The Rugby Thread

[arcadianagain]

^ Sounds to me like he has caught the ball in his own 22 (i.e. behind the 22m line) and called a "mark" - the referee would indicate this with a short blow on the whistle. This stops play and entitles him to a free kick - which as he's in his own 22 can be kicked directly into touch. He wouldn't have to tap the ball unless he was to "tap and go" - run the ball or pass to another player.
Why he has tapped the ball and just taken a short step before kicking is a little strange.

Perhaps he thought he saw an opportunity to run the ball which was then swiftly cut off making a kick the better option.

[pharvey]

Here's the full match on You Tube, Pharvey. Problem is it's either in Portuguese or some Eastern EU language I'm not familiar with? I couldn't find any English version. Pete

Cheers Pete, very much appreciated.

I shouldn't worry about the commentary - Rugby has a language of it's own, and anyway being Welsh I struggle with English at the best of times!

Perhaps he thought he saw an opportunity to run the ball which was then swiftly cut off making a kick the better option.

Fair point arcadian, but if you look at the video it doesn't appear that there was an opportunity to run it from the get-go. But that could well have been the case.

All this talk about the Free Kick has reminded me of something from years ago. Back in the day, you could call a mark from anywhere on the pitch (although you could not be moving as you can these days). I can't remember who Aberavon RFC were playing on the day, but they were receiving the ball from the opposition's Drop-out (25 yard line back in those days). Allan Martin, the Aberavon and Wales second row took the ball not far from the touch line and 15m or so inside the oppositions half, called a "Mark" and promptly scored a Drop Goal! Not bad for a second row forward

[PeteC]

Back to the Saracens and Wasps again for an additional comment.....

What you won't hear on that version Pharvey are the commentators saying ...." if this continues they may as well simply stop playing the match...."

This was in the 1st half and referring to the ref making a penalty call with just about every line out for a defensive player bumping into the offensive player receiving the ball while on the way down. Offensive player goes down on his ass but the incidents were no more than the 2 men bumping into each other while coming down, nothing intentional, nothing unusual.

Perhaps the booth official said something to the ref as I don't recall it being called during the second half? Pete

[dtaai-maai]

Maybe we had a different set of commentators, but I heard " if this continues they may as well simply stop contesting lineouts....". I think the ref got caught in a 'consistency' trap - having given the first penalty, he had to give the next couple. I don't remember the details, but I imagine a degree of common sense was applied by players and officials.

It's yet another area of the game that needs looking at.

[PeteC]

I have problems with British accents! I heard it as "stop the contest" and not "contesting line outs". My bad. Pete

[PeteC]

I put the below together mainly to help me as reference to the teams and locations. These are the leagues that interest me the most and perhaps helpful to others. If anyone sees any mistakes please post. Pete

AVIVA PREMIERSHIP

Saracens - North of London between London and Watford - Barnet Copthall Stadium

Exeter Chiefs - Devon England - Sandy Park

Wasps - Coventry England Southeast of Birmingham - Richo Arena

Harlequins - West London - Twickenham Stoop

Leicester Tigers - Leicester England Northeast of Birmingham - Welford Road Stadium

Northampton Saints - Northampton England between London and Birmingham - Franklin's Gardens

Sale Sharks - Sale England, Greater Manchester - AJ Bell Stadium

Gloucester - Gloucester England Welsh border southwest of Birmingham - Kingsholm Stadium

Bath - Bath southwest England - Recreation Ground

Worcester Warriors - Worcester England southwest of Birmingham - Sixways Stadium

Newcastle Falcons - Newcastle England - Kingston Park

London Irish - Sunbury-on-Thames southwest of London - Madejski Stadium (Reading)


Guinness PRO 12

Connacht - West Ireland - Galway Sportsgrounds

Lienster - Dublin Ireland - RDS Arena, Aviva Stadium

Ulster - Northern Ireland - Kingspan Stadium Belfast

Munster - Limerick/Cork Ireland - Thomond Park/Musgrave park

Scarlets - Llanelli southwest Wales - Parc y Scarlets

Cardiff Blues - Cardiff Wales - Cardiff Arms Park

Ospreys - Swansea Wales - Liberty Stadium

Dragons - Newport Wales - Rodney Parade

Edinburgh - Edinburgh Scotland - Murrayfield Stadium

Glasgow Warriors - Glasgow Scotland - Scotstoun Stadium

Zebre - Parma Italy - Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi

Treviso - Treviso Italy north of Venice - Stadio Comunale di Monigo


SUPER 15 RUGBY

Stormers - Capetown South Africa - Newlands Stadium

Bulls - Pretoria South Africa - Loftus Versfeld Stadium

Natal Sharks - Durban South Africa - Kings Park Stadium

Lions - Johannesburg South Africa - Ellis Park Stadium

Cheetahs - Bloemfontein central South Africa - Free State Stadium

Southern Kings - Eastern Cape South Africa - Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium

