Law Discussion - first week, December

There is a lot of concentration on the introduction of a curtailed version of the Stellenbosch Laws but we are staying in the present with incidents from three matches during the first weekend of December.

The main match is the match at Twickenham when the exciting Barbarians beat a dull South African team 22-5. We have also some incidents from the wet match between Stade Francais and Dax in Paris and an incident from a match at the IRB Sevens World Series in Dubai.

Just one little thing from the Paris match. There was time recorded on the television screen. It was playing time. When there was time off the word STOP replaced time. Time on, and the clock ran again. That meant that 80 minutes on the clock was 80 minutes of play and the next stoppage brought the final whistle. So it is possible in Europe. It is a pity that it was not used in the Rugby World Cup, nor indeed, the Heineken Cup.

For those interested in the Laws of the Game, there is a little question on www.sareferees.co.za which would produce the prize of a book, 101 Rugby Decisions

1. When can I play, sir?

In the first minute of the match at Twickenham, the ball comes back from a ruck to the Barbarians. The ball is out but Justin Marshall of the Barbarians is not immediately on hand to pick it up. Ryan Kankowski of the Springboks is caught in the ruck, which is now over, but he is standing and leans down and knocks the ball backwards with a hand at the end of a long arm.

He is penalised.

Why?

The referee does not penalise him for coming in at the side though, perhaps, just, he might have. The referee's gesture was for knocking the ball down.

Kankowski does not knock the ball forward. He knocks it backwards at an angle.

Kankowski did not knock the ball back into the ruck. In any case the penalty for that would have been a free kick, not a penalty.

The reason for the penalty is not immediately obvious even if it "looked wrong".

2. Where is the line-out?

Ruan Pienaar runs forward and kicks a low ball. It strikes Barbarian Conrad Smith's foot and ricochets back some ten or 12 metres and into touch on the full.

Where will the line-out be?

If the ball had struck Smith's head, knee or chest, the line-out would have been where the ball went out. But it struck his foot and was clearly adjudged a kick and so the line-out is opposite the place where it was kicked - if it was kicked!

This happened after six minutes of the match.

3. "You are not the captain"

The Barbarians knock-on. The referee blows his whistle and makes the appropriate gesture to signal a knock-on.

Then he says to Justin Marshall: ""That is the last time from No.9. He is not the captain."

Marshall, it seems likely, was giving the referee advice - as scrum-halves often do. The referee urged silence, and the match proceeded amiably.

This happened after 20 minutes of the match.

4. TMOed drop

Francois Steyn of South Africa kicks a drop from a long way away. The long drop drops at the crossbar. The referee is uncertain whether it went over or not. Cautious, he refers the matter to the television match official whose advice is that it was not over.

OK to refer it?

Yes.

The IRB's TMO protocol:

3. Area of Adjudication

The areas of adjudication are limited to Law 6. 8 (b), 6.8 (d) and 6.8 (e) and therefore relate to:

- 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.

The TMO could therefore be requested to assist the referee in making the following decisions:

- Try

- No try and scrum awarded 5 metres

- Touch down by a defender

- In touch - line-out

- Touch-in-goal

- Ball dead on or over the dead ball line

- Penalty tries after acts of foul play in in-goal

- All kicks at goal including dropped goals.

This happened after 42 minutes.

5. Let him up

Bryan Habana kicks. The ball strikes Francois Steyn who is in front of him and bounces back behind Habana. Conrad Jantjes of South Africa dives on the ball. Immediately Joe Rokocoko of the Barbarians is there fall to the ground next to Jantjes before getting to his feet.

Commentator: "Rokocoko has to allow him to get back on his feet."

That's not the first time this had been said. At the World Cup a referee says it. Where it is in Law is a mystery.

What Rokocoko must not do is fall on Jantjes, which he did not do. He is then allowed to play the ball and Jantjes as long as he - Rokocoko - is on his feet.

So the referee let play continue.

This happened after 53 minutes

7. Use it or lose it

South Africa throw into a line-out and tall Albert van den Berg wins the ball for them. They form a maul and ,march it forward. The maul stops and the referee tells scrum-half Ruan Pienaar that that is once. The maul restarts and then stops again.

The referee calls: "Use it. Use it."

The ball stays in the maul which gets moving again.

The referee blows his whistle and awards a scrum to the Barbarians.

