Volun-selected
Referees in America
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2018
- Messages
- 542
- Post Likes
- 294
- Location
- United States
- Current Referee grade:
- Level 8
Please, bear with me - bit of a wordy one this....
We have several places where the rule book explicitly calls out 'the ball is dead' such as in the definitions (The ball is dead when the referee blows the whistle to stop play or following an unsuccessful conversion) and in several of the laws such as where teams can make the ball dead, failed kicks at goal, ball over the dead-ball line, etc.
Looking at accidental knock-on, Law 11 has nothing that says the ball is dead due to the infraction but for an accidental knock-on we whistle for the scrum and the whistle makes the ball dead (as per the definition).
Most of the time it's immaterial. Knock-on, blow whistle, signal scrum. Or, once the clock goes red, knock-on, blow whistle repeatedly, make a grandiose sweeping arm gesture, half over.
And now my nightmare, and the point/question of this post....
Red is up by 2 points and defending their own goal line trying to hold out for a win. Blue is in possession.
At 80:30 the Blue BC is brought down just short of the goal line trying to charge through. In the scramble, Red makes a good attempt to jackal but on the lift accidentally spills and knocks on.
The ball is immediately scooped up by a Blue player who dives through and grounds the ball in goal. Cue cheering by Blue/wailing and gnashing of teeth by Red.
This happens so quickly that you haven't had chance to blow your whistle. So... do you decide:
1) The ball was dead at the knock-on, so call no try and end the game? Or,
2) The ball was live because you had yet to signal the infringement, so the try stands?
(I nearly had this scenario last week - fortunately Blue was blocked on the dive and knocked on allowing me to blow, end the match, and get out of jail free. However, it got me thinking what I would have done if he had scored.)
Interested on what others would have done if the ball had been grounded.
We have several places where the rule book explicitly calls out 'the ball is dead' such as in the definitions (The ball is dead when the referee blows the whistle to stop play or following an unsuccessful conversion) and in several of the laws such as where teams can make the ball dead, failed kicks at goal, ball over the dead-ball line, etc.
Looking at accidental knock-on, Law 11 has nothing that says the ball is dead due to the infraction but for an accidental knock-on we whistle for the scrum and the whistle makes the ball dead (as per the definition).
Most of the time it's immaterial. Knock-on, blow whistle, signal scrum. Or, once the clock goes red, knock-on, blow whistle repeatedly, make a grandiose sweeping arm gesture, half over.
And now my nightmare, and the point/question of this post....
Red is up by 2 points and defending their own goal line trying to hold out for a win. Blue is in possession.
At 80:30 the Blue BC is brought down just short of the goal line trying to charge through. In the scramble, Red makes a good attempt to jackal but on the lift accidentally spills and knocks on.
The ball is immediately scooped up by a Blue player who dives through and grounds the ball in goal. Cue cheering by Blue/wailing and gnashing of teeth by Red.
This happens so quickly that you haven't had chance to blow your whistle. So... do you decide:
1) The ball was dead at the knock-on, so call no try and end the game? Or,
2) The ball was live because you had yet to signal the infringement, so the try stands?
(I nearly had this scenario last week - fortunately Blue was blocked on the dive and knocked on allowing me to blow, end the match, and get out of jail free. However, it got me thinking what I would have done if he had scored.)
Interested on what others would have done if the ball had been grounded.