We must be on guard so extremists don’t win the day


Some time ago, a young and ambitious rugby referee was eager to impress an old hand who had been sent to assess his progress.
The ref had just handled a game in which, to put it mildly, the offside rule had been more honoured in the breach than the observance.


“What did you think?” he inquired of the assessor afterwards, with a confident smirk on his face.

“Well,” the assessor started tentatively. “Not too bad, but I think you need to tighten up on the offside law.”
“Oh, I know all about the offside law,” the young ref retorted. “But today I wanted to let the game flow!”


The International Rugby Board, mercifully, has resisted similar laissez faire in its recent tampering with the laws to let the game “flow”.


In an attempt to make the game more attractive allegedly, teams in the Super 14 early next year — and possibly even the Tri-Nations later — will be allowed more room for attack by setting new offside lines at the tackle and set pieces (5m back rather than the last-feet-in- the-scrum rule), greater freedom with quick throw-ins and further restrictions in kicking for touch from inside the 22.


Penalty offences are to be reduced and free-kicks will be more regular.


These new laws (rugby, like cricket, has “laws” rather than “rules”) were enthusiastically put on trial at that great rugby laboratory in Stellenbosch, where the popular Friday-night koshuis league often uses experimental changes such as a clean catch anywhere on the field allows the catcher a free kick.

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With our biggest ever 7s tournament just around the corner, every squad member should feel an obligation to acquaint themeselves fully with the differences in The Laws for Sevens.


The IRB has the Full Laws available to download in PDF form (all 182 pages) on their site - click here.


LAW 3: NUMBER OF PLAYERS
LAW 3(1)

Amend to read:
"A match shall be played by not more than seven players on each team."


LAW 3(2)

Amend to read:
"A player may be replaced only on account of injury."


LAW 3(3)

Amend to read:
"An injured player may be replaced on the advice of a medically trained person or the referee."


LAW 3(4)(a)

Amend to read:
"Not more than three players in each team may be replaced."


LAW 3(5)

Amend to read:
"A player who has been replaced may not resume playing in the match."

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A couple of disputed refereeing decisions in recent Super 14 games have caused some to suggest that certain Laws need to be loooked at:



1. He's won it!


At a tackle the ball is on the ground. Josh Blackie of the Highlanders is there and seeks to grab the ball with his hands. Brent Russell of the Stormers pushes against Blackie who seems to get the ball up off the ground but then drops its back onto the ground as Russell shoves against him. Blackie then gets the ball up and the referee proclaims: "He's won it!"


This is something that one hopes will change. When Blackie first put his hands on the ball it was legal. When Russell shoved against him it was no loner legal because it was a ruck - a player of each side in physical contact over the ball on the ground.

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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.

Here is the first in an occasional series of questions on The Laws.





I may bring out about 5 questions a week. Then again, I'll almost definitely lose interest in around 3 weeks, but you never know, here goes.


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


Q 1. During the France v Scotland Six Nations, France attempted a drop goal which rebounded off the crossbar, a French player in front of the kicker caught the ball and scored a try. Was this player offside?


A 1. Yes, the French player in front of the player who attempted a drop goal was offside. The fact that the ball hit the post did not bring the offside French player back into the game. He should have been penalised for offside.




Q 2. Are you allowed to mark the ball in your own 22 if it is from a penalty kick, for instance a kick for goal or to touch?


A 2. Yes


Q 3. Why don't players get penalised at a driving maul/lineout when it is obviously obstruction and accidental offside when a player with athe ball has about six forwards between himself and the opposition?


A 3. The practice that you see at a lineout is for the jumper to catch the ball, then players and opponents bind on to him to form a maul, one player from both teams binding onto a ball carrier forms a maul. Usually, the ball is then moved from the jumper back to the last player of his team bound into the maul. The maul is then driven forward.


As long as all the players are still bound into the maul, the players in front of the ball carrier are not offside and are not obstructing their opponents. Just like the scrum, with the ball at the number 8's feet, the team-mates in front of the number 8 are not offside nor obstructing their opponents. Accidental offside and obstruction applies more to open play than to 'gatherings' such as scrums or mauls.


Q 4. Please could you explain how the ref decides how much time he can allow when playing advantage before he brings the players back for the original offence?


A 4. There is no specified time for playing advantage. It is down to the referee on the day to decide the length of an advantage. He does this by verbal communication to the players, 'playing advantage' then 'advantage over' and by signalling with his arm held horizontal when advantage is being played. Advantage for a technical infringement, for instance a knock-on tends to be shorter than advantage for a penalty infringement.





Q 5. Does a referee have to go on any special training courses before he is allowed to take charge of international games?


A 5. No. The referee will have been trained and developed by his particular Union, for Welsh referees, it's the WRU. The referee in Wales starts with the Level One Course at Schools, Youth or District level . Then if he shows potential he is invited to attend the Level Two course. If he completes that then he is invited to join the WRU List of Referees. Once on the list it is down to his ability and potential as to how quickly he rises up the refereeing ladder.


Once he becomes a WRU Panel referee, he is capable of refereeing all domestic games in Wales in addition to refereeing European matches. He can also be nominated for representative games and 'A' and Under 21 internationals. His performances at those games will be assessed and his marks reported to the IRB. They have the final say on who is appointed to referee Internationals.