Law Discussion iii - scrums & line-out

Like raindrops in the Cape, scrums keep falling down. We have something on that. And the we want to talk briefly about a line-out tactic.

1. Scrums

When the referee penalised South Africa at the first scrum in the Wellington Test, he was criticised. It was a wet day and John Smit had slipped. On Friday night, the Sharks played the Leopards and the field was wet. On Saturday after noon Western Province played Griquas and Newlands was drenched - a vlei of sorts. On Saturday the Blue Bulls played the Free State on dry, firm Loftus Versfeld.

Let's look briefly at scrums and slipping.

New Zealand vs South Africa: 17 scrums, 2 resets and a penalty.
Sharks vs Leopards: 26 scrums, 2 resets, a penalty and a free kick
Western Province vs Griquas: 16 scrums, 3 resets, a penalty and 2 free kicks
Blue Bulls vs Free State: 14 scrums, 9 resets, a penalty and a free kick.

Seven resets in three matches in the wet and nine in one match in the dry.

It would seem that the slippery field does not lead to slipping scrums.

Nobody want to watch scrums being reset 9 times. Apart from the tedium, there is also the danger to players from reset scrums.

2. Line-out tactic

Griquas throw into a line-out at the Newlands swimming bath. Jonathan Mokuena, the Griquas captain at No.2 in the line-out, takes the ball. As he catches the ball the back two Griquas in the line-out, Sean Plaatjies and Jacques Lombard,  fall back six or seven metres. They stand there.

Mokuena passes to Sarel Pretorius and the scrumhalf passes to Plaatjies.

OK?

It's not peeling off.

Law 19.12 PEELING OFF
DEFINITIONS
A line-out player ‘peels off’ when leaving the line-out to catch the ball knocked or passed back by a team-mate.
(a) When: A player must not peel off until the ball has left the hands of the player throwing it in.
Penalty: Free Kick on the 15-metre line, in line with the line of touch.
(b) A player who peels off, must stay within the area from that players’ line of touch to 10 metres from the line of touch, and must keep moving until the line-out has ended.
Penalty: Free Kick on the 15-metre line, in line with the line of touch.

When Mokuena catches the ball, a maul forms around him. It most certainly is a maul.

19.17 OFFSIDE AT RUCKS OR MAULS IN THE LINE-OUT
(a) When a ruck or a maul develops in a line-out the offside line for a player taking part in the line-out no longer runs through the ball. The offside line is now the hindmost foot of that player’s team in the ruck or maul.
(d) A player taking part in the line-out must either join the ruck or maul, or retire to the offside line and stay at that line, Otherwise that player is offside.
Penalty: Penalty Kick on the 15-metre line

Retire to the offside line and stay at that line and the line is through the hindmost foot.  Plaatjies and Lombaard go further back than that.

Do they then leave the line-out?

Law 19.13 (e) No player of either team participating in the line-out may leave the line-out until it has ended.
Penalty: Penalty Kick on the 15-metre line

Is that what they have done?

There has been considerable debate about the issue and it seems, in SANZAR countries at least, there is an agreement than doing what Plaatjies and Lombard did should be allowed provided that they do not go 10 metres or more from the line-out.

It is a situation worth debating. The law says it's a penalty.

It is never a good idea to have local or sectional rulings or practices.

There is a clip of this on the SA Referees website - www.sareferees.co.za, Clip 8.