Six Nations, Week 1, Part 2

Of laws and things

We have got the controversial happenings and the statistics out of the way, leaving us free to talk about laws, as happened in some incidents in the three matches on the opening day - France vs Scotland, Wales vs England, and Italy vs Ireland.

We also have two readers' questions.

Before people get too het up, may we again say that this is a discussion - not a witch-hunt, nit-pick or finger-point.

Assessments are done on referees. But how on earth could the assessor assess the scrums at Millennium Stadium? There were 17 scrums which produced 12 resets and a penalty, but the ground was a mess as huge divots were dislodged and the place of the scrum had to be moved.

1. White talk

There was mention - questioning mention - of the talk between the Welsh coach Mike Ruddock and the referee before the match in which Julian White's scrumming was mentioned. And at the first scrum White was penalised.

Talk between referees and coaches before Tests has been going on for years and is accepted practice. Most of these chats are short and a means of saying Hello. It is also common practice for the coach to tell the referee what the opposition do wrong! The referees are pretty inured to this and find it amusing.

As a matter of interest the Law changed this year. There used to be a clause in the law which said: The referees must not give advice to either team before the match.

That no longer exists as of 1 January 2005.

Obviously there are still ethics involved. The referee will not divulge a team's plans to their opponents!

2. Just a tackle - whose ball?

Gavin Henson of Wales kicks downfield. Jason Robinson of England catches the ball out of the air. Henson tackles Robinson. They both go to ground before any other players attach themselves to them. The ball becomes unplayable.

Whose ball?

What had happened was a tackle and perhaps a ruck after the tackle. There was no maul. The award of the ball for the tackle and the ruck is the same - for the team going forward or, if neither was, to the team in their opponents' half. That the ball was caught from the air is irrelevant.

The maul is different. It has an entirely different way of awarding the ball. It gives the ball to the team which did not start the maul, did not have the ball when the maul started, except where the ball was caught from the air and the player immediately swamped. The award of the ball from an unplayable maul has nothing to do with who was going forward.

If a maul had been formed in this case and the ball then became unplayable, the ball would have gone to England.

In this actual case, if Robinson had been going forward, the ball would go to England.
If Wales had been going forward, the ball would go to Wales.
If neither was going forward, the ball would go to Wales because the tackle was well in the England half.

The matter of unplayables at the tackle over this last weekend was interesting - one when France played Scotland (when a Scot was tackled), none when Italy played Ireland but four (all tackles on England) in Cardiff.

3. When a knock and when a charge-down

Mark Cueto of England comes from the right wing and is going left when he chips with his left foot. Stephan Jones of Wales puts up a hand. The ball strikes his hand and goes forward.

Knock or charge-down?

Law 12 Definition: Charge down. If a player charges down the ball as an opponent kicks it, or immediately after the kick, it is not a knock-on even though the ball may travel forward.

The decision of "immediately after" is purely up to the referee.

4. Huddle numbers

England form a discussion group some way from the line-of-touch when they are preparing to throw into a line-out.

The referee speaks to them: "When you want numbers, when you come to the huddle, only the numbers you are wanting in the line-out come to the huddle. Don't have seven come and then drop away."

The referee is managing the situation so that there is not a sudden entry into the line-out and the team throwing in, England in this case, want the referee to look to the Welsh numbers. The referee just wanted a fair competition and a fair opportunity for Wales to comply.

Wiht the huddle comes the problem of time-wasting. The forwards do their gridiron-esque huddle and then go to the line-out, but there the hooker still stands like a statue, getting his full exposure to the waiting world.

5. Went too early

Wales throw in deep, and Robert Sidoli of Wales rises high and catches the ball. He plays it off the top and waiting there to grab it is Andy Hazell. Hazell is penalised for going too early.

The problem for Hazell was that the ball had not crossed the 15-metre line, which means that the line-out was still in progress when Hazell crossed the line of throw.

If the ball had crossed the 15-metre line, the line-out would have been over. There would then have been no off-side line along the line- of touch (Law 19.12 (b)). Hazell could have wandered where he wanted.

6. Squeezeball

Big Jason White of Scotland charges and is tackled. He falls headlong and puts the ball back through his legs. He is penalised.

Referee, making the holding on sign: "Penalty against Blue - using squeezeball to delay the ball."

Commentator: "You heard the referee using the term squeezeball. That's when the player goes to ground facing the goal-line with his head and puts the ball through his legs to get it away from the opposition. It's now illegal if you don't do it immediately."

The referee and the commentator have said it all. But it's not really new. The squeezeball is OK if done immediately, not OK if the player needs to change body position to get the ball underneath him to squeeze it. That is not immediately and is delaying.

7. No mark

After the referee penalises Jason White for playing squeezeball, Allister Hogg interferes with the ball which the French want to use in a hurry. The referee then blows and marches on ten metres. Pierre Mignoni, the French scrumhalf, runs ahead of the referee to take a tap kick and play.

The referee hauls him back and says: "I haven't made the mark."

What the referee did was a part of commonly accepted management of the free kick to stop endless repeats down the field, but it works for the offending team. Offend once and you know that you will get marched 10 metres but then you will have time to regroup.

The law does not say the referee has to make the mark before the penalty is taken.

Law 21.1 WHERE PENALTY AND FREE KICKS ARE AWARDED

Unless a Law states otherwise, the mark for a penalty or free kick is at the place of infringement.

21.2 WHERE PENALTY AND FREE KICKS ARE TAKEN

(a) The kicker must take the penalty or free kick at the mark or anywhere behind it on a line through the mark. If the place for a penalty or free kick is within 5 metres of the opponents goal-line, the mark for the kick is 5 metres from the goal-line, opposite the place of infringement.

