[LAWS]10.1 (c) (c) Blocking the tackler. A player must not intentionally move or stand in a position that prevents an opponent from tackling a ball carrier.I think its as clear a case of deliberate obstruction as you wish to see.
Hmm - looks very much a pre-planned move.
I
Gold 9 instructs Gold 8 to move and stand on the margin of offside at the ruck, and it would appear that he did so in order to proviode himself with protection - by ensuring that gold 8 was in the way of the Green player who was standing off the ruck, onside, waiting to attack the 9 as soon as the ball came out.
I think its as clear a case of deliberate obstruction as you wish to see.
That is not entirely true. If a player is waiting to catch a kick, you are not entitled to just stand there in front of him.He can't move into the line that the opposing player wants, but if he is already standing there, he doesn't have to step aside.
Ian - I have some sympathy - but in this case the 9 made a clear gesture to tell Samo where to stand, and the reason for that was crystal clear - he wanted him there as a protection from the green player - what other reason could there be? And in order to protect the 9 from the green player Samo would have to be in his way, and stood offside in front of the 9. And he wasn't "marginally offside" - he was offside in front of the 9 by several feet.
It is a clear and deliberate tactic to get a player in between the 9 and a potential tackler.
While I agree that its a deliberate tactic,
I do not have a problem with it.
Interesting that no-one has mentioned the contentious incident at 10'45". At 10'30", Curtly Beale has received a pass from a ruck by his own 10m line, and kicks deep. Kirchner fields the ball about 18m from his goalline, and makes an excellent clearance kick, which goes into touchback on the Aussie 10m line, with an Aussie catchng it 1m in touch at 10'39". He takes an immediate QTI, to Beale (still on his own 10m line) at which point Green 6 is 5m insid the green half - so 15m away. Green 6 is just about to impinge on Beale when Rolland calls Offside and sticks out his arm (10'43"). Beale passes back to the thrower Phipps - #9). No advantage accrues so AR comes back to the penalty for 6 offside, which he awards 15m in. By way of explanation to the bemused flanker, he says at 11:00: #6 offside from the kick. You were never put onside and - you are not allowed to. The commentators were yakking over the feed, but this was a clear incidence of an elite ref NOT considering that the ball in touch resets offside lines,contrary to Craig Joubert's view in response to my question on SA Refs.
No idea what is happening in that description.
I have no idea which team Beale plays for, nor Kirchener
Cant we use colour and number so that those of us who don't actually watch the SH competitions (no SKY - for a mix of cost and a refusal to pay immoral business owners such as the Murdochs a penny - note to Murdochs, feel free to sue - you'll lose) can have a clue?
I say its legal. Just like any other player, the SH is entitled to tell his players to position themselves where he wants them to be. They could just as easily have had a "call" like a line-out call which only they would know, that would have done the same thing, and no-one else would have been any the wiser.
You can see that just before the kick, the gold player with the headband unbinds and leans into Samo just as the Green player tries to come through the gap. While I agree that its a deliberate tactic, I do not have a problem with it. Its one that you see at just about every box kick from a ruck. Perhaps you would prefer to see the players playing tunnel ball to give the SH a little more protection?
Also, if you look at the video, the SH does not go directly behind Samo to make the kick. He is still standing well to one side (and still behind the ruck players), so he is not standing directly between the SH and the Green player, he's just making sure there is not enough room for him to go between himself and the ruck players, and he doesn't have to leave that space.
If he had bound onto and slightly behind the gold player so as to create a wall behind which the SH is protected, no one would have a problem with it, and I don't see any material difference between this and what actually happened.