Incidents in late August Tests

We are going to take incidents for law discussion from three Tests at the end of August - Ireland vs Italy in Belfast, Scotland vs South Africa in Edinburgh and Wales vs France in Cardiff.

Earlier this week we gave statistics from the three matches and discussed two of the tries in the Belfast match.

There are clips of incidents from these matches on www.sareferees.co.za but we shall repeat some of the incidents in case there are those who cannot open the clips.

The first incident we shall try to reproduce later in a clip as it is interesting.

1. Off-side?

There is an early scrum to Scotland. Scotland heel and the ball comes back to their No.8 David Callam. The ball is at Callam's feet when Fourie Du Preez, South Africa's scrumhalf, bends down and picks up the ball.

The referee penalises Du Preez for being off-side.

The commentators agree with the referee.

The referee and the commentators were wrong.

When the ball got to Callam, he pushed back from the scrum. He gripped his locks only with his hands. His arms and shoulders were unattached from the locks. That means that he was unbound. That means that he was no longer a part of the scrum. That means that the ball was out of the scrum. Du Preez saw this and then swooped down to pick up the ball.

He should have been allowed to play on.

2. Skew feed

The incredible happened in Port Elizabeth on Saturday - a modern rugby anachronism. Eastern Province played the Sharks in a friendly and the referee awarded a free kick at a scrum for "foot up". How antediluvian is that! He explained to the Eastern Province hooker that he had his foot in the air for some time waiting for the ball to be put in. It is, of course, still law, as it has been explicitly since 1893.

The crooked put-in at the scrum is not as practically obsolete. In a clip, there is a scrum where Mike Phillips of Wales puts the ball in. He faces to his right and puts it in straight to his right.

Indignantly the commentator, once an international hooker, says: "How can that put-in be straight?"

What is straight?

Law 20.6 (d) The scrum-half must throw in the ball straight along the middle line, so that it first touches the ground immediately beyond the width of the nearer prop's shoulders.

The middle line?

Law 20 DEFINITIONS The middle line is an imaginary line on the ground in the tunnel beneath the line where the shoulders of the two front rows meet.

The ball in this scrum certainly did not travel along this line and the commentator's question is a fair one.

It is worth noting that straight means under the join of the shoulders of the two sets of front rows, not half way between the feet.

3. Whose ball?

The award of the ball for a scrum is important. In modern rugby, the ball almost inevitably goes to the side putting it in and it can take ages before the other side has any hope of getting it back.

(i) Ireland have the ball and are going through phases. Geordan Murphy dashes forward with the ball but he is grabbed by Salvatore Perugini and Robert Barbieri. They go to ground and two Irish players join them in the heap.

The referee blows his whistle. He has reckoned that the ball is unplayable and does not want to waste time and to risk people getting up to dodgy practices.

The ball is regarded as unplayable.

This can happen after a maul, a tackle or a ruck.

In this case there was no maul. For a maul there would have had to have been another Irish player bound with Murphy and the Italians while they were on their feet. Donncha O'Callaghan is there but not bound, just touching. Then it goes to ground. It is not a maul that has fallen down.

It is also not a ruck as there are not players of either side on their feet in physical contact over the ball on the ground.

Referee: "Just a pile-up in there. Nobody's fault. Green forward, Green ball." (Green = Ireland)

Commentator: "The ball must've been on the ground. I thought for a moment it was held off the ground. Had that been the case it would've been an Italian put-in."

Referee right, commentator misleading.

Ball of the ground does not make a maul. And the ball does not have to be on the ground for a tackle. It is only when there is a maul - in which the ball is off the ground - that the ball goes against the team that took the ball into the maul and going forward does not count.

(ii) Peter Stringer of Ireland kicks high. Kaine Robertson of Italy catches and is brought to ground. The referee explains that the ball had been caught and that the scrum would go to Blue (Italy).

Simon Easterby tackles Robertson and Ronan O'Gara adds his weight. On the Italian side flank Robert Barbieri supports Robertson.

Presumably the referee regarded this as a maul - ball carrier, team-mate and opponent, the three elements needed for a maul. If it was indeed a maul it was a momentary one.

If it had not been a maul, he would have decided whose ball it would be by the tackle law. Then the ball would have gone to Ireland, at least because they were in the Italian half and so were defined as the attacking team.

5. In the mouth

Early in the first half, Peter Stringer of Ireland puts the ball into the scrum and immediately the Irish are under pressure from the strong Italian pack.

The front row under pressure, flank Neil Best swings round and helps to heel the ball back on the Irish side.

Legal?

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

It should have been a free kick to Italy.

6. Tiptoe to touch

"That can't be a Welsh throw." Again the indignant voice of the commentator is heard in the land.

Lionel Beauxis of France kicks high down to the touch-line on his left. Shane Williams of Wales bravely tries to keep the ball in play. He catches the ball, leaning over and flicks it back inside. Then his momentum takes him into touch.

The touch judge raises his flag and give the line-out to Wales.

When Williams catches the ball his left foot is in the field of play. His right foot comes forward while he has the ball still in his possession. He is on his right foot when he flicks the ball back infield. After the ball has left his hand. his left foot comes to ground in touch.

If his right foot touches the touch-line than he is the player who took the ball into touch and it is a French line-out. He took it into touch after catching the ball in the field of play.

If his right foot does not touch the touch-line and he plays the ball back infield, play should go on as it has not been in touch.

The commentator has a point.

7. Clean catch

Chris Paterson of Scotland kicks the ball high and well into the South African 22 where JP Pietersen fumbles the ball in catching it. He fumbles in the sense that it bounces in his grasp and he catches it again. He claims and mark and then proceeds as if he had been awarded the free kick.

Pietersen drops the ball onto his boot and then passes it to Montgomery as the referee calls "Play".

Law 18 on the Mark says: The player must make a clean catch.

It is not just a matter of catching the ball but of catching it cleanly. "Clean catch" is not defined in the law but clearly it means without a fumble. It may not be a bad idea to change the wording slightly to: The player must catch the ball without fumbling it.

What Pietersen did after that was all an acceptable part of play but the Scots, who stopped as if a mark had been made, could have laid into him.