jdeagro
Referees in America
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- Mar 6, 2012
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Per 19.30, these are the defending scrum-half's options of where they may move to once play in the scrum begins:
Per 19.30.a, can the scrum-half move to the opposite side of the scrum from where they started, as long as they stay behind the ball and close to the scrum while doing so?
Option 19.30.b makes it sound like such might not be possible, but the law doesn't explicitly dismiss the allowance of such.
Additionally, the subsequent diagram in the lawbook of offsides for the scrum-halfs makes it further ambiguous by showing the defending scrum-half's offsides line per the ball extending through both sides of the scrum, despite where they are standing:
If it were legal for the defending scrum-half to change sides, I guess from the ref's perspective, they'd be able to distinguish if the defending scrum-half is choosing to exercise 19.30.b over 19.30.a by if the scrum-half retires behind the hindmost foot and stops there (my interpretation of "permanently") as opposed to if they didn't stop moving during the entirety of changing sides.
Per 19.30.a, can the scrum-half move to the opposite side of the scrum from where they started, as long as they stay behind the ball and close to the scrum while doing so?
Option 19.30.b makes it sound like such might not be possible, but the law doesn't explicitly dismiss the allowance of such.
Additionally, the subsequent diagram in the lawbook of offsides for the scrum-halfs makes it further ambiguous by showing the defending scrum-half's offsides line per the ball extending through both sides of the scrum, despite where they are standing:
If it were legal for the defending scrum-half to change sides, I guess from the ref's perspective, they'd be able to distinguish if the defending scrum-half is choosing to exercise 19.30.b over 19.30.a by if the scrum-half retires behind the hindmost foot and stops there (my interpretation of "permanently") as opposed to if they didn't stop moving during the entirety of changing sides.