1. Kick-off into the wind

The Hurricanes kick off into the strong wind against the Crusaders. David Holwell sets the ball on its conical tower and hoofs it high.

The ball travels beyond the 10m line through the air and then curls back.

When it gets within reach Norman Maxwell of the Crusaders catches it a metre beyond his 10m line, i.e. 9m from the half-way line.

The referee let play go on. Right?

Right on two counts.

a. The ball had travelled the 10m through the air. That it came back was not reason to stop play.
b. Maxwell played the ball first. Even if the ball does not travel 10m at the kick-off, play goes on if the receiving team plays it before it has travelled 10m.

The excellent referee was doubly right.

2. Knock on

The Hurricanes launch a fiercer attack on the Crusaders' line. Jason Spice darts. As he is hauled down he pops the ball up high to Rodney So'oialo their No.8, who tries to pull the ball down under pressure. He fumbles forward and Dion Waller, the Hurricanes lock, who is right next to So'oialo, takes the ball from him.

The ball does not touch the ground or a Crusader.

The referee blows and awards a scrum to the Crusaders for a knock-on. Right?

Yes. It is not a knock-on only if the person who fumbles it forward regains it before it has struck another player of either team.

Also if So'oialo had handed the ball forward to Waller without any fumble, it would also be a scrum.

3. Off-side in the line-out

Keith Robinson of the Chiefs jumps deep in the line-out and catches the ball. He holds on. When he passes the ball back to his scrumhalf, Owen Finegan of the Brumbies grabs the ball and sets off on a marauding run.

When is Finegan allowed to move forward to grab the ball?

Firstly, if the line-out is still on, Finegan has to wait till Robinson passes the ball backwards before he can cross the line-of-throw, the imaginary line that existed between the two sets of forwards just before the ball was thrown in.

If he had crossed that line while the line-out was still on, he was offside.

Secondly, Robinson had Chiefs binding on him. If he also had a Brumby or two in contact with him, there was a maul. Then Finegan had to start his run forward from behind the last feet. Otherwise he was off-side.

Thirdly, if there was no maul and Robinson had caught the ball beyond the 15m-line, the line-out was over and Finegan could move forward at any time he chose to as there was no off-side line.

Subtle stuff.

4. The kicking tee

André Pretorius used sand to tee up the ball at the start of the match, instead of one of those kicking towers. The commentator then told the world - and he did it again at the start of the second half - that these tees were to be outlawed, officially banned. At first he seemed to suggest that that was the reason that Pretorius was using sand.

That is not accurate. The nature of the kick-off will change. All kicks to start and restart the game at kick-offs and drop-outs will be drop kicks, which one does not perform with a tee.

5. "No numbers"

At line-out time in that match the referee regularly called: "No numbers!"

The reason for this was that the team throwing in had delayed the formation and would come in and throw quickly, thus making it impressible for their opponents to conform to the unknown numbers they would have in the line-out.

By calling "No Numbers", the referee was showing that the team not throwing in the ball could maintain the numbers they had and that there would be no sanction against them if they had more in the line-out than the throwing team - because there was no time to count and conform.

6. "Two scrumhalves"

The Stormers throw in at a line-out. They have a player close to those in the line-out, the receiver, scrumhalf if you like. They also have a player about 5m back and wider.The referee told them that they had had two scrumhalves and penalised them with a free kick on the line of touch, 15m in. Right?

Yes.

7. Mark - and hurt

Conrad Jantjes of the Cats jumps high in his 22 to catch a Stormers' kick. In the air he catches it and calls mark. The referee allows the mark. Right?

Yes.

Now if in that action Jantjes had been hurt and could not take the kick, what would happen next? Would Louis Koen be allowed to take the kick?

No. There would then be a scrum, Cats' ball.

In the actual match Jantjes took the kick with a thump.

8. Joining from the side

The Reds are on the attack against the Waratahs. The ball is loose. Brave Daniel Herbert of the Reds dives on the ball. Behind him brave Christ Whitaker gets up and comes in to play the ball. He is on his feet. He does not dive onto Herbert. Other players gather.

This all happens at great speed.

Whitaker is penalised, and Flatley goals.

What did Whitaker do wrong?

Was he wrong to go for the ball with Herbert prone on the ground?

No. After all there had been no tackle and there was no ruck - just Herbert on the ground, free and unheld, and Whitaker on his feet.

Then a ruck may have formed.

Was Whitaker off-side?

No he had not come from the wrong side. He had got where he had got legally. He had attempted to play the ball legally.

To make what had started legally and was being processed legally illegal seems a perversion of the law.

9. No knock knock-down

The Waratahs are on the attack, sweeping towards the Reds' line. Matthew Burke passes to his left, but Daniel Herbert gets in between and knocks the ball back towards his own goalline. The referee lets play go on. Right?

Yes. There is nothing wrong with a knock back wards, however deliberate it may be - any more than there is with a pass backwards.

(The knock backwards was a bone of contention way back in the 1880s!)

Take another example.

The Bulls win the ball at a tackle-thing. Hakkies Hüsselman, the Bulls' scrumhalf, picks up the ball. Albert van den Berg of the Sharks leans across the tackle thing and knocks the ball out of Hüsselman's hand. He is penalised. Right?

Not necessarily.

A player is allowed to take or knock the ball from an opponent's hand. If he knocks the ball from the opponent's hand, he must just not knock the ball forward. If he knocks the ball down or backwards, there is no harm done.

Provided, of course, that he was on-side to start with.