Commentators
• Rod Kafer on the longevity of Tony Brown in the Waratahs v Highlanders game: “He's been playing the game at this level since 1996. It's like a time warp for him.” Indeed the Time Lord did play for the Highlanders that year, the first year of the Super12.
• Brett Papworth mentioned in the Sydney v Country game that Dave Harvey was so close to the posts when he converted his own first try that he nearly hit the cross bar. What he didn't mention was that he hit the post – a lamp post in the street just over the fence which forms the Southern boundary for Coogee Oval.
Wouldn't like to live on the other side of the street. Driving down Alfreda St. would be a bit hazardous too.
Laws
• Lions v Sharks Lions 15. Taute kicked the ball from his 22. Sharks 11. Mvovo, standing in touch reached over in an attempt to catch the ball and knocked it forward. Referee Mark Lawrence ordered the lineout to the Sharks mentioning that the ball was already out at the time. I didn't think it was, because to my eyes it hadn't passed the plane of touch, but that is by the by.
What would have been the ruling had the ball not passed the plane of touch?
I think that it should have been a scrum to the Lions. The ball is not automatically out if a player standing in touch slaps the ball back or kicks the ball in any direction. If he holds the ball in a catch it is clearly in touch, and whether the ball passes the plane of touch, or not, is irrelevant. But if he doesn't hold it, and the ball has not passed the plane of touch, it is play on. A player in touch can even ground a ball in goal whilst he is outside the field of play and score a try, provided he doesn't actually hold the ball at the time.
If Mvovo had been standing in touch and he knocked the ball back before it passed the line of touch it would have been play on. It follows that a knock forward should be treated normally also. Therefore, had Lawrence deemed the ball to not have passed the line of touch it should have been a scrum to the Lions.
Referees
• Jonathon Kaplan Stormers v Bulls - 13. J.Fourie of the Stormers tackled Bulls 15. Kirchner, let him go, and got onto his feet to fetch the ball after holding Kirchner for the briefest moment on the ground. Meantime the tackled player used his residual momentum to roll and stand up, then take a few steps - and got pinged for his trouble.
Kaplan said to Kirchner: “You were brought to ground; he doesn't have to go on holding you. He held you while you were on the ground.” Absolutely correct, yet how many times do we see tackled players get up and run away scot free after being held on the ground briefly. If this law is not enforced it makes a mockery of the law crackdown encouraging defending players to release them first, and enforcing tackled players to follow their legal options, second.
• Jonathon Kaplan Same game, after the never happy Stormers' skipper Schalk Burger when he thinks his team gets dudded, which is a lot, made a suggestion: “I know what I'm doing – thanks,” said Kappers. More refs should say that to Schalkie instead of listening to everything he says, which is mainly manipulation ; he must be a pest to them.
Argentine v French Barbarians – Game 2
• The visitors had the lightest pack of professional players I can recall recently. At 820 kgs it was even lighter that the one they had last week. They had trouble in the scrums against the 885 kgs Puma pack though not all of it had to do with how much they weighed.
Referee Pro Legoete also invoked the not releasing sanction against one of the tackled players who was held briefly on the ground. This earned the ire of the Brit commentator. It is invoked more in Super Rugby than in Euro competitions. Mind you, the northerners ping attacking players for leaving their feet to protect the ball more than the Super refs do. I think they have that right: killing the ball is killing the ball.
Quotes
• Rod Kafer to Brumbies coach Tony Rea at half time of the Brumbies v Rebels match and the home team 18-3 to the good:
- Kafer: “A good 1st half for the Brumbies; you're probably happy?“
- Rea: “Nah; we'eve got to start now. It was OK; good is probably the right word:it wasn't great; it wasn't up to what we want: we expect more out of ourselves.” Hard to please, but Tony was probably on the money.
.
• Rod Kafer on the longevity of Tony Brown in the Waratahs v Highlanders game: “He's been playing the game at this level since 1996. It's like a time warp for him.” Indeed the Time Lord did play for the Highlanders that year, the first year of the Super12.
• Brett Papworth mentioned in the Sydney v Country game that Dave Harvey was so close to the posts when he converted his own first try that he nearly hit the cross bar. What he didn't mention was that he hit the post – a lamp post in the street just over the fence which forms the Southern boundary for Coogee Oval.
Wouldn't like to live on the other side of the street. Driving down Alfreda St. would be a bit hazardous too.
Laws
• Lions v Sharks Lions 15. Taute kicked the ball from his 22. Sharks 11. Mvovo, standing in touch reached over in an attempt to catch the ball and knocked it forward. Referee Mark Lawrence ordered the lineout to the Sharks mentioning that the ball was already out at the time. I didn't think it was, because to my eyes it hadn't passed the plane of touch, but that is by the by.
What would have been the ruling had the ball not passed the plane of touch?
I think that it should have been a scrum to the Lions. The ball is not automatically out if a player standing in touch slaps the ball back or kicks the ball in any direction. If he holds the ball in a catch it is clearly in touch, and whether the ball passes the plane of touch, or not, is irrelevant. But if he doesn't hold it, and the ball has not passed the plane of touch, it is play on. A player in touch can even ground a ball in goal whilst he is outside the field of play and score a try, provided he doesn't actually hold the ball at the time.
If Mvovo had been standing in touch and he knocked the ball back before it passed the line of touch it would have been play on. It follows that a knock forward should be treated normally also. Therefore, had Lawrence deemed the ball to not have passed the line of touch it should have been a scrum to the Lions.
Referees
• Jonathon Kaplan Stormers v Bulls - 13. J.Fourie of the Stormers tackled Bulls 15. Kirchner, let him go, and got onto his feet to fetch the ball after holding Kirchner for the briefest moment on the ground. Meantime the tackled player used his residual momentum to roll and stand up, then take a few steps - and got pinged for his trouble.
Kaplan said to Kirchner: “You were brought to ground; he doesn't have to go on holding you. He held you while you were on the ground.” Absolutely correct, yet how many times do we see tackled players get up and run away scot free after being held on the ground briefly. If this law is not enforced it makes a mockery of the law crackdown encouraging defending players to release them first, and enforcing tackled players to follow their legal options, second.
• Jonathon Kaplan Same game, after the never happy Stormers' skipper Schalk Burger when he thinks his team gets dudded, which is a lot, made a suggestion: “I know what I'm doing – thanks,” said Kappers. More refs should say that to Schalkie instead of listening to everything he says, which is mainly manipulation ; he must be a pest to them.
Argentine v French Barbarians – Game 2
• The visitors had the lightest pack of professional players I can recall recently. At 820 kgs it was even lighter that the one they had last week. They had trouble in the scrums against the 885 kgs Puma pack though not all of it had to do with how much they weighed.
Referee Pro Legoete also invoked the not releasing sanction against one of the tackled players who was held briefly on the ground. This earned the ire of the Brit commentator. It is invoked more in Super Rugby than in Euro competitions. Mind you, the northerners ping attacking players for leaving their feet to protect the ball more than the Super refs do. I think they have that right: killing the ball is killing the ball.
Quotes
• Rod Kafer to Brumbies coach Tony Rea at half time of the Brumbies v Rebels match and the home team 18-3 to the good:
- Kafer: “A good 1st half for the Brumbies; you're probably happy?“
- Rea: “Nah; we'eve got to start now. It was OK; good is probably the right word:it wasn't great; it wasn't up to what we want: we expect more out of ourselves.” Hard to please, but Tony was probably on the money.
.
