Law Discussion - Heineken Cup, Wk 2

The second weekend of Heineken Cup matches flew past. Inevitably there are some little aspects of law-in-action which are worth looking at.

1. Tackle penalties

These are not because of the experimental law variations as people seem to think but rather because that is how the law is and that is how the IRB would like it applied.

There were some films of matches in the Seventies recently and what a different game. Some of the differences were good ones. Scrums did not collapse and tackles did not result in a heaving pass of squirming adults, like a pile of earthworms tipped out of a tin.

There were also penalties - penalties, the long arm of the law - for putting the ball into a scrum skew or for foot up. Foot-up is still forbidden which may comes as an astonishment to some. And in the match between the Sale Sharks and Munster, in the 16th minute, there was a  free kick for putting the ball skew into a scrum. That is almost an anachronism.

But back to tackle penalties.

In five matches on Saturday we have some statistics of penalties - their number and the number that came from the tackle situation.

Glasgow Warriors vs Toulouse: 13 penalties - 7 at the tackle = 54%
Ospreys vs Perpignan: 26 penalties - 16 at the tackle = 62%
Leinster vs London Wasps: 15 penalties - 11 at the tackle = 73%
Sale Sharks vs Munster: 18 tackles - 10 at the tackle = 56%
Cardiff Blues vs Gloucester: 16 penalties - 11 at the tackle = 69%

78 penalties - 55 at the tackle = 71%

It is high and it has nothing to do with the ELVs. It remains a problem.

The teams by penalties conceded:

Perpignan - 17
Gloucester, Sale Sharks, Wasps - 11
Ospreys - 9
Munster, Toulouse - 7
Glasgow - 6
Cardiff - 5
Leinster - 4

Perpignan suffered most. They were recipients of three yellow cards, two at tackles. There were another four yellow cards - one for a high tackle and three at the tackle.

The tackle remains a problem. It is astonishing that some of the top players of the world, intelligent men, cannot get the tackle right.

The Ospreys-Perpignan match is the most disappointing. 26 penalties and three yellow cards did not, it seems, produce discipline, nor did it open up the match enough to produce a try - not one try.

Tries by match:

Glasgow Warriors vs Toulouse: 4
Ospreys vs Perpignan: 0
Leinster vs London Wasps: 7
Sale Sharks vs Munster: 3
Cardiff Blues vs Gloucester: 7

2. Let him up

It occurred again in the Heineken Cup and it clearly is an English mantra though what it's foundation in law is or its value is uncertain.

a. Chris Cusiter kicked downfield and Jonny Vaughton of the Ospreys ran back for the ball while Adrien Planté of Perpignan chased. Vaughton got there first and fell on the ball. Planté grabbed Vaughton to get the ball. The commentator spoke about the need for Planté to let Vaughton back onto his feet before playing him.

Planté stumbled to ground just short of Vaughton and then played him and was penalised. Perhaps it was for playing Vaughton on the ground; perhaps for not allowing him up. The explanatory gesture was the diving one (14 in the list of signals).

Commentator: "He must let Vaughton get to his feet."

b. Sale played Munster and Keith Earls of Munster kicked ahead. Mark Cueto covered and fell on the ball as Earl arrived and grabbed him.  Earls was on his feet, Cueto on the ground. Earls wanted the ball. Sale got the ball back and kicked downfield where fullback Paul Warwick got the ball and kicked a soaring dropped goal.

c. In the same match Ronan O'Gara kicked ahead and bravely big Dean Schofield fell on the ball. First there and before Schofield cane get up were Doug Howlett, Julian Melck and Keith Earls of Munster, all on their feet, all playing the ball/Schofield. They did not give Schofield a chance to get up before getting stuck in and Sale are penalised. The gesture is the one for holding on (9 in the list of signals).

Commentator: "Sale fans will think Schofield had no chance to get to his feet."
Commentator, when Juan Fernandez-Lobbe, the Sale captain, excitedly spoke to the referee: "Lobbe is angry there because he's saying Dean Schofield was not allowed to get to his feet."

Law 14 deals with the player on the ground. There is nothing that says you have to let the player up or implies that you should let the player up.

Law 14.2 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.
Penalty: Penalty Kick

(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.
Penalty: Penalty Kick

(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

It would be a pity if this business of allowing a player to get to his feet was merely a local ruling.

3. TMO possibilities

a. There is a moment of serious emotion in the match between the Ospreys and Perpignan which ends with Marius Tincu, the Perpignan hooker, flat on his back. This happens as a scrum breaks up. The slow-motion replay shows Ospreys prop Paul James aim two blows at the head of Tincu, who was eventually revived and played on.

The referee was close by and seemed to be looking at the action but with players between him and the two protagonists.

South Africa has a dispensation which allows the referee to consult the television match official in cases where he suspects foul play. He must have suspected foul play here and it would be possible that there would be citing afterwards but that has no effect on the match at hand. In this match there are three yellow cards, all presented to Perpignan players. One is for an air tackle where Adrien Planté may have got the timing wrong as Lee Byrne leaps forwqard into the ball. Two were for infringements at the tackle. There must have been a strong possibility that the James action deserved closer inspection.

The use of the TMO in foul play can - like the use of the TMO in other decisions - slow things down but it may also achieve fairness. But it is not an option in the Heineken Cup.

b. Sale Sharks are penalised and Ronan O'Gara from left of the uprights as he looks at them kicks at goal. It is an easy kick from him but it heads high for the left upright. It strikes  the top of the left upright sand seems to veer to the right as O'Gara looks at the ball.