Right?

Yes.

Law 17.6 (e) Once a maul has stopped moving forward it may start moving forward again providing it does so within 5 seconds. If the maul stops moving forward a second time and if the ball is being moved and the referee can see it, a reasonable time is allowed for the ball to emerge. If it does not emerge within a reasonable time, a scrum is ordered.

This happened after 54 minutes

8. Stopped quick throw

South Africa turns a penalty into a five-metre line-out. Bismarck du Plessis throws in and Albert van den Berg catches. He is immediately dumped and the Springboks batter for a while till Du Plessis is bundled into touch about five metres from the Barbarian line.

Michael Owen of the Barbarians picks the ball up, moves back to about two metres from his line and throws in quickly. The Barbarians take off, but the referee blows his whistle and will not allow the quick throw-in.

Why?

The line-out would have been five metres from the Barbarians' line. On either side of that line there are players of each side - three Springboks and three Barbarians. In other words a line-out had been properly constituted. For that reason a quick throw-in was not allowed.

Law 19.2 2 QUICK THROW-IN

(a) A player may take a quick throw-in without waiting for a line-out to form.

(b) For a quick throw-in, the player may be anywhere outside the field of play between the place where the ball went into touch and the player's goal-line.

(c) A player must not take a quick throw-in after the line-out has formed. If the player does, the quick throw-in is disallowed. The same team throws in at the line out.

Owen was right in terms of (a) and (b) but not in terms of (c).

This happened after 65 minutes

9. What kind of kick for hands?

Stade Francais suffer mightily in the scrums. Dax simply destroy them. The referee was as tolerant as he could be in allowing scrums that went up and scrums that went down to go on for some time in the hope that the ball would emerge, possibly too tolerant.

Stade Francais have a five-metre scrum. It falls down. The referee waits but eventually resets the scrum. Terry Bouhraoua of Stade Francais puts the ball in. Neither side heels. The ball is stuck in the tunnel. Bouhraoua steps forward and plays the ball with his hand.

The referee awards a free kick to Dax.

Free kick?

Law 20.9 (b) All players: Handling in the scrum. Players must not handle the ball in the scrum or pick it up with their legs.

Penalty: Penalty Kick

(c) All players: Other restrictions on winning the ball. Players must not try to win the ball in the scrum by using any part of their body except their foot or lower leg.

Penalty: Free Kick

Hand is specifically wrong and is a penalty. Head would be wrong and a free kick, one presumes.

One presumes that Bouhraoua should have been penalised.

This happened just before half-time.

10. But it's a maul

Stade Francais throw in to a line-out. Cliffie Milton catches the ball and a maul forms. Kane Thompson of Dax is caught in the maul and tries to get to the ball. Hie is upright, his head sticking up. Milton, who has yielded the ball to somebody else, tries to discourage Thompson. Eventually he grabs Thompson round the neck and tugs away.

The referee penalises Milton.

Right?

Yes.

The danger to Thompson is not less because he is in a maul. In fact it may be greater berceuse he is caught up in the maul and his body not able to be as felxible as it would be when free.

11. Kick-off into in-goal

This is from the Dubai Sevens, Fiji vs Scotland.

a. After Fiji have scored a try, Neumi Nanuku of Fiji kicks off. The wind is blowing in Dubai and it catches the ball taking it into the Scottish in-goal where it stops. When it stops, Colin Gregor of Scotland bends down, picks up the ball a few centimetres and immediately grounds it again.

The referee awards a drop-out.

b. After Fiji have scored a try, Neumi Nanuku of Fiji kicks off. The wind is blowing in Dubai and it catches the ball taking it into the Scottish in-goal and over the dead-ball line.

The referee awards a free kick to Scotland on the half-way line.

Why the difference?

There should not be a difference unless Gregor had dawdled with the ball, which he did not do.

Sevens Variations

Law 13.9 10 BALL INTO THE IN-GOAL

(a) If the ball is kicked into the in-goal without having touched or been touched by a player, the opposing team has three choices:

To ground the ball, or

To make the ball dead, or

To play on.

(b) If the opposing team ground the ball, or if they make it dead, or if the ball becomes dead by going into touch-in-goal or on or over the dead-ball line, a free kick is awarded to the non-offending team at the centre of the half-way line.

Penalty: Free-kick at the centre of the half-way line.