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My point was that there needs to be, within Definitions, those factors that indicate 'accidental' or 'deliberate'. Such as whether the player changed direction, moved toward the ball or reached out to play it by hand. In Owens case he did none of those so I would deem it 'accidental'.
IMO, Accidental Offside should only apply if
a. you are run into by a team mate carrying the ball, or
b. you are hit by the ball when you could not have seen it coming (e.g. in the back from a knock on, forward pass or kick by a team-mate, or
c. it strikes you even though you make a genuine effort to avoid the ball and do not impede an opponent while doing so.
If you play the ball with your hands or feet, whether instinctively, inadvertently or reactively, or you intentionally let the ball hit you, then tough, you are PK for offside.... in other words, the way it always was before Saturday night when Poite decided to make up his own Law on the hoof.
George Ayoub has copped a bit of stick over this, and I am usually one of his fiercest critics because he is a regular bollock-dropper, but in this case, he was absolutely right. He told Poite that it was a PK for offside, Poite agreed, and then changed his mind.
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There is still the question of 'materiality'. Did Owens deny the ABs the ball? Advantage should have been played and this site would be short a thread.
In this case, I think it was material. ALB got the ball when Owens dropped, he would likely have got it earlier when the Lions defence was put off by the knock on. He may even have scored.
In hindsight, I think WR will come to realise that appointing Garces and Poite for this series was a big mistake. They spend most of their refereeing time officiating in the Top 14, adequately described by Stuart Barnes as "Rugby played at walking place". IMO, neither of them were quick enough, fit enough, sharp enough or up to the challenge of refereeing the game when its played at the pace that both the Lions and the All Blacks played at in this series. A Lions series deserves to have the best referees in the world... Garces and Poite are nowhere near, certainly not in the top 5. If WR had asked the management of both teams beforehand if they would have been happy with Nigel Owens and Wayne Barnes instead of these two, I think both teams would have said yes.