Crusaders - Christchurch New Zealand - Rugby League Park

Chiefs - Hamilton New Zealand south of Auckland - Baypark stadium plus three others

Hurricanes - Wellington New Zealand - Wellington Regional Stadium plus three others

Highlanders - Dunedin New Zealand - Rugby Park Stadium plus one other

Blues - Auckland New Zealand - Eden Park and one other

Waratahs - Sydney Australia - Sydney Football Stadium

Queensland Reds - Brisbane Australia - Suncorp Stadium

Brumbies - Canberra Australia - Canberra Stadium

Melbourne Rebels - Melbourne Australia - Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

Western Force - Perth Australia - NIB Stadium

[pharvey]

"Super Rugby" has actually been expanded to 18 teams for this season, and includes "The Jaguares" of Argentina and "The Sunwolves" of Japan

Should be interesting.......

[PeteC]

Thanks Pharvey, I'll update. Pete

[PeteC]

SUPER 15 (18) RUGBY (Addition to above)

Jaguares - Buenos Aires Argentina - Estadio José Amalfitani

Sunwolves - Tokyo Japan - Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium ( Three 2016 home games to be played in Singapore)

[PeteC]

I saw a report indicating that Saracens vs Gloucester was probably the Aviva game of the week on Sunday. Saracens playing the last hour with 14 men. I haven't seen it yet. Pete

[PeteC]

Super Rugby starts in the south on Feb. 26. If you get Setanta you'll see a lot of games live and repeated once or twice. http://www.sanzarrugby.com/superrugby/f ... per-rugby/

Shortly thereafter the NRL starts. http://www.nrl.com/

Now that I've matured a bit in my knowledge and viewing from a year ago, I find myself favouring Rugby Union. I don't think the NRL will be as exciting to me this season as last, but hopefully there will be some good matches. Pete

[PeteC]

Just watched the Scarlets 21-20 over Ulster on Sunday. A lot of mistakes from Ulster, but a good game for the Scarlets. Their passing and distribution especially in the first half reminded me of the All Blacks. Maybe they're studying them? Pete

[PeteC]

What two things would you change to make the game more interesting? For me:

1) The way I understand the rules at the moment, when the offense passes the ball after a tackle from its grounded position, the defense has to wait at the line until the offensive runner with the ball gets there. I would change that and let the defense go after the man receiving the ball regardless if behind the line or not.

2) Allow the defense to tackle the ball, knock it loose if possible, gain possession, and advance instead of just tackling the man.

Maybe a bit too "NFL" thinking. Pete

[pharvey]

What two things would you change to make the game more interesting? For me:

1) The way I understand the rules at the moment, when the offense passes the ball after a tackle from its grounded position, the defense has to wait at the line until the offensive runner with the ball gets there. I would change that and let the defense go after the man receiving the ball regardless if behind the line or not.

I might be getting the wrong jist of the question, but once the ball is passed, the defence can indeed go after the attacking player. In all honesty the "Rush Defence" used by many teams tends to involve the defensive back-line being on the edge at best, but more often than not in front of the ball and hence offside.

2) Allow the defense to tackle the ball, knock it loose if possible, gain possession, and advance instead of just tackling the man.

The defence can go for the ball - either to rip it away from the attacking player or knock it loose.... provided that the ball goes backwards - or a knock on and scrum is awarded to the attacking team.


One change I would like to see is a change in the scoring to encourage teams to go for the try and avoid deliberate penalties in attempting to stop try scoring opportunities: -

6 points for a try, 3 points for a penalty conversion in the 22, 2 points for a penalty conversion outside the 22 for example.
For continued (professional) offences inside the 22m (i.e. attempting to stop try scoring opportunities illegally) that warrant a Yellow Card, the Sin Bin duration should be increased by 2-3 minutes.

[PeteC]

OK, thanks for that. I often see the defensive line standing in a line, and seem to be waiting for the ball carrier to get to them, rather than going forward and after him. Seeing that so much especially for the first pass after a tackle, I thought it was a rule. Pete

Edit: Forgot the other item...haven't I seen penalties for deliberately slapping the ball away in a tackling situation?