News

Law discussion - Six Nations

Tuesday 25th March 2008

Gavin Henson trudges off after his yellow card against France

Well, there it was, the second super Saturday of the Six Nations, finishing particularly superbly if you are a Welshman! But how superb were the referees? We take a look at a few points of contention...

Strokosch strays, but where?

At a clearance kick from one of his own players, Alasdair Strokosch, well in front of the kicker, begins to move towards the fielder of the ball, and is commanded to stay back by the referee, but still continues shuffling forward. Pietro Travagli of Italy fields the ball when Strokosch is within five or six metres of Travagli, then Simon Taylor - who kicked the ball originally - passes Strokosch.

Strokosch is then penalised. But why? If Taylor had played him onside by passing him...?

The answer is simply that Strokosch was moving before Taylor had passed him, even if not within the 10-metre law. The offside player must not move until the ball has been fielded and returned 10 metres, or until played onside by the kicker.

Law 11.1 OFF-SIDE IN GENERAL PLAY

(a) A player who is in an offside position is liable to penalty only if the player does one of three things:

- Interferes with play or,
- Moves forward, towards the ball or
Fails to comply with the 10-metre law (law 11.4).
- A player who is in an offside position is not automatically penalised.
- A player who receives an unintentional throw forward is not offside.
- A player can be offside in the in-goal.

(b) offside and interfering with play. A player who is offside must not take part in the game. This means the player must not play the ball or obstruct an opponent.

(c) offside and moving forward. When a team-mate of an offside player has kicked ahead, the offside player must not move towards opponents who are waiting to play the ball, or move towards the place where the ball lands, until the player has been put onside.

Cipriani's ball control

Danny Cipriani's ball falls off the tee just as he is lining up a conversion. The Irish players charged out, and did seem somewhat aggrieved when they were denied the joy of belting Cipriani's ball into touch and denying england a further two points. But were they rightfully aggrieved?

Law 9.B.1 (e) The kicker must take the kick within one minute from the time the kicker has indicated an intention to kick. The intention to kick is signalled by the arrival of the kicking tee or sand, or the player makes a mark on the ground. The player must complete the kick within the minute even if the ball rolls over and has to be placed again.
Penalty: The kick is disallowed if the kicker does not take the kick within the time allowed.

Law 9.B.2 (c) If the ball falls over before the kicker begins the approach to kick, the referee permits the kicker to replace it without excessive delay. While the ball is replaced, the opponents must stay behind their
goal line.
If the ball falls over after the kicker begins the approach to kick, the kicker may then kick or attempt a dropped goal.
If the ball falls over and rolls away from the line through the place where the try was scored, and the kicker then kicks the ball over the cross bar, a goal is scored.
If the ball falls over and rolls into touch after the kicker begins the approach to kick, the kick is disallowed.
Penalty: (a)-(c) If the kicker's team infringes, the kick is disallowed.

Cipriani converted, but was perilously close to using up his minute - he was given some leeway for the referee telling the Irish players to go away though, as they were wrong to charge out as they did.

Options at a disaster

David Skrela kicked as poor a restart kick as you could ever see at international level, which barely cleared the half-way line in distance terms before bouncing into touch.

Quite a few people around thought that the Welsh had the option of a line-out. They would be wrong.

Law 13.7 KICK OFF OF UNDER 10 METRES AND NOT PLAYED BY AN OPPONENT

If the ball does not reach the opponent's 10-metre line the opposing team has two choices:
To have the ball kicked off again, or
To have a scrum at the centre on their put-in.

So the line-out is not an option.

So many penalties, only one spot to award it

When Gavin Henson collared Fulgence Ouedraogo, France had been building their movement up over several phases. Two phases before the ball was swung left to the Montpellier flanker, referee Marius Jonker had already stuck his arm out and awarded France an advantage - for offside it transpired.

In Henson's 'bottle-opener' tackle, Ouedraogo let the ball go, and it went loose, with Martyn Williams doing what many opensides do in that situation and hoofing the ball as far downfield as he could. Advantage for the high tackle was over. Any advantage was over, in fact.

Jonker called Henson over and dispatched him to the bin for the dangerous tackle. But he awarded the penalty not where Henson had transgressed, but where the original offside had been.

Why? Well, he was still playing advantage for the initial offside when Henson fouled, and there had been no advantage. Certainly, there was no advantage in moving the penalty - the first was central and the second out towards the touchline, a far harder position to goal from, which is what France did.

However, just because the penalty was not against Henson for the dangerous tackle, it did not mean he should not have been yellow-carded. Dangerous or foul play is to be dealt with irrespective of what is going on around it, or where it is going on.