On the ground

Questions of Laws 14 and 15

The line-out used to be labelled the illegitimate child of rugby. Now the tackle and what happens afterwards has become the greatest source of penalties in rugby football.

Watch any match and watch the variety of penalties with their variety of gestures - the woman doing aerobics for holding on, the exaggerated scoop for naughty hands, the rolling finger, the downward hand in a gesture regarded as an obscene suggestion in Naples, the one-footed dance for stomping, and improvisations that Fred Astaire would have approved of. There is some potentially amusing mime.

What we have now are ten incidents. The players and the incidents are fictional but their basic principles are real. You are the referee, unpressured by time and emotion, and you need to make a decision - or not make a decision, as the case may be.

To help you there is a choice of decisions. Just choose the right one.There are no tricks and no catches. The answers are in the Law Book. Be fair though - make the decision and then check afterwards. A referee cannot haul out a Law Book and read it up before making his decision.

The teams playing are the Azanian Blossoms and the Flightless Birds.

1. Big Jonah Emu of the Flightless Birds runs down the wing. Joos van der Strelitzia, the Azanian Blossoms scrumhalf, charges across in defence. He dives at Emu, knocking him over without holding on to him. Emu gets to his feet and continues running.

   You will

   1. let play go on
   2. penalise Emu
   3. award a scrum to Azanian Blossoms.

2. Big Jonah Emu of the Flightless Birds runs down the wing. Seven metres from the Azanian Blossoms line Joos van der Strelitzia, the Azanian Blossoms scrumhalf, charges across in defence. He dives at Emu, knocking him over without holding onto him. Emu crawls on all fours for three metres and places the ball over the goalline.

   You will

   1. award a try
   2. penalise Emu
   3. award a scrum to Azanian Blossoms.

3. André Protea, the Azanian Blossoms flyhalf, kicks low downfield and chases. The ball bounces towards the Flightless Birds goalline. Three metres from the line, Leon Cassowary, the Azanian Blossoms fullback, drops onto the ball. Protea then drops onto Cassowary who holds onto the ball.

   You will

   1. allow play to go on
   2. penalise Protea
   3. penalise Cassowary
   4. award a scrum to the Azanian Blossoms
   5. award a scrum to the Flightless Birds.

4. The Flightless Birds are on the attack. Werner Pelargonium, the Azanian Blossoms fullback, gathers the bouncing ball but as he does so he is driven over this goalline. He cannot ground the ball which is on his chest but he hangs onto it for dear life. The Flightless Birds cannot get the ball from his grasp as more players gather.

   You will

   1. allow play to go on
   2. penalise Pelargonium
   3. award a penalty try to the Flightless Birds
   4. award a scrum to the Flightless Birds
   5. award a scrum to the Azanian Blossoms
   6. award a drop-out.

5. Tana Tinamo'u, the Flightless Birds centre breaks. Werner Pelargonium, the Azanian Blossoms fullback, tackles Tinamo'u, who releases the ball backwards as he falls. The ball squires three metres behind him. Falling back towards the tackle, Corné Agapanthus, the Azanian Blossoms flank, picks up the ball.

   You will

   1. let play go on
   2. penalise Agapanthus
   3. award a scrum to the Flightless Birds
   4. award a scrum to the Azanian Blossoms

6. Joe van Freesia, the Azanian Blossoms flank, drives for the Flightless Birds goalline. Reuben Kiwi, the Flightless Birds flank tackles him half a metre from the line. Van Freesia reaches out to place the ball over the goalline. The ball is in the air when Andrew Ostrich, the Flightless Birds flyhalf, kicks the ball from Van Freesia's hand.

   You will

   1. allow play to go on
   2. penalise the Flightless Birds
   3. penalise the Azanian Blossoms
   4. award a scrum to the Azanian Blossoms.

7. Bob Arum, the Azanian Blossoms flank, tackles Aaron Rhea, the Flightless Birds inside centre. Both players go to ground. Rhea places the ball behind him. Following up Ritchie McMoa, the Flightless Birds flank, picks up the ball and starts moving forward. Lying on the ground Arum grabs McMoa's ankle.

   You will

   1. allow play to go on
   2. penalise Arum
   3. award a scrum to the Flightless Birds

8. The Flightless Birds are defending desperately. But they get possession near their line. Flank Reuben Kiwi gets the ball and drives ahead but Corné Agapanthus tackles Kiwi. Both players go to ground, Agapanthus lying at the Flightless Birds' line. The ball comes back from Kiwi and lands on the goalline. Lying there, Agapanthus puts his hand on the ball.

   You will

   1. award the try
   2. penalise Agapanthus
   3. award a scrum to the Flightless Birds
   4. award a scrum to the Azanian Blossoms.

9. Ritchie McMoa tackles Pieter Disa, the Azanian Blossoms wing. In tackling Disa, McMoa ends up beyond Disa, that is between Disa and the Azanian Blossoms goalline. McMoa gets up immediately and picks up the ball which Disa has placed next to his body.

   You will

   1. let play go on
   2. penalise McMoa
   3. award a scrum to the Azanian Blossoms
   4. award a scrum to the Flightless Birds

10. Ritchie McMoa tackles Pieter Disa, the Azanian Blossoms wing well behind the advantage line. Both players fall on the ground. Disa has fallen the wrong way so that the ball is nearer the Flightless Birds goalline than his body. Reuben Kiwi, the Flightless Birds flank, and Corné Agapanthus, the Azanian Blossoms flank, are running towards the tackle. Kiwi picks up the ball. Immediately Agapanthus tackles him from behind.

    You will

    1. let play go on
    2. penalise Agapanthus
    3. award a scrum to the Azanian Blossoms
    4. award a scrum to the Flightless Birds