Loose Pass: Two ‘astute’ law nuances and ‘one word’ verdicts on each of the top 12 nations after ‘excellent November series’
Hollie Davidson issues an instruction during the Wales versus New Zealand game and, inset, try-scoring South Africa full-back Damian Willemse.
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with a pair of interesting law nuances and our one-word reviews of the nations’ Novembers…
Play, pause, stop… rewind?
Most weekends they are just interpretations. Was Lood de Jager reckless? Was Franco Mostert the same? Was Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalised for slack tackling or self-preservation? Should Tom Curry have been carded? All things that can be argued for or against, with a basis in the laws and protocols of the game as they are written.
Other weekends things crop up which may or may not be unprecedented, but become so in the way in which the incidents are dealt with. And, perhaps, bestow an element of clarity on similar situations in the future.
Two such situations occurred in this weekend’s internationals. The first was the astute manner in which Hollie Davidson – and her team – dealt with that all-too-common quandary for referees in an era of goal-line pick and goes: the ball buried under a pile of bodies.
This particular scenario was more dynamic than most. Will Jordan showed remarkable strength and power in getting to the line through a couple of Welsh defenders, but as he tumbled over it, the ball… well, it simply disappeared from view for several seconds.
Until Ms. Davidson said she had clearly seen it on the ground. And so accordingly, she blew for the try. Fair enough. But one replay did manage to keep the ball in view. It showed the ball in Jordan’s grasp, but with Dewi Lake and Tom Rogers underneath and working feverishly to keep the ball from touching the grass.
Most relevant was the movement of the ball itself. During the replay, it came to a point where it was completely still, not on the ground, while all around attempted to push it down or keep it up, depending on their jersey colour. Eventually, Jordan succeeded. But the TMO and referee decided that the ball was dead at the moment it initially became immovable.
Law 21.8 states that a tackled player near their own try line may reach out and ground the ball in in-goal to make a touch down, provided it is done immediately. The officiating team in this case determined that although Jordan eventually got the ball down, it was not immediate enough.
It’s a moment that can provide a lot of clarity for other such situations, as there are increasing numbers of contentious tries being scored in which a player forces his way over the line but then battles for a couple of seconds to twist the body out of a tackle to actually touch it down, or needs a couple of seconds to shovel it along the ground under the pile so it touches the line. This incident sets a clear and welcome precedent for such situations.
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The second incident concerned Argentina’s late rally against England. Pressing for the miracle, two tries in the final four minutes, the Pumas are given an advantage, which they use to force the ball over the line. There is still a minute to go. But after the conversion is taken, the TMO spots a knock-on, the try is disallowed, and play is brought back for an Argentina penalty.
Austin Healey called this moment excellently. “They should wind the clock back,” he said, with some force. His beef was that the Pumas had used a minute and some change of clock time on a conversion which was now rendered not an event and, as such, should not have been clock time that was therefore used up. Instead, the clock should have been wound back to the moment when the non-try was touched down.
It’s an excellent point. Advantage is played and it uses time and that’s fair enough, but with TMO interference now negating tries up to two minutes after tries have been scored, surely it’s the least the TMO could do is to give the time back it takes to make its deliberations?
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In a word
An attempt to summarise the state of the top 12 nations in one word at the end of an excellent November series (with only Wales versus South Africa left to play). Hyphenated words allowed within reason… alternatives in the comments section please!
England – Close
Wales – Emerging
Ireland – Unsettled
Scotland – Stuck
France – Inimitable
Italy – Quiet
South Africa – Benchmark
New Zealand – Irresolute
Australia – Knackered
Argentina – Persistent
Japan – Progressed
Fiji – Wild