Law clarifications can now be found here

If you have anything you’d like clarification on, please comment below, or send us an email at Ref@rugbyreferee.net

18 Comments

  1. Clarification please – Blues driving forward when a breakdown forms one yard from reds try line. A Red player dives off his feet over the ball, knocking a blue player out of the way as he was about to pick up the ball. Card and Penalty try awarded as a try ‘probably’ would have been scored-. Right or wrong?

    • Not wrong in law – if the referee decides that if it wasn’t for that act, a try would have been scored, a PT and YC are options available.

    • From your description it appears the ball was out of any phase and it was therefore open play so now Law 13 would apply. There is nothing that prevents a player from bumping another player when they are both going for the ball so no foul there. This is all as per the above description of the incident and play on is applying. The red player who went to ground would then have to react as required by Law 13 and if he does, then play on, if not PK/PT & YC gets considered.

  2. Hi my name is eru whakatihi about tonight game the hurricanes vs chiefs match the player blade Thomas from hurricanes the ball was given a try over the white line but the referee was not given the try only the Chiefs were pass forward and a try and the ball in the ruck was holding up and referee give them try

  3. je suis nouveau et je trouve tres genial d’avoir créer ce site. Toutefois, il n’est pas vulgarisé ici chez nous en afrique pourtant tres important pour lévolution de carriere d’un arbitre.

    merci de continuer votre travail et jattend d’etre toujours mis a la page.

  4. Law 11: is play on if the ball is struck by an opponent from the ball carrier hand’s? I always penalize that?

  5. Is there still a time limit on kicking penalties and conversions and when does the timing start from?

    • There is. Conversions should be 90 seconds from the try being scored. Penalties should be 60 seconds from the signal or arrival of the kicking tee.
      ^Keith

      • In sevens it’s 30 seconds from the try being scored.
        Then 30 seconds to restart the game.
        Penalties should be 30 seconds from the signal to go for goal, very unusual in 7’s, as place kicks are not allowed, only drop kicks for conversions and penalties. However Fiji used this to wind the clock down in the Olympic Final.

  6. e law on line out
    18.29.d. Leave the lineout so as to be in a position to receive the ball, provided they remain within 10 metres of the mark of touch and they keep moving until the lineout is over. Sanction: Free-kick.

    18.27. Once the lineout has commenced, the thrower and the thrower’s immediate opponent may
    a. Join the lineout.
    b. Retire to the offside line of the non-participating players of his own team.
    c. Stay within five metres of the touchline.
    d Move to the receiver position if that position is empty.

    18.38. Other than by moving to the receiver position if that position is empty, no lineout player may leave the lineout until it has ended. Sanction: Penalty.

    In line with 18.38 and 18.27 can a player or players leave the line out and be in a position to receive the ball if How does 18.29 d work. If we go by the two laws 18.27 27 and 38 it is only one player that can move?
    Vimal Perera

    • Hi Vimal. 18.29d let’s any participant in the lineout move out as long as they do so when the ball leavers hookers hand. It used to be known as peeling. We sometimes see a pod of players moving out together in order to gather the tap down from the jumper. No restriction on it being a single player or multiple ones.

  7. In this youtube video on two occasions the Referee ordered the release of the tackled player before he reached the ground. This goes against the world rugby rule law 14 stating “Being held means that a tackler must continue holding the ball-carrier until the ball-carrier is on the ground”.
    This action by the referee denied a maul situation being created as the player was being held off the ground thus forming a maul.

    • It’s not showing a link so can’t comment on the specific, but this has been a common thread at elite levels for a while. They usually try and determine if the competition is over and therefore rather than blow a scrum unplayable (which is what used to happen) or a pen for a collapsed maul) to call it as a tackle which encourages the ball to stay in play. Not saying that’s right however…

    • Link was in the email I got. Quick look and only saw one incident and ball carrier clearly had knee on the ground which makes it a tackle. You may have spotted another though which in a game of 200 tackles isn’t bad going ^Keith

  8. Hi All,

    We have a Disciplinary tomorrow night.

    I am a sitting member of the Disciplinary Committee for a KZN Rugby Sub-Union.

    This is the first instance I have ever seen something of this nature occur in club rugby, and any rugby match for that matter, and we were hoping for some guidance on a few points.

    Hoping someone can help!

    The referee entered the match having forgotten his cards at home. He did notify the coaches of this before the match started.

    It was just a friendly, but the rules of Rugby should still apply, however there is nothing in the rule books I can find on this!

    During half time a fight broke out between the two teams. One player was then verbally issued with a red card.

    Two questions come from this:

    1. The referee is allowed to issue a card to a player during halftime?

    My take: To my knowledge a referee is in charge from the time he enters the field of play until he leaves the premises where the match took place. So yes, he is allowed to issue a red card during half time should the offence warrant a red card. Correct?

    2. Is issuing a VERBAL red card sufficient should the referee have lost his cards or fogotten it at home (in this instance, the latter) ?

    To my knowledge the card system is a visual representation of the actual occurence. I am however unsure whether a VERBAL send off is sufficient or not and whether the showing of a card is a must?

    Please send to Nigel Owens to help!

    Kind regards,
    Jaco van Staden
    +27 81 039 2795
    jacovanstaden90@gmail.com

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