Recent content by the magpie

This happened in one of last night's internationals, and I want to get an opinion, as I think the TMO got it wrong. Ball toed through by attacking team. Defending player (Australia 11) picks up the ball a couple of metres out from the line. Just as the defending player grasps the ball, and...

13 minutes into the Aus v Arg game, you could clearly see on the TV coverage someone shining a green laser point on Mike Harris as he was lining up a penalty shot. Not a good look for the game.

During the closing stages of the South Africa/Australia match, Australia were reduced to uncontested scrums, after the referee ruled that Benn Robinson had returned to the field to replace an "injured" prop, so couldn't replace an injured Polotu-Nau. When the scrums eventually packed down...

This got brought up in another forum, but not really answered, so I thought I'd throw this out to the learned members of this forum. Where in the LotG is it defined what a kick is? Also, there is an old thing that referees look for, in that the drop out of the hands for a kick has to be...

I actually took a still of it (below). There was a hand - a fist in Parra's face.

For the first time in 24 years, since the '87 final, a team has gone into a Rugby World Cup final with the intention of playing to win. By playing attactive, ball in hand rugby, the French were out there to win. Sadly, like the 10 world cup finalists before them, the All Blacks played the...

This refers to the Aus v USA game in the pool stages. After the 80 minutes had expired, therefore on last play, Anthony Faainga knocked himself out in attempting a tackle. The referee immediately stopped play, which was the right thing to do, as another tackle was made just next to Faainga's...

Just something I'm throwing out there - not to disparage, but to comment. After last night's Aus v Wales game, where the three match officials horrendously missed the forward pass to Shane Williams that led to Wales' first try, I got to thinking that maybe Wayne Barnes has a blind spot in his...

Lions Veterens Lobby IRB For Scrum Overhaul Interesting, that they want to get rid of the crouch phase. Does anyone know where I can read their full report?

http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/news/newsid=2059102.html#irb+issues+statement+tip+spear+tackle This makes clear what we have been discussing regarding Warburton's red card. This easily covers Warburton's red.:rc:

Red player tackles blue player, bringing them to ground. Red player rolls away quickly from the tackle. 2 blue players come in and secure the ball, and the blue half back waits at the back. At this point, no red player has engaged with the blue players, and therefore the definition of a ruck...

I know flat out that the referee is wrong in this case, but it still surprises me the number of refs at lower grade Sydney Suburban level still make this error. According to Law 13.3, if the team kicking off is offside, then play resumes with a scrum at the centre of half way/22. Yet time and...

A couple of weeks ago, the referee of the grade team I coach (4th grade Suburaban) warned my team about repeated infringements. The next infringement happened to be my scrum half putting an incorrect feed into a scrum. The referee yellow carded my scrum half, but only awarded a short arm (as...

In a senior trial last month, red player tackles blue. Red player gets back to his feet and engages with blue player coming in. Red player drives the blue player back over the tackled player. While still in contact with blue player, red player picks up the ball. I blow penalty for picking up...

During the Reds v Waratahs (late in first half), Greg Holmes (Reds) left his touch on Benn Robinson (Waratahs) which he used to hold off Robinson's hit on the engage (the camera was focused in on this). The result of this was one of the few scrums the Reds dominated the Waratahs. If you see...