for the kick, but the ball bounces past him as he slips.

Shane Horgan on Ireland's right wing was running after the ball in a perfunctory fashion. When the ball gets past Cohen and heading for the touch-line, Horgan sprints. He gets to the ball before Cohen, foots it infield and chases after it as it rolls into the English in-goal. He dots it down for the try.

That all sounds innocent enough but what happened at the touch-line was not may have innocent, but not easy.

The ball, bouncing low, was above or on the white line when Horgan's right foot kicked it. Horgan's left foot was in the field of play.

Did the ball touch the white line?

Things were easier in the days when some form of lime was used for the white lines, giving rise to John McEnroe's famous "chalk dust". You could see the chalk dust. Now lines are more antiseptic. They kick up no chalk dust to help the touch judge who was in a good position but behind Horgan's right foot. That made it harder to see if the dropping ball had actually dropped as far as the line.

Let's just look at the law to see when the ball is in touch.

Law 19 Definitions

a. The ball is in touch when it is not being carried by a player and it touches the touch-line or anything or anyone on or beyond the touch-line.

b. The ball is in touch when a player is carrying it and the ball-carrier (or the ball) touches the touch-line or the ground beyond the touch-line.

c. The ball is in touch if a player catches the ball and that player has a foot on the touch-line or the ground beyond the touch line.

d. If a player has one foot in the field of play and one foot in touch and holds the ball, the ball is in touch.

e. If the ball crosses the touch-line or touch-in-goal line, and is caught by a player who has both feet in the playing area, the ball is not in touch or touch-in-goal. Such a player may knock the ball into the playing area. If a player jumps and catches the ball, both feet must land in the playing area otherwise the ball is in touch or touch-in-goal.

f. 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.

The a., b., c. etc, are there just for reference.

Let's use a checklist.

b. Horgan was not carrying the ball.
c. Horgan did not catch the ball.
d. Horgan did not hold the ball.
e. Horgan did not catch the ball
f. Horgan was not in touch.

That leaves only a. The whole question is whether the ball touched the line or not.

For ordinary folk, even with slow motion, it is not certain that the ball touched the line, which may be the reason why the touch judge twitched his flag upwards. Then, perhaps rather than guess, he twitched it down again – but the twitching did not make for confidence.

If the ball touched the line it was out; if it did not touch the line it was not out. If the ball did not touch the line, there was no problem with the try. If the ball did touch the line, the try should not have been awarded. It was certainly a hairline decision.

Could the referee have referred the matter to the television match official?

No.

It all happened far too far from the goal line, and the IRB's protocol lays down that the area of adjudication is only as follows:

– grounding of the ball for try and touch down
– Touch, touch-in-goal, ball being made dead during the act of grounding the ball.

This includes situations where a player may or may not have stepped in touch in the act of grounding the ball on or over the goal line.

If only Cohen had not let the ball past him! The touch judge may have made a mistake. Cohen also may have made a mistake.

2. Cohen's quick throw

Ronan O'Gara kicks a ball towards his right. It bounces into touch five or so metres from the England line. Ben Cohen gets the ball in touch, approaches the touch-line and throws the ball in. It travels more than five metres. He catches the ball and hoofs it into touch.

The touch judge keeps his flag up on the grounds that Cohen stepped into the field of play in the act of throwing in. The referee orders a line-out taken again because Cohen was in the field-of-play when he threw the ball.

England form up a line-out and throw deep – and skew, by the way – where Lewis Moody is, but Denis Leamy of Ireland gets a hand up in front of Moody knocks the ball, grabs it as it drops over the England line and scores a try.

Cohen gets the ball in touch. It is the right ball and only he handles it. He approaches the line to throw it in. His right foot is well behind the touch-line when he throws in. His left foot is over the line but in the air. His left foot comes to ground only after he has thrown in the ball.

The foot in the air is irrelevant. If you drop out with the back foot on the 22, you have kicked from within your 22 even if the kicking foot is well over it. Cohen's back foot matters and his back foot was in touch. Even if it had been on the line it would have been in touch because the line is a part of touch.

That would appear to have been a mistake.

Secondly, if the player, in the act of throwing in quickly, steps into the field of play, his team forfeits the right to another throw-in.

Law 19.2 (e) At a quick throw-in, … 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.

The match officials may have got it wrong, but they did not choose to throw in to the wrong place and skew!

3. Horgan's second try

Ireland are on hectic attack. Peter Stringer passes a long pass to Shane Horgan on the short side, just inside the touch-line on his right. The big wing charges straight for the corner as Lewis Moody tackles him.

Horan reaches out and grounds the ball in the corner.

On his knees, the touch judge is in a great position to see the grounding as Horgan comes to him, but not in a great position to see Horgan's trailing legs.

The referee refers the matter to the television match official. It would seem distinctly possible that Horgan's legs were over the touch line when he was tackles, but they were in the air, above Moody's body as he rolled over with them into touch.

It does not matter if they were in the air.

Law 19 Definitions

The ball is in touch when a player is carrying it and the ball-carrier (or the ball) touches the touch-line or the ground beyond the touch-line.

Horgan did not touch the touch-line or the ground beyond the touch-line.

The try was awarded – the try that won the match.