Law Discussion - Six Nations, Round 4
We have already given statistics. Now we talk about some points of law from Round 4 of the Six Nations.
In these matches Wales beat Ireland 16-12 in Dublin, Scotland beat England 15-9 in the wet in Edinburgh and France beat Italy 25-13 in Paris.
We shall also deal with some points of Law from the Super 14.
For those who are interested, there are some clips of Super 14 law matters on www.sareferees.co.za.
1. Line or post?
Ronan O'Gara of Ireland kicks low and hard down towards the touch-line on his right,. The ball flies over the head of Shane Williams and bounces down to the cornerpost. It hits the cornerpost.
The order of events is important, as the referee strives to confirm.
Hit the touch-line first and it is a line-out top Wales five metres from their line.
Hit the cornerpost first and it is a drop-out to Wales.
The referee is able to establish that it hit the line first and so the line-out happened.
This happened after 18 minutes.
2. Comment
It's not easy to be a commentator. You speak and that's it - out on the air it goes. It's a bit like being a referee - one opportunity and it's in the public domain for regular repeating. The television commentator is different in that he need not say anything. The referee is obliged to make a decision.
a. Dan Parks of Scotland grubbers ahead. Toby Flood of England falls on the ball. Simon Webster of Scotland comes diving in.
Commentator: "Jonathan Kaplan choosing not to see that as a penalty but it certainly was. You're not allowed to dive on a man on the floor."
But when you look at the incident it certainly seems that Webster dives and ends next to the prone Flood and then puts and arm out onto him.
It would seem that that was in order. He did not dive on Flood.
Must the Scots let Flood up?
No.
b. Commentator: "I think the referee was generous to England there because they were not going forward."
There was no question of going forward. At the time the referee was signalling a knock-on by Scotland.
c. There is a maul which ends on the ground. France set up the maul and moved forward but were stopped. The referee awards the scrum to Italy.
Commentator: "They're going forward, says Alan Lewis."
Alan Lewis said no such thing. At the time he was moving his left hand across his chest, not in some ancient Roman salute but in the accepted refereeing signal that this was a case of use it or lose it. The French had started the maul, the maul became unplayable and so the ball went top Italy.
3. Unable to evaporate
a. Hugo Southwell of Scotland runs forwards and hoists a high kick, setting off after it. He takes a few steps and bashes into England's Jamie Noon. The referee does nothing, which incenses the crowd who go in for extended booing to vent their anger.
b. Jonny Wilkinson kicks and chases. He makes glancing contact with Jason White and flies through the air. Scotland claim and are given a mark.
In a. the referee explains his non-action by saying that Noon had not changed direction. In the case of Wilkinson he describes the action as a dive.
Noon did not move to get into Southwell's way. And he was not obliged to evaporate. He could not do so. All he did was stand his ground. Had he moved to get into Southwell's pass it would have been a penalty.
As it was, the referee was right, the booers wrong.
4. Nallet denied
François Trinh-Duc of France chips. As Mirco Bergamasco falls back to grab the ball he succeeds only in footing it back towards his line. To his credit he gets back and bravely fights to hang onto the ball. He hangs on too well and is penalised five metres from his line and near the posts. In the spirit of France Adventurous Lionel Nallet taps the kick and plunges over, but he gets the sequence of the tap wrong. He picks up the ball and puts his boot to it instead of putting his boot to it and then picking it up. This gives Italy a defensive scrum.
Right?
There are two ways to bring the ball into play when a team is awarded penalty. - a kick or a scrum. Nallet chose to kick.
Kick?
DEFINITION
Kick - a kick is made by hitting the ball with any part of the leg or foot, except the heel, from the toe to the knee but not including the knee; a kick must move the ball a visible distance out of the hand, or along the ground.
The ball did not leave Nallet's hand when he put his boot to it.
Law 21.3 HOW THE PENALTY AND FREE KICKS ARE TAKEN
(a) Any player may take a penalty or free kick awarded for an infringement with any kind of kick: punt, drop kick or place kick. The ball may be kicked with any part of the leg from knee to toe but not with the heel.
(b) Bouncing the ball on the knee is not taking a kick.
(c) The kicker must use the ball that was in play unless the referee decides it was defective.
Penalty: Any infringement by the kicker's team results in a scrum at the mark. The opposing team throws in the ball.
This happened after 3 minutes of the match.
5. Position is everything
France are to throw the ball into a line-out. Hooker Dimitri Szarzewski of France takes up a position to throw in. He stands to the left of the touch judge, in line with the line of his forwards in the line-out. He looks carefully back at the flag and then throws in.
His throw is straight - straight down the line of his players.
It is not a new ploy.
The thrower must be required to stand under the flag.
It is best managed, of course, by getting Szarzewski to stand in the right place.
If he does not, there is law to given it.
Law 19.5 HOW THE THROW-IN IS TAKEN
The player taking the throw-in must stand at the correct place. The player must not step into the field-of-play when the ball is thrown. The ball must be thrown straight, so that it travels at least 5 metres along the line-of-touch before it first touches the ground or touches or is touched by a player.
Law 19.6 INCORRECT THROW-IN
(a) If the throw-in at a line-out is incorrect, the opposing team has the choice of throwing in at a line-out or a scrum on the 15-metre line. If they choose the throw-in to the line-out and it is again incorrect, a scrum is formed. The team that took the first throw-in throws in the ball.
6. Dummying
Simon Picone, the Italian scrumhalf, is slow to clear the ball from the tackle/ruck and often clumsy.
After Martín Castrogiovanni grabs a French line-out throw at the back of a line-out a tackle/ruck forms about him. The ball comes back to Italy.
Picone bends and drops his hands to the ball. He places a hand on the ball. Then he stands up without the ball and points to his left.
Then Picone bends and drops his hands to the ball and then straightens up, leaving the ball where it was.
Then, a third time, Picone bends to the ball and for a third time he does not pick it up.
The referee awards a free kick to the French on the grounds that Picone was pretending that the ball was out to catch the French.
Law 16.4 (f) A player must not take any action to make the opponents think that the ball is out of the ruck while it is still in the ruck.
Penalty: Free Kick
That is what the referee did.
7. Not good at all
Italy set up a maul. Lionel Nallet of France is one of the players in the maul. His head stands up above the Maul and his position in the middle of the maul is harmful to the Italian cause. Seeing this Salvatore Perugini, the hairy Italian prop, clamps a stout arm around Nallet's throat and pulls him back and down.
Nallet needs attention.
The crowd are angry when they see this.
The referee does not see it.
It is surprising that the incident was not cited.
The incident happened after 63 minutes.
8. It was said
a. The referee, warning the Scottish captain Mike Blair against repeated infringement: "You will lose personnel."
Would it not be better to be more direct and say I shall send the offender to the sin bin?
b. The referee to big Andy Sheridan who seemed not to be taking him seriously enough: "I'm not asking you. I'm telling you."
That was simple and direct.