Law Discussion - Super 14, Wk 3

There are some points of law for us to discuss, one a most important one because it is at the soul of refereeing.

We also have a fascinating incident from Magners League, which is a lesson to us all. Mark Smith of Newcastle Falcons drew our attention to it. It's fascinating.

So far this weekend we have given statistics from the matches.

It may be of interest for people to see the clips on www.sareferees.co.za. Number 3 is the one to examine. We shall repeat the substance here. It is the important one to consider.

And we have some things that people say, including Mextedisms.

1. Feet don't matter

The Sharks come to a line-out and do a lot of choreographing, switching places till, lo and behold, lock Johann Muller is at the front. Hooker Skipper Badenhorst pops the ball to him. Muller, his feet carefully behind the five-metre line, reaches out, catches the ball and pops it back to Badenhorst.

The referee stops play and awards a free kick to the Bulls, saying: "It doesn't matter where the feet are. The ball must travel five metres."

Right?

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.

But why the free kick?

Law 19.9 (m) Blocking the throw-in. A line-out player must not stand less than 5 metres from the touch-line. A line-out player must not prevent the ball being thrown in 5 metres.
Penalty: Free Kick on the 15-metre line

The referee also indicated to Badenhorst that he had had a dummy run before throwing in the ball.

Law 19.6 (b) The throw in at the line-out must be taken without delay and without pretending to throw.
Penalty: Free Kick on the 15-metre line

2. Laced

The Bulls play the Sharks. Before the ball can be thrown in Fourie du Preez of the Bulls sits down and attends to his boot laces.

Commentator:"I think the referees have been pretty lenient on guys doing their laces up. In the old days they used to just carry on regardless."

It's not a matter of the referees' becoming lenient. It is a matter of a change of law.

In the "old days", which are now quite some time ago, the laws were different:

Law 6 Note 6: The referee should when the ball is dead, allow time for a player to replace or repair a badly torn jersey or shorts. He must not allow time for a player to re-tie or repair a bootlace.

The law reads differnetly now.

Law 5.4 (b) Replacing clothing. When the ball is dead, the referee allows time for a player to replace or repair a badly torn jersey, shorts or boots. Time is allowed for a player to re-tie a boot lace.

And in "the old  days" they did not just play on. Somebody would feign injury and recover when the loose lace was tied.

In fact the "old days" lasted for a long, long time. The law was changed only in 1997.

3. Guesswork

The Western Force throw into a line-out. Tamaiti Horua knocks the ball back to scrumhalf James Stannard who shapes to pass to his left but Ernst Joubert of the Lions knocks his forearm and the ball is spilt forward from Stannard.

Lively Jano Vermaak of the Lions flykicks the ball ahead. Nick Cummins of the Western Force shoots out a right foot which bounces up for Vermaak who juggles the ball and catches it.

After he has gone some way, the referee blows his whistle and orders a scrum to the Lions for the knock-on by Stannard.

Why on earth did the whistle go?

Vermaak did not knock on. Joubert did not collide with Vermaak in an "accidental off-side" way. The ball did not touch Joubert and Joubert did not touch the ball.

What reason is there to blow the whistle - and the referee did it late and off his own bat.

You would have to guess to blow your whistle and guesswork is a bad way to referee. It's not even an honest way to referee. A referee should watch, believe what he sees and then blow for what he sees. Anything else is not honest.

This happened in the second half of the match in which the only points were a penalty goal scored by the Western Force who then won by one point.

Which is worse - for a referee to miss something, i.e. not to blow for something he did not see because he did not see it, or to guess, i.e.. to blow for what did not happen?

Surely the latter.

There is an irony in all of this. When New Zealand were knocked out of the World Cup quarterfinal by France, there was great upset in New Zealand because of a forward pass that was not blown - more upset than there was in France recently when a knock-on was not blown in Paris when England scored against France.

Which is worse - those two misses or this fabrication? Forget the outcome and look at the principle.

4. Knocked dead

This occurs, it seems more often than one would imagine. There were two cases in this week's Super 14.

a. Corey Jane of the Hurricanes breaks through the midfield, sums up his options and kicks to his left. Ma'a Nonu of the Hurricanes  and Viliame Waqaseduadua chase after the ball which is bouncing high in the Chiefs' in-goal. Waqaseduadua gets their first and with an outstretched right arm knocks the ball over the dead-ball line, about six metres from touch-in-goal.

This happens after 6 minutes.

b. Sanualio Afeaki of the Brumbies charges down the touch-line on his left. Berrick Barnes and Will Genia tackle him. The three go to ground. Afeaki pops the ball back to his supporting players but Chris Latham flicks out a left hand and knocks the ball into touch.

The referee penalises Latham.

This happens after 17 minutes.

In each of these cases where will the penalty be?

Law 10.2 (c) Throwing into touch. A player must not intentionally knock, place, push or throw the ball with his arm or hand into touch, touch-in-goal, or over the dead ball line.
Penalty: Penalty Kick on the 15-metre line if the offence is between the 15-metre line and the touchline, or, at the place of infringement if the offence occurred elsewhere in the field of play, or, 5 metres from the goal line and at least 15 metres from the touchline if the infringement occurred in in-goal.

In each of these cases the referee got the place right - 15 metres in from touch. In a. the penalty will be five metres from the goal-line.

