David Walsh
26/3/2012 WRRA Education Meeting
Ruck issues:
- A trend in rucks is that players are entering the ruck area (or side of the ruck) and placing a hand on another player. This is not binding and the player shall be warned and then penalised (see Binding in IRB Law Definitions and Law 16.2b, 16.2c, and 16.5c and d).
- If a ball is at the back of a ruck and leaves the ruck, can a defender then bind over the ball with existing ruck players? Technically the ball has left the ruck and a free kick should be awarded for the player returning the ball to the ruck (see Law 16.4a).
Managing kicks in General Play:
- A player in front of a team mate who kicks the ball, must not move forward until put onside, and is liable to be penalised if they:
- Interfere with play
- Move forward
- Remain within 10m of where the ball lands (Law 11)
- Can a player in front of a kick move sideways? See Law 11.9. Moving sideways can be considered loitering and it can take away attacking options from the receivers and obstruct the opposition from using the ball freely as they wish to.
- A process for refs to follow when a kick occurs is:
- Where is the kicker
- What team is the kicker from
- Who is offside and who is onside
- Watch kickers safety (late challenge)
- Watch players rather than the ball
- Which player can put their teammates onside
- Where does the ball land
- Watch for player tackled in the air who has caught the ball
- Communication – shout ‘stop’ or ‘retire’ and use player number and team colour. Use specific communication. No need to say ‘hold’ if players have stopped. If the kick is an up and under then you can shout ‘10m’ to remind players to retire from the 10m zone.
- Small kicks – 10m zone players need to retire.
- Long kicks – in front players need to stop moving forward.
- When a kick occurs scan the field to assess who is offside. Then communicate.
- In the prematch with captains, warn them what you want their players to do when they are offside at kicks.
- If it’s an up and under kick, and the kickers teammates are offside (in front), but the kicker is within 10m of these players then the players must retire behind the kicker to be put onside. They can also be put onside while retiring by another onside player passing them (Law 11.5).
