Chris Pollock and his “double movement”
Cheetahs v Western Force
In the 73rd minute the Cheetahs were behind 16-23 at home when 3. Coenie Oosthuizen, latched onto by 19. Willem Serfontein, charged for the line. He was tackled by 8. Ben McCalman of the Force, ably assisted by 5. Sam Wykes.
Falling down, he grounded the ball before the line, but later you could see his arm on top of the ball which was on the goal line.
Referee Pollock asked TMO Shaun Veldsman if he knocked the ball on.
Veldsman said: “The player grounded it short; he then tried to reach the goal line by rolling it forward with his arm.”
No try; penalty Force.
Coenie Oosthuizen – rolling along
In forensic examination you can see that Oosthuizen had the ball in his left arm, and used his right hand to break his fall and launch himself forward.
In the ball rolling sequence you can see the ball appear under his right arm/wrist.
Arguably there was a knock-on on when the ball was planted short and it transferred from the left hand to the right arm/wrist, but it was the obvious rotation of the ball in slow motion before the line that was the killer.
The South African commentators were strong in their disapproval of the officials and I think they had a point.
I would have awarded a try on the vibe of it all: it looked like a try, it smelled like a try, it swam and flew like a try, and it quacked like a try—but it wasn’t a try.
But why did Chris Pollock have to explain that the refusal was because of a “double movement.”? There is not such term in the laws of the game.
