Ref column: Super Rugby penalising the wrong guys

While it is sometimes challenging to find something interesting to write about on the rules of rugby, I can usually fall back on comments, questions or downright complaints from people who regularly read the column, if everything else fails.

A well-known Whanganui sporting identity and keen golfer was irate last week (and, to be fair, most other weeks) about players entering the tackle area from the side, rather than coming from the direction of their own goal line – in other words, "through the gate."

Players who do not comply with this requirement should be penalised, but it was which players from which team being penalised by Super Rugby's referees that really concerned him.

He claimed players from the attacking (or ball-carrying) team were being allowed to get away with entering the tackle and ruck area from the side without penalty while those of the defending team were being pinged immediately they transgressed.

This was a very valid observation. I watched games over last weekend and the number of attacking players not entering the tackle and ruck area through the gate made me wince in embarrassment.

They wouldn't get away with it in local rugby, so how come they can with flout the laws with impunity when there are three officials and multiple television cameras watching on?

Three questions spring to mind – what do the rules say about other players at a tackle, why do these players try to enter from the side rather than from behind, and why are they seemingly being allowed to do so without penalty?

Law 14 states players other than the one who was tackled along with any defenders who went down in the tackle, must remain on their feet and release the ball carrier immediately, and remain on their feet when they play the ball.

Arriving players must "arrive at the tackle from the direction of their own goal line before playing the ball."

That all seems fairly clear. So, why might the attacking players entering from the side when they should know they can only enter directly behind the tackle?

It usually comes down to whether the tackle is a dominant one or not.

In a dominant tackle, the ball carrier is driven backwards by one or more tacklers, so instead of carrying the ball forward towards the opponents goal-line, the ball carrier is suddenly going backwards and is often isolated from his team mates.

Rugby is a game of contests for possession of the ball.

In the example quoted above, the team that has the ball is in real danger of losing possession, because they are suddenly on the back foot while the opposition is getting into a dominant position.

There is a real threat the ball-carrying team will lose possession, unless they can do something immediately to nullify that threat.

Any tacklers will immediately try get to their feet, turn to face the opponents' goal line, and go for the ball.

The first arriving player from the tackler's team will also try to immediately latch onto the ball, which the downed player should be releasing but usually is very reluctant to do so.

Players of the attacking team in close proximity to the breakdown can see the threat these opponents are, and will attempt to shift them out of the way in the action known as "cleaning out".

This is where you are likely to see these players coming in from the side rather than from behind, because they need to take the most direct route to the opponents trying to turnover the ball from the tackled player.

These are the players who should be penalised for their illegal action, if they are coming into the tackle area from the side rather than from behind.

But, as my golf partner rightfully observes, they aren't being penalised.

If the tackle is a dominant one, and the opponents have a chance of securing the ball from tackled player, they too are keen to remove anyone trying to protect the ball and keep possession.

They too, will try to shift these players with the cleaning out technique, which the good old-fashioned rucking action would have immediately rendered redundant.

These opponents of the ball-carrying team are just as liable to clean out from the side as their opposition, but almost invariably they get penalised straight away, often on the assistant referee's call from the sideline. Why, asks the golfer?

When a tackle occurs, the referee usually moves in close to the action to observe what happens, which often occurred at blinding speed.

To do this, a referee follows a process to determine whether what happened is legal or not.

He has to check the tacklers have released the attacking player, that player has released the ball, that the tacklers have either rolled away or got to their feet and then attempted to go for the ball directly from behind the breakdown, and whether arriving players have also come through the gate and stayed on their feet.

If the referee is still close to the action, it is almost impossible to observe whether the arriving players have entered legally, simply because he is too close and doesn't have a wide enough view.

Usually, he then moves away and outwards in order to get this better vision.

Players arriving later, and they are often the defenders because they can sense there is a genuine contest for the ball, become more visible and more likely to be seen and penalised if they are entering the tackle illegally.

In addition, the assistant referees are some distance away from the action and they are more likely to pick up the later arrivals who are more visible than those already involved in the action.

Or maybe the Super Rugby referees have been told to give all the rights to the ball carrying team in order to have a good, flowing television product.

You be the judge.