(b) When a penalty or free kick is awarded for an infringement in in-goal, the mark for the kick is in the field of play, 5 metres from the goal-line, in line with the place of infringement.

Penalty: Any infringement by the kickers team results in a scrum at the mark. The opposing team throws in the ball.

The mark is the place of infringement. The player may take the tap anywhere behind the place. Mignoni did not have to go a full ten metres before taking the tap. But the referee had to make the mark.

Law 21.7 WHAT THE OPPOSING TEAM MUST DO AT A PENALTY KICK 

(d) Interference. The opposing team must not do anything to delay the penalty kick or obstruct the kicker. They must not voluntarily take, throw or kick the ball out of reach of the kicker or the kicker's team-mates.

Penalty: Any infringement by the opposing team results in a second penalty kick, 10 metres in front of the mark for the first kick. This mark must not be within 5 metres of the goal-line. Any player may take the kick. The kicker may change the type of kick and may choose to kick at goal. If the referee awards a second penalty kick, the second penalty kick is not taken before the referee has made the mark indicating the place of the penalty.

In the interests of allowing the game to be played quickly, perhaps the tapper should be allowed to take a second tap as quickly as he likes. But perhaps if the tapper gets a tap wrong - first, second or third time - there should be a scrum, as the law requires.

8. Truck-'n-Trailer

It's an easy name for a form of obstruction.

France throw in at a line-out. They throw deep to tall Julien Bonnaire. He rises and catches the ball as Pieter de Villiers and Fabien Pelous peel from the front. Bonnaire gives the ball to De Villiers who peels infield of the line-out. Pelous runs ahead of De Villiers, his right hand attached to him and pulling him along with Sylvain Marconnet bound in behind to drive De Villiers ahead.

There is no Scot as this formation forms and moves forward. When the first Scot arrives he is mown down, and the referee penalises France.

There is no maul in this case, just simple obstruction.

If Pelous had been in a maul with De Villiers carrying the ball behind him, it would have been OK.

9. Kick it again, Ronan

Ireland score a try. Ronan O'Gara has placed the ball for the conversion. He is back to start his run up when the Italian wing Ludovico Nitoglia charges up.

The referee sends him back and then tells the Italian side: "No charge."

O'Gara kicks, and, lo and behold, Nitoglia charges again. O'Gara misses.

The referee allows the kick for a second time and this time convinces Nitoglia not to charge.

OK?

Yes.

10. Don't pull his leg

It's hard to stop a maul.

Ireland win a line-out and make a maul, which they drive ahead. Paul O'Connell, the Irish lock, is in the maul. Marco Bortolami, the Italian, lock grabs his right leg to nullify his driving input. O'Connell subsides.

The referee penalises Bortolami.

OK?

Yes. A player may not do anything liable to cause a maul to collapse.

11. Off the knee

Reader: Last week on TV a panel discussed a situation during a recent game at Swansea (South Wales). The game was played in the Welsh semi-pro premiership and one can assume that the referees are experienced.

From a line-out the Swansea No.10 took the ball up to the defensive line and played the ball off his knee in order to chip the ball over the defense. This isn't a new tactic and it has been used in the passed by players such as Mark Ring and Jonathon Davies. In this case the referee stopped the play and called it a knock on. This was disputed by the players who were very confused but the referee explained that this year such a skill is to be considered as a knock-on. Can you verify this as I saw no reference to it in your list of Law updates.

Answer: Bouncing the ball off the knee is not a kick, in terms of the definition of a kick. It has also not been a knock-on, in terms of the definition of a knock-on.

But on 24 December 2004, the IRB's Designated Members ruled as follows:

If this occurred in general play the following would apply. By definition A kick is made by hitting the ball with any part of the leg or foot, except the heel, from the toe to the knee but not including the knee&. In the case described the ball has not been kicked but has been dropped onto the thigh and this is ruled as a knock-on or throw forward. If the action as described was taken by a player after his team had been awarded a penalty kick or free kick, then a PK or FK has not been correctly taken. Under Law 21.3(b) bouncing the ball on the thigh can in this case be taken to include the knee as this is also in the definition above. Thus, the player has infringed this Law and a scrum to the opposing team should be ordered.

The logic of the ruling is not immediately clear, but the referee in Swansea was right.

12. Ball put

Reader: In a recent friendly, I saw one side hopelessly overpowered in the scrum. They attempted to rectify the imbalance in two ways, the first was feeding, for which the referee rightly penalised them. The second was the No. 8 diving between his locks to grab the ball out before the opposition could get a proper shove on. I thought that the ball must be clear of the second row before it can be handled, but I can't find anything in the laws which confirms this.

Tony, Horsham

Answer: From what you describe the ball is not out of the scrum.

Here are relevant bits of Law:

Law 20.1 (f) Number of players: eight. A scrum must have eight players from each team. All eight players must stay bound to the scrum until it ends. Each front row must have three players in it, no more and no less. Two locks must form the second row.
Penalty: Penalty Kick

Law 20.9 SCRUM - GENERAL RESTRICTIONS

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

Law 20.10 ENDING THE SCRUM

(a) The ball comes out. When the ball comes out of the scrum in any direction except the tunnel, the scrum ends.

(c) Hindmost player unbinds. The hindmost player in a scrum is the player whose feet are nearest the teams own goal-line. If the hindmost player unbinds from the scrum with the ball at that players feet and picks up the ball, the scrum ends.

The ball must be at the No.8's feet before he is allowed to unbind. The ball must be out of the scrum before he is allowed to grab it.