Law Discussion: Try, TMO and TJ
There is understandable upset in the Irish camp about the try scored by Mike Phillips of Wales that helped Wales top beat Ireland 19-13. The try should not have been allowed on three accounts.
Jonathan Sexton of Ireland, outside of his 22 kicked the ball into touch onto the full. He kicked the ball into the crowd and the assistant referee/touch judge moved to the place where the line-out was going to be. There Matthew Rees of Wales threw in quickly to Mike Phillips who ran off to score in the corner. The try was eventually given and James Hook converted it, making the try worth seven points.
It should not have happened.
The kick went into the crowd. For that reason a quick throw-in could not be allowed.
Law 19.2 Law 19.2 QUICK THROW-IN
(d) For a quick throw-in, the player must use the ball that went into touch. If, after it went to touch and was made dead, another ball is used, or if another person has touched the ball apart from the player throwing it in, then the quick throw-in is disallowed. The same team throws in at the line-out.
That was the most obvious reason for not allowing the quick throw-in.
Secondly, the quick throw-in was taken from the wrong place.
Law 19.2 (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
The quick throw-in had to be taken between the place where the ball went out and the Welsh cornerpost, not upfield towards the Irish cornerpost.
The throw-in from the wrong place is not the touch judge's primary function but the referee's - which does not mean that his assistant cannot advise/alert him, as he does with knock-ons, forward passes and offside.
Law 6.B.5 (e) It is for the referee, and not for the touch judge or assistant referee, to decide whetheR or not the ball was thrown in from the correct place.
If, by some stretch of the imagination, it was considered that a line-out had been formed because there were at least two players from each side at the line of touch, the throw-in should not have been allowed because Rees threw in straight to Phillips and not down the line of touch. Throwing in backwards at a quick throw-in is allowed but not in a formed line-out.
The Irish protested and the referee, Jonathan Kaplan of South Africa, asked his assistant just one question. He asked him twice if it was the correct ball. The assistant, Peter Allan of Scotland, affirmed that it was the correct ball.
Was seeing if it the touch judge's job to see if it was all right for the ball to be thrown in quickly?
Law 6.B.5 (d) When to lower the flag. When the ball is thrown in, the touch judge or assistant referee must lower the flag, with the following exceptions:
Exception 3: When, at a quick throw-in, the ball that went into touch is replaced by another ball, or after it went into touch or it has been touched by anyone except the player who takes the throw-in, the touch judge or assistant referee keeps the flag up.
It was part of the touch judge's primary function to keep his flag up to indicate that the ball was not available to be thrown in quickly.
The suggestion that the television match official be consulted is not on at all.
The International Rugby Board has a protocol for how the TMO may or may not be used. On protocol states:
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.
The TMO must not be requested to provide information on players prior to the ball going into in-goal (except touch in the act of grounding the ball). The TMO must not be asked to assist in any other decision other than those listed. The referee must make an effort to make an adjudication. If he is unsighted or has doubt, he will then use the following process (4).
It is clear that the throw in many metres down the field does not fall within that area of jurisdiction allowed in consulting the TMO.
In the case of this try the referee had no right at all to consult the TMO and the TMO had not right at all to make the call.
It was sad in this case that it was not so. Experiments have been made with possible errors in the build-up to the try but it is a difficult and time-consuming operation.
In this incident both officials are highly experienced. Kaplan was refereeing his 63rd Test. Allan is a referee with Test experience, a top referee in Scotland. Both of them would have known what thew correct procedure should have been.