Rugby - not set pieces

[rugbysmartarse]

So, what did happen next?

 

[Hugh Jarse]

^^^ Patience is a virtue. The Waratahs have been superb in assisting to develop this virtue in the NSW rugby public as we patiently await a Super Rugby title. We are so virtuous.

When Uncle Lee is good and ready, all will be revealed.

 

[boyo]

Thank you, Mr. Miyagi-san.

 

[elementfreak]

The main thing for me is the crooked feed, hence the free kick.

Really? The main thing for me is making sure the props have bound and are not twising/going down as this could cause injury.

 

[Lee Grant]

What's wrong with this scrum?

View attachment 3455

And what happened next?

Others have covered the answer.

There is nothing wrong with it - it is just unusual to put the ball into your own scrum from your tight-head side, because the opposing hooker is closer to the ball than your own hooker is.

The point about it is not which side the ball was put in from. The point is that Danny Care of Harlequins knew that he wouldn't be pinged for a crooked feed angled away from the Gloucester hooker.

I felt an ache of sadness when I saw it. It was poignant reminder that the hooking contest was dead because of the power hit. And I felt that there was not one player on the park that realised that, because they didn't know what they didn't know. All they knew was that a crooked feed was OK for both sides.

Since the spawning of the power hit the scrum tunnel got so corrupted by front rowers' feet moving around to get balance that referees turned a blind eye to skew feeds, especially in the last ten years. Often there was no tunnel to throw the ball into.

Without direction from above, the referees established a convention that a rugby law, which required the ball to be thrown into the mid-line of a scrum, could be ignored. They thereby subtracted a wonderful contest from our sport, the hooking contest, and changed the game that I used to know.

Even when the tunnel was clear they permitted skew feeds yet the same fellows pinged 15 metre throws to the lineout a few degrees off when opponents weren't contesting.

The power hit should have been nipped in the bud, but I will save readers an essay about how they could have nipped it.

Why did Danny Care want to throw the ball in from his tight-head side anyway? His Harlequins' team had quite a wide blind side to work with and there were two Quins backs stalking the area, marked up by two opponents.

He hoped that by putting the ball in on the open side (his tight-head side) that Dave Lewis, the Gloucester reserve scrummie, would follow him over there to leave two against two on the blind - but Lewis stayed on the blind side.

Lewis didn't arrive in town on the last bus and knew that Care would be facing his two Quins' team mates on the blind side when he retreated to the rear of the scrum to pick the ball up, and would likely pass the pill in that direction.

What happened next?
There had to be a reset and Care, realising that Lewis wasn't fooled, went back to the normal LH side of the scrum to put the ball in.

Paul Moriaty, one of the Gloucester assistant coaches, immediately complained that referee JP Doyle had been wrong in law in allowing Care to switch sides on the reset. He pointed out, correctly, that the reset put-in had to be done on the same side.

JP Doyle lets a lot of things go when he has the whistle, especially around the ruck, where Rafferty's rules seem to apply. He shouldn't have let that matter 'go' either.
.

 

[Lee Grant]

During the Chiefs v Reds today, Scotty Stephenson: "Slipper has caught (someone). Ironical.".

But did you get the pun when 'Sumo' said it?

Matt Cooper was still talking of another matter when Chiefs' scrummie, Gus Pulu, got the ball from a lineout, but lost a bit of footwear taking off on a run.

Matt Cooper: "Pulu's away without a boot."

Scotty Stevenson: "Slipper takes him, ironically."

I nearly pissed myself laughing.

It was a nice tackle from Slipper on Pulu:

 

[Sandpit Fan]

Slipper was on the end of a few quips from the commentators during that game.

At one stage, when he missed something, and promptly had another go, Sumo said "Slipper's gone back for seconds, and not for the first time in his life"

 

[Rassie]

Vodacom Cup result
Pumas 154 Limpopo Blue Bulls 0

 

[boyo]

Really? The main thing for me is making sure the props have bound and are not twising/going down as this could cause injury.

I didn't say it was the only thing for me, did I?

A photograph can show only so much information.

 

[Lee Grant]

Exeter v Leicester - Rd. 18 - The two scrummies, Ben Youngs of Leicester and Hadyn Thomas of Exeter had a warm scuffle and laconic referee Tim Wigglesworth called them over afterwards.

His lecture had only two words in it: “Handbags away.”

 

[elementfreak]

I didn't say it was the only thing for me, did I?

A photograph can show only so much information.

No, but you said the main thing, I would've thought safety would trump a crocked feed.

 

[boyo]

Ian Jones (during the Chiefs v Force match): "pressurise". WTF?

 

[boyo]

Greg Clark (during the Reds v Sharks match): "10 points or less". WTF?

 

[Da Munch]

Ian Jones (during the Chiefs v Force match): "pressurise". WTF?

There was a time during the match where he was appending an "s" or trying to pluralise everything, would of been funny if his commentating was an good. Trying to compete with Marto on the one eyed scale, if it was the commentator I'm think about ...

 

[Lee Grant]

Prematch Reds v Sharks

James Horwill (about Ed Donoghue) something like:

"He can be a bit of a prick at the breakdown."


Leinster v Ospreys
Lions' players Alun Wyn Jones of Ospreys and Sean O'Brien of Leinster were having a series of disagreements on the field. Referee Nigel Owens brought them together for a chat.

I hope you two are not going to be sharing a room on the tour; that [niggling of each other] doesn't look good does it? Leave it there and get on with the game. Is that clear enough? End of …
.

 

[Sully]

I had to rewind the tape to check if Horwill had really said 'prick' on tv

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Nusadan]

Gavin Henson makes a 'thumping' start in his latest stint at Bath RFUC:

 

[Lee Grant]

Greg Martin - after looking at the BdP "no-arms" yellow card incident in NZ v Boks:

You could dust Dan Carter's jersey for [BdP's] prints and you'd find them there.​

.

 

[Lee Grant]

Top 14 Rd 2 Montpellier v. Brive

The ball is thrown to Montpellier fullback Benoit Sicard about 20 metres from the Brive line. About at the Brive 5 metre line, and near touch, referee Romain Poite blows his whistle for a forward pass to him. Sicard runs around under the posts and dots the ball down anyway.

Poite consults with the video ref and allows the try.

Sicard would have scored the try anyway, and there would have been nothing untoward if Poite asked the TMO before awarding a try—but it's the first time I can ever remember a ref blowing a whistle for an infraction before a try was scored (about 7 seconds before) then awarding it.


Incidentally, Clermont won it's 61st consecutive home game in all competitions in Round 2
.

 

[tranquility]

Lee,

Why have you not yet written a book?

It would undoubtedly sell.

Please give this some thought.

Kind regards,

The entire rugby community.