5. Obstruction?

The Lions score a penalty goal to make the score 7-6, and the Western Force kick off. Matt Giteau kicks high to the right. Ryan Cross of the Force chases. Standing near touch are Joe van Niekerk about a metre ahead of Rayno Benjamin who calls for the ball. Van Niekerk stands square on facing the on-coming Cross. Van Niekerk does not move his line but faces Cross square on. Cross shoves Van Niekerk as Benjamin catches the ball.

The referee penalises Van Niekerk for obstruction.

Till Benjamin caught the ball there could be no question of obstruction. And then?

Nemo ad impossibile tenetur. Nobody is obliged to do the impossible. It was impossible for Van Niekerk to evaporate/vanish. What he was not allowed to do was step into Cross's path or grab Cross. He did neither. He stayed standing there and Cross chose to run at him and shove him, even though he did not have the ball.

Surprisingly the referee penalised Van Niekerk and the Western Force goaled the penalty.

6. Giving them a talking to

What the referee says to whom and the way he says it create perceptions. The referee wants to be impartial and to appear so.

Take two incidents from the match between the Stormers and the Crusaders.

a.  Just inside the Stormers' half of the field, the referee awards a free kick to the Blues because the Stormers had not released the man at the tackle. The referee stops play. He calls the Stormers' captain Jean de Villiers over and says to him: "Your No.4, 6 and 7 coming straight over." He gives De Villiers time to talk to his men.

This happens after 20 minutes in the match.

It is the second free kick awarded against the Stormers for a tackle infringement.

There had before this been two free kicks awarded against the Crusaders for a tackle infringement. But they had not been spoken to.

b. In a matter of two minutes, not all playing time, the referee penalises the Crusaders three times well inside their 22.

Firstly Corey Flynn is penalised for an early tackle, right in front of the Crusaders' posts. The Stormers kick out for a line-out.

The Stormers form a  maul which is collapsed. The referee singles out Reuben Thorne for collapsing the line-out and speaks to him and his captain Richie McCaw saying: "You're in the red zone. I don't expect any more of that in the red zone."

The Stormers kick out for a line-out. Again they maul but when they fail they move to the left and there is a tackle/ruck in front of the Crusaders' posts. Again the referee penalises the Crusaders. This time the player penalised is Richie McCaw.

This time the referee says nothing.

There is something skewed here. There is unequal treatment in a. itself and strange treatment in b. At what stage would there be a caution of any kind?

7. "He's gone with a penalty"

The Highlanders are on the attack against the Waratahs. They put the ball into a scrum but the scrum goes down. The most obvious player in the collapse is the Highlanders  loosehead Jamie Macintosh. He goes down first his left arm on the ground. The referee penalises him.

Commentator: ""He's gone with a penalty. That's an incredible call really. There are only three penalisable offences in the game. One is off-side. The other is not entering through the gate. The other is foul play. I don't know where that comes into play."

As he speaks a co-commentator makes agreeing sounds.

Law 10 deals with foul play. It is headed Foul Play.

Law 10.4 (i) Dangerous play in a scrum, ruck or maul

Player must not intentionally collapse a scrum, ruck or maul.
Penalty: Penalty Kick.

It is possible to have a penalty kick at a collapsed scrum even under the experimental law variations.

8. The things people say

a. Murray Mexted at a collapsed scrum: "A very interesting place, the front row, of course./ A few years ago we used to treat it like it was a secret society.

"The more I watch Richard Loe coaching this year, the more I understand you've really got to want to be a prop to be one of the society."

b. Murray Mexted when Scott Waldron came on with white headgear and white boots: "The white headgear. Prominent stuff, isn't it. It's like the fashion of the Eighties when it was colour-coordinated - same colour socks as your headgear."

c. Murray Mexted when the referee explained: "New rules haven't slowed down Mr Lawrence's talking."

d. Murray Mexted as the second half started at Carisbrook: "So, all square - virtually. 12-10 to the Highlanders."

9. New laws?

JP Nel breaks but JP Pietersen catches him from behind and they fall to ground. It is a tackle. A tackle ruck forms with the ball coming back to the Bulls. The ball is under a Bull’s feet. Wynand Olivier of the Bulls is standing in the scrumhalf position and puts his hand on the ball. Johan Ackermann charges at Olivier. The referee blows his whistle and shows a penalty advantage to the Bulls.

Referee: “Hands on is not out. New laws.”

Is that so?

Has anybody seen it in writing?

Apparently, this is what was decided by coaches and referees at the SANZAR Conference in Sydney last December.

Not a good idea to have private "interpretations/rulings".

The referee was acting in the way he had been told. But, when you want to shout and be rude, pity the referee who cannot be as easily programmed as a machine to switch to old laws, new laws, Super 14 laws, South Africa's domestic laws, high school laws, primary school laws - and unwritten private agreements.

10. Blow, blow, thou winter wind

Felipe Contepomi of Leinster has a kick at goal, slap in front of the posts, inside the Connacht 22.

He kicks high. The ball goes between the goal-posts and then - incredibly, is blown back by the gale. It is blown a long way back into the field of play.

The Irish referee signals the kick over. The Connacht players are bemused and discuss the matter with the referee who does not change his mind.

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Right?

Law 9.A.2 (b) If the ball has crossed the cross bar a goal is scored, even if the wind blows it back into the field of play.

The lesson: It pays to know your laws because after all it may happen.

High marks for the referee.