The referee orders a drop-out.

Could he have consulted the television match official?

Yes it is within the area of jurisdiction laid down in the IRB's TMO protocol, for it includes "All kicks at goal including dropped goals".

4. Where will it be?

a. Tomas O'Leary of Munster kicks over a tackle/ruck just inside his own half and near the touch-line on his right. Sale's Juan Fernandez Lobbe charges the kick down. From his hands the ball flies directly into touch.

Where will the line-out be?

The line-out would be where the ball went out. It is only with kicks that there is no gain in ground when the ball is propelled directly into touch outside the 22.

b. (i) From a scrum just out side the Sale Sharks 22, Ollie Barkley kicks. He is a tiny bit inside his 22 and he kicks down the middle of the field.  Centre Rudi Keil chases but he is in front of Barkley when Barkley kicks. The ball comes down just inside the Sale half where Keil goes for the ball. The referee penalises him.

Where is the penalty?

(ii) Something similar happened in the second half when Paul Warwick of Munster kicked down the middle of the field from about seven metres outside of his 22. About five metres inside the Sale half big Paul O'Connell, one of the most obvious men on the field started moving down towards where the ball was dropping, just outside the Sale 22.

Where is the penalty?

11.1 OFFSIDE IN GENERAL PLAY

(a) A player who is in an offside position is liable to penalty only if the player does one of three things:
• Interferes with play or
• Moves forward, towards the ball or
Fails to comply with the 10-Metre law (law 11.4).
• A player who is in an offside position is not automatically penalised.
• A player who receives an unintentional throw forward is not offside.
• A player can be offside in the in-goal.

(b) Offside and interfering with play. A player who is offside must not take part in the game. This means the player must not
play the ball or obstruct an opponent.

(c) Offside and moving forward. When a team mate of an offside player has kicked ahead, the offside player must not move towards opponents who are waiting to play the ball, or move towards the place where the ball lands, until the player has been put onside.

So the referee penalised Keil where he moved forward and O'Connell where he moved forwqard.

c. Munster throw into a line-out five metres from their line. They throw to Paul Connell at No.2 but Sébastien Chabal competes for the ball. O'Connell catches it but Chabal hooks it from his hand and then knocks it on.

Where will the scrum be?

The ball did not leave the line-out, which means that Chabal knocked on in the line-out, which means that the scrum will be on the line of touch, 15 metres in from the touch-line.

5. Whose ball?

Perpignan put the ball into a scrum and - unusually, Ospreys heel the ball but the scrum collapses immediately. The referee resets the scrum (one of 11 resets in 17 scrums).

Who puts the ball in?

The referee awarded the reset scrum to Ospreys, saying: "The ball was hooked and then it went down."

Right?

No.

Law 20.4 (g) If a scrum collapses or lifts up into the air without penalty a further scrum will be ordered and the team who originally threw in the ball will throw the ball in again.

6. What next?

Jérôme Porical of Perpignan  kicks the ball downfield. It rolls and rolls towards the Ospreys goal-line where Lee Byrne awaits its arrival. It is losing momentum but Byrne, with a foot in his in-goal, reaches out, gathers the ball, takes it back and dots it down.

The referee orders a drop-out.

Right?

Law 22 DEFINITIONS
A defending player who has one foot on the goal line or in the in-goal who receives the ball is considered to have both feet in in-goal.

So the ball was kicked to a player in his in-goal and he grounded it.

The referee was right.

7. Optional advantage

The London Wasps knock-on. The referee flings out an arm and say: "Knock-on advantage."

Leinster scrabble for the ball and then the referee says to them: "Do you want the advantage?"

They decide that they would rather have the scrum and that is what he gives them.

In 1975 the RFU brought out an excellent booklet called The Art of Refereeing. Those were days when referees did not speak. They blew their whistle and gestured scrum, try, penalty and got on with the game. On the matter of judging advantage the booklet said: "The origins of the law were traced back to the days when stoppages occurred only if an appeal was made by the captain of the non-offending side. Before blowing your whistle it might be worth while to ask yourself the question: 'Would the Captain of the non-offending team opt for a stoppage?'"

In these days of nonstop communication it seems we could be on our way back to our beginnings! Surely asking whether a team wanted advantage is better than deliberately infringing to get it or wasting time with a semblance of a dropped goal.

8.  Scrum obstruction

Byron Kelleher is as combative as a scrumhalf can be. He is from a school which accepts hard knocks and he is happy to do his share of aggressive defence.

Toulouse are on the attack and Glasgow feed a scrum. Glasgow heel but scrumhalf Mark McMillan stays ahead of the ball, annoying Kelleher. No.8 Johnnie Beattie picks up and drives ahead. Kelleher is more annoyed because McMillan is between him and Beattie. He cannot get to Beattie who barges into McMillan and forward.

Clearly it is obstruction. It is not a rare form as scrumhalves often stand in this position - an offside position - to give their No.8s more breathing space.

This case would have been a least a scrum for accidental offside.

Law 20.12 OFFSIDE AT THE SCRUM

(b) Offside for scrumhalves. When a team has won the ball in a scrum, the scrum half of that team is offside if both feet are in front of the ball while it is still in the scrum. If the scrumhalf has only one foot in front of the ball, the scrum half is not offside.

8. A Freshwater hack

Ospreys are winning the ball at a tackle/ruck. Perry Freshwater of Perpignan is in the ruck. He stretches forward a right foot and kicks it out of the ruck towards the Ospreys, no doubt to make their ball as uncomfortable as possible.

OK?

Yes.