LOOSE BALL: Referees need to be clear on what is a knock-on.PHOTO/FILE A-260512NZHGBBLUES35
THE Super 15 final was a great advertisement for rugby and a triumph for the 'little guy' over the big guys.
One has to admire the way the southerners dug deep over the last few weeks of the competition, especially against the two higher-finishing teams during the last two knock-out games.
It also threw up a couple of controversial TMO awarded tries.
Played in real speed, both would probably have been awarded by the referee so they, and the penalty try awarded against the Warratahs, were justified under current rulings.
Everyone knows what a 'knock-on' or a 'throw forward' looks like, don't they?
Judging by some of the less informed comments coming from the sideline at most games, obviously not.
And yet, these two laws would be two of the easier ones for even a non-rugby player to understand.
A knock-on occurs when a player loses possession of the ball and it goes forward - that is, towards the opponent's dead ball line.
Or, when a player hits the ball forward with a hand or arm, or when the ball hits a hand or arm of a player and goes forward.
To be ruled as a knock-on, the ball has to hit the ground or another player before the original player can catch it.
A knock-on can happen in-goal as well as in the field of play.
I have seen two interesting knock-on incidents in games this season.
In the first, a player running at speed was given a legal but difficult pass to grasp because he had to reach out some distance in front of him to catch it.
He tried desperately to catch the ball and in the process, knocked the ball forward three times while juggling to try and catch it.
Realising he wasn't going to catch it because he had lost his balance and was heading for the ground, he spectacularly batted the ball backwards high over his shoulder into the hands of a following teammate.
The team scored from the following play.
On the second occasion, a player went to intercept an opponent's pass and in the process, clearly knocked the ball forward.
He then tried to catch it and, after a couple of juggles, he succeeded and ran most of the length of the field to score.
In both these examples, the referees were probably somewhat mesmerised by the skill of the catcher in attempting to catch the ball and allowed play to continue when in fact knock-ons had occurred.
In the first, the player never caught the ball before batting it back to another player, so by definition, a knock-on had occurred.
For the second, the player had intentionally knocked the ball forward at first before eventually catching it.
The laws now state that a knock-on must not be intentional so the ruling should have been a penalty kick to the attackers.
The 'losing possession' aspect of the law is a relatively recent change and is open to variation in interpretation.
If a player losses possession because the ball has been stripped from him by an opposing player, one could argue the player stripping the ball has pulled it back towards his own goal line rather than the other losing it forwards.
The one exception to the knock-on rulings is a charge down of an opponent's kick, provided it occurs in close proximity to the kick.
A 'throw forward' occurs when a player throws or passes the ball in the direction of the opponent's dead ball line.
It is not a 'throw forward' if the ball is thrown or passed correctly, but then bounces towards the opponent's dead ball line after it hits the ground.
The key aspect of this law is watching the ball-passer's hands and arms.
If they are pointed in the direction of his own dead ball line and not towards the opponent's, the ball will have been passed legally.
It is important to remember the laws of physics here.
When a running player passes or throws the ball, it will continue to travel forward at the same speed as the player is running.
Think what happens to unrestrained objects in a car which comes to an abrupt stop.
By the time the ball arrives in the catcher's hands, its position will have changed and could be several metres further upfield from where it was passed, as are the passer and the receiver.
For this reason, spectators often think the ball was passed forward, simply because it looks like the ball has travelled forwards.
But next time, watch the position of the thrower's hands and arms - are they pointing forwards or backwards?
A referee will play advantage for unintentional forward passes and knock-ons, which both result in scrums at the place of infringement if no advantage arises.
In applying advantage referees, normally apply the 'two passes' philosophy - once the ball has passed through two pairs of hands of the non-infringing team advantage is considered to be over.
A new ruling on trial currently is if the ball travels into touch from a knock-on or forward pass, the non-infringing team has the option of taking the scrum at that spot or accepting the lineout where the ball goes into touch.
So, after readers have read this explanation of the rules there will be less ill-informed comment coming from the sideline.
But I am not holding my breath because readers aren't the ones making the ill-informed comment.