didds
Resident Club Coach
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I think it's always material - the whole point of a tap penalty is to catch the opposition on the hoof, and to move very quickly to get the advantage of this, tapping the ball against your boot, rather than kicking it, gives you an advantage in both - it's not clear that you have taken it, and you are able to move much faster, with no risk of fumbling.
So I'd suggest that you should never let it go, but rather you should always pull them back.
Do you let them take it again, or do you give a scrum?
In England quick taps come into the game at u13 level (other regions may differ) so if it's the first half of the season I suppose it's possible that some of the kids didn't understand about how to take one properly, so if you like you can let them take it again (but then I think you'd have to let the other team have a second chance the first time they do it).
If you are very generous you might feel that even a year or two later at U14 level, they still don't know how to do it .....
I still see this at U16 level occassionally.
I put that down to ignorance at multiple levels - the players, the historical coaches and the refs (often coaches of course).
didds