Rugby - not set pieces

[Cutter]

It's also an alternative means (and by no means should it be used in all circumstances) of implementing a driving maul. If you only have one or two men at the front, the opposition must pack against them front on or they enter from the side. As soon as the front is stopped, the next guys split off and make a couple of quick yards before, most likely, someone joins from the side. It is the perfect set up for a whip wheel maul too.

 

[Moses]

Creative, but I hope the human centipede gets outlawed soon.

Takes too long, is boring to watch, adds nothing to the game, and makes it easier to get away with a really soft kicking option.

 

[yourmatesam]

Creative, but I hope the human centipede gets outlawed soon.

The human centipede is just plain wrong.

 

[Lee Grant]

Toulon have gone well this year in the Top14 and Matt Giteau and David Smith have made a difference - as has Bakkies.

But some of the haircuts are bizzare. These are the best photos I can find but they don't to justice to them:


Benjamin Lapeyre - I apologise profusely if he has been a burn victim recently.

David Smith (ex-Force) - hair is the link to the only photo I could find. Can anybody spot a better one?

http://www.zimbio.com/photos/David Smith/Toulon v Stade Francais Amlin Challenge Cup/0lx9lHWzRI_

You will note that Turinui is in a typical pose.


PS - Watch out for Toulon next season; they are already doing OK, as mentioned, but they are getting some top recruits for 2012/13 as well.

PPS - any other examples of bad rugby haircuts? There should be a few of Joe Marler.
.

 

[Nusadan]

Speaking of examples of 'bad hair', LG, I saw just recently a prop either in Super Rugby or Aviva Premiership (can't remember) on TV with just the two inches of hair on his otherwise bald head right above the back of his neck with a hint of rats tail...do you know whom I mean?

EDIT: Found the culprit...Tevita Mailau

 

[Lee Grant]

Joe Marler - Jolly Sausage hairdo

Jolly

 

[Lee Grant]

Sausage

 

[Lee Grant]

All Star hairdo

Well, he is a Harlequin.
,

 

[Nusadan]

Saw this earlier whilst looking for the pic in my above post...

That's Joe M again, the words 'bloody airstrip' comes to mind...

 

[Lee Grant]

For folks who don't know him Joe may be a joker but he is also a seriously good LHP.

He's only 21 and will play for England one day.

 

[Bardon]

Yes he's a very talented prop. Reminds me of what they used to say when coloured boots came into soccer first, if you're going to wear orange boots you better be bloody good. Same applies to Joe he stands out but he is bloody good too.

 

[Bardon]

Joe made the England squad for the SA tour so his England debut probably only weeks away.

 

[Bullrush]

^^How often is this gonna get posted??

I deleted it Bullrush - but this is probably the place to post such trivia and such - rather than starting a brand new thread. It's one of the purposes it was started.

LG

 

[International Badboy]

anyone watch the Blues Lions Game, The Lions got taken back into their own ingoal, formed the ruck to kick it out and the ball was probably about half a metre max inside the line and the Blues 7 (cant remember name) came running in from the side and tried to grab it. The Ref blue a penalty for coming in from the side which the 7 vehemently denied and the commentator backed him up citing the 'no offside in the ingoal' law.

any thoughts?

 

[Lee Grant]

It looked like a dodgy decision to me. But I was talking to somebody at the time watching it on TV before the Tahs game, without the sound on; so it didn't have my full attention.

I believe it was Daniel Braid who did the deed. He wasn't a happy camper and gave young Angus Gardner, the ref, a spray. The thing I thought of was: maybe the ball hadn't crossed the goal line, though I don't know how Gardner would have known that because he was on the Lions side of the heap.
.

 

[Lee Grant]

Laws

When is the ball out?

If the ball hasn't yet crossed the plane of touch and a player in touch knocks the ball back, it is play on; in fact, he can kick at it, or even ground the ball for a try. The proviso is that when he is in touch he cannot hold the ball.

• Rebels v Crusaders Rd.12
Rebels 10. Kurtley Beale kicks for a vacant corner and the ball bounces towards touch not too far from the corner post. Crusaders 9, Willie Heinz tries to stop the ball going out but he has his foot on the line and as he bats the ball back it has already passed the plane of touch. If it hadn't, it would have been play on even though Heinz's foot was where it was.

It is a lineout to the Saders, as Beale would be the player deemed to have put the ball into touch. But the AR gives the lineout to the Rebels and subsequently they score. Where is the Saders' rub of the green luck from the previous week?

• Sharks v Highlanders Rd.11
10. Bill Noakes of The Clan drops the ball out from the 22 towards touch; maybe too far. Sharks 8. Daniel Keegan puts his foot on the touchline and reaches infield to catch the ball. If he holds it it will be a scrum back on the 22 since the ball will be deemed kicked directly into touch by Noakes.

But he misses the the catch and the ball goes forward off his chest. It is play on and it bounces off the ground into touch. It looks like a lineout to the Clan, but because the ball touched Keegan's arm after it came off his chest it is a Clan scrum for a knock on by Keegan.
.

 

[qwerty51]

On que Marler scores the match winning try for the Quins in their playoff match against Northampton.

 

[Lee Grant]

Avira Premiership

• Leicester v Saracens – Semi-Final

Kiwi 7. Craig Newby, the Tigers captain of the day, was in the referee's ear. The ref, who didn't want to chat said:“You just called me Nigel; so we're not talking. Thanks."

Should have called him “Dave” - it was Dave Pearson not Nigel Owens.


A few minutes later Newby gets Sarries 2. Schalk Brits in a dominant tackle and ends up dragging Schalk backwards. In doing so he ends trapped by his own aggression with Brits on top of him and the ball trapped between. “Nigel” cheerfully penalises him for killing the ball.

When asked by co-commentator Austin Healey if it was a fair penalty Ben Kay said: “It's become the case where it always is a penalty now; so you have to adapt the way you tackle and make sure you don't land on that side.”

Nick Mullins: “I think it's because he got his name wrong.”


Soon after Tigers' hooker George Chuter gets pinged for something similar.

Ben Kay: “It's just the way the game is refereed now, isn't it? [The referees are] under such pressure to have quick ball, if you get caught in there, regardless of whether you can move or not, in all likelihood you're going to get a penalty against you.”


That's a good point by Kay which yours truly has mentioned before. Referees are penalising the underlying causes of killing the ball even if that action, in itself, is not mentioned in the laws as being an infringement.

The old age question: "How can he get out of there?"- is the wrong question now. The right one is: "Why did he do what he did so he couldn't get out of there?"

That is not a bad convention that referees have come up with. So long as they are consistent, it's one of the good ones.
.

 

[yourmatesam]

That's a good point by Kay which yours truly has mentioned before. Referees are penalising the underlying causes of killing the ball even if that action, in itself, is not mentioned in the laws as being an infringement.

The old age question: "How can he get out of there?"- is the wrong question now. The right one is: "Why did he do what he did so he couldn't get out of there?"

That is not a bad convention that referees have come up with. So long as they are consistent, it's one of the good ones.
.

I agree with the way the referees are being tough on this area. Essentially, it comes fown to a technique issue in that the players who "fall" on the opposition side of the ruck/tackle and get "caught" in that area are generally there to slow the ball down.

Players generally only listen to the whistle, not the management.

 

[Braveheart81]

Absolutely.

If you let players get away with getting in a position in the tackle which slows the ball down, then that will become a valid tactic.

Far better to penalise the players who end up there accidently than allow it to become part of the goal of making a tackle.