One of rugby,'s more stupid laws, this only applies to kicks in general playIn Ireland V Arg, Arg received a kick off, were subsequently held up and Ireland got the put in at the scrum, I thought if it was off a kick off, then the ball doesn’t get turned over?
If a maul is formed immediately after a player has directly caught an opponent’s kick in open play, a scrum that is awarded for any of the above reasons will be to the team of the ball catcher.
The Committee considered that the dangerous tackle was a result of poor technique, rather than by design, and by remaining upright and not lowering his body position prior to the tackle, the collision was inevitable in the upper body/ head area. There was however no sign of any malice whatsoever, and the Players actions were considered to be reckless and not intentional
The Kerevi written judiciary decision is up on the six nations site
I really like that they publish these. Well worth reading the desicions if you want to understand the process
The Committee considered that the dangerous tackle was a result of poor technique, rather than by design, and by remaining upright and not lowering his body position prior to the tackle, the collision was inevitable in the upper body/ head area. There was however no sign of any malice whatsoever, and the Players actions were considered to be reckless and not intentional
Yep, agreed. Kerevi was always going to get suspended because his head lined up with the ball carrier's head through the entire tackle process. He was never low enough to get mitigation.If you target the sternum - your impact area is probably going to be somewhere between the navel and the head, whereas you target the navel, its now probably between the sternum and the hips.
Which I suspect is fine at amateur/semi-pro level, but I wouldn't be surprised if they train to tackle a little higher than you'd expect as there is also the element of wanting to wrap up the ball/close off the offload. You see a lot of international players tackling on the higher side (part of the reason I don't ever see below sternum rule coming in at pro level, it just wouldn't work) which as you allude always runs a risk with the dynamic movement and speed at that level of competition. There are a number of high-side tackles in every game, but not all of them result in head collisions or in some cases get missed like that Sua'ali'i tackle in the Wales game or the Meafou tackle in the France/Argentina game which both looked a bit iffy.Unless you're a tracking missile - you can't guarantee what part of the body you're going hit when you make a tackle (ball carriers will ALWAYS move in the moments prior to contact). If you target the sternum - your impact area is probably going to be somewhere between the navel and the head, whereas you target the navel, its now probably between the sternum and the hips.
A sudden and significant drop/ movement is pretty much reserved for players who slip into contact or are impacted by another player.
This is consistent with the application of law in open play tackles for yonks.
It was absolutely a deliberate knock on.Good one in France v Argentina.
35 mins in
Pearce gives a yellow card and penalty try for a deliberate knock-on, where the ball clearly goes backwards.
I think it's the right call, the Arg player definately knocked the ball towards the opposition dead ball line, which is the definition in the law book.