Let's talk about the tackle - in two ways.

1. Off-side?

There is a tackle, just a tackle. Corné Krige approaches the tackle and takes part in its activities from the side.

The referee calls: "Off-side."

Now, ransack the law book. Turn it upside down and you will not find anything that says there is off-side at a tackle.

Look at Law 11 on off-side and you will find no mention of a tackle. Look at Law 15 on the tackle and you will find no mention of off-side.

There are prescriptions about acting in a tackle.

It must be done legally.
Only a player in possession of the ball may be tackled.
There are definitions about when there is a tackle, i.e. ball-carrier held and brought to ground.
Players who play the ball at the tackle must be on their feet.
Players not doing the tackle or being tackled who want to play at the tackle must enter the tackle from their side of the tackle.

This last prescription is not about off-side. It is part the tackle law - which includes being on your feet to play the ball.

If you play and are not on your feet, you are not off-side.

Neither are you off-side if you enter the tackle from the side and not from behind.

Hair-splitting, you say. After all it is as if the player were off-side.

Not hair-splitting.

In the Final of the Under-21 World Cup, and Australian drove at the Springboks. He was tackled.

An Australian team-mate arrived at the scene and leant over the ball - on his feet with great self-discipline. The ball came out through his legs and the Australians played to their left.

The South Africans were penalised out side for being off-side.

Off-side at what?

All that had happened was a tackle.

One man doth not a ruck make, anymore than one person can make a marriage!

The South Africans were entitled to be anywhere on the field at that stage. After all they could be off-side only if a player of their side had last played the ball, there had been a line-out, there had been a scrum, there had been a maul or there had been a ruck.

It takes two or more to make a ruck. There was only one, a self-disciplined Australian.

That is why it is not hair-splitting but clear thinking to remind ourselves that there is no off-side line at a tackle.

2. Tackling dangerously

Nicky Little, the Fijian flyhalf, was adjudged to have tackled Andrew Mehrtens high and dangerously. He injured Mehrtens by his action. Little was cited after the match, found guilty and suspended for three weeks.

His side had a vital World Cup qualifier, but they had to make do without him. He was suspended.

No quarrel with that.

Trevor Leota on Saturday tackled late and dangerously, injuring Danie Coetzee.

He was flagged and sent to the sin bin for ten minutes.

Three weeks vs ten minutes?

The IRB's regulation on citing: 16.3.1 A Citing Commissioner shall be appointed. Citing Commissioners shall be entitled to cite a Player for foul play when a Player has not been ordered off the playing enclosure, notwithstanding that the foul play may have been detected by a referee and/or touch judge and have been the subject of action taken on the playing enclosure. A Citing Commissioner's decision as to whether a Player should be cited shall be final.

That means that if a player has been shown a yellow card by a referee - to indicate temporary exclusion - he may still be cited.

Obviously there is no citing for a red card because there will in any case be an inquiry.

It does mean that Leota could have been cited, as Little was.

Presumably the tackle on Coetzee was considered less of a foul than the one on Coetzee.

3. Throwing an after-try ball.

Joe van Niekerk of South Africa scored a try. The young man was delighted. He rose up and hurled the ball downwards. The ball hit Opeta Palepoi, the Samoan lock, a hard blow.

Some Samoan players were angry, and one punched Van Niekerk.

The referee had his chats and after the conversion penalised Van Niekerk at the middle of the half-way line.

Correct?

Shouldn't he have cancelled the try? Shouldn't he have cancelled the conversion?

No, what the referee did was right. The try stood. The conversion stood as part of the try.

The penalty for an infringement when the ball is dead is where the ball next comes into play. After a try that is at the middle of the half-way line.

What about the business of punishing the retaliator rather than the cause of the retaliation?

It's hard to make sense of such an argument.

And in any case, this after-try celebrations are getting out of hand. Gone is the impassive forward who trots back to await the kick-off, his body language showing no elation, just the frightening message: "We've done it before and we'll do it again."

The celebrations, soccer-style, suggest that a score is a rare as one in a soccer match, something we are unaccustomed to.

4. Of scrums

What a pleasure on Saturday - only two scrums were reset!

The first Samoan scrum fell and was reset. It was the only Samoan scrum to be reset of their 13 scrums in the match.

Then the first South African scrum was reset and then a penalty awarded to South Africa.

That South African scrum came after 37 minutes. Astonishingly it was the only time the Springboks put the ball into a scrum in the whole match.

Surprise, isn't it?

It could mean that Samoan handling was faultless, the Springboks played advantage well or a combination of both.

But what a pleasure not to have to endure the falling of the scrum.