The answers are provided by former WRU Director of Referees, Clive Norling.


Q 1. What happens if the referee gets injured?


A 1. If the referee cannot continue in the game then he can appoint a replacement from the crowd - hopefully another qualified referee. Failing that, the home team can appoint a replacement referee.


Q 2. Is it correct that if a certain number of players from one team get sent off the game will be abandoned? I have heard it's five: is that correct?


A 2. Law 3: Number of players. The minimum number required to play a game is five forwards for a scrum and a scrum half to put the ball into the scrum. So the minimum number to play a game is six players. That means that up to nine players from one team can be sent off before the referee needs to abandon the game.




Q 3. Why do referees appear to ignore 99% of crooked put-ins to scrums and then, purely arbitrarily, decide to pick up on one for no obvious reason whatsoever? I can't remember when I last saw crooked put-ins at scrums consistently penalized throughout a full 80 minutes. It's just a joke, now. More often than not, the ball appears to be fed to the locks' feet rather than between the two hookers!


If scrums are not going to be policed properly, why don't we just abandon any pretence and get rid of the law, as has happened in rugby league?


A 3. The IRB have requested that all referees ensure that the ball is thrown into the scrum so that a fair contest can ensue if both hookers wish to strike for the ball. I would agree that over the past decade, because of the non-throwing in team wanting to 'double drive' at a scrum, the scrum half throwing the ball into the scrum has been allowed to put the ball more towards his team rather than exactly in the centre of the scrum.


Your idea of adopting a rugby league-type scrum may come about in the future, mainly because of front row injuries. Considering that the scrum is intended as a way of re-starting the game after an infringement, the time spent re-setting collapsed scrums and the subsequent free kicks and penalties could be better utilised if rugby league scrums were adopted. Watch this space!


Q 4. In the first half a Neath Swansea game, Arwel Thomas put in a long kick up field, the ball rolling into touch and into the hands of a ballboy. The Neath player appeared to take the ball off the ballboy and then proceeded to take a quick lineout. Surely this is illegal? I thought that a quick lineout could only be taken if no one else other than a member of the throwing-in team had touched the ball.


A 4. You are perfectly correct. Law 19 Touch and Line-Out, Section 2 (d) Quick Throw-In states


'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'


This happened on two occasions during the game. The second time it hit the Swansea water carrier and Neath threw it in quickly. Unfortunately, neither 'illegal' quick throw-in was detected by the match officials.


Q 5. If a player is yellow carded 10 minutes before the end of normal time, would he then be allowed to come back on the field for the time added on for injuries etc?


A 5. When a player is sin binned, it is for 10 minutes actual playing time. Actual playing time includes when the ball is in play and kicks at goal such as penalties or conversions. If the referee has to stop his watch for injuries, then the sin bin clock for the player is also stopped.


In your question you say that there are 10 minutes of normal playing time left. That would mean that the player who was sin binned could not return to the field of play because the game would be completed exactly when his sin bin time ended. I hope this clarifies the situation regarding the sin bin time.