[Law] Ball in touch or not ( 2016 / laws )

[Christy]

Can somebody please clarify following for me .
Not sure why i cant find it in touch definitions of book
( maybe it is there , but im not reading it correctly )

Ball is kicked in air & crosses touch line
My question is this.
Opposition player leaves field of play , jumps in air & knocks ball back into field of play.
He does this with his feet clearly off ground & clearly out side field of play when ball knocked.
The ball crosses back into field of play & then / simoutainesly he lands out side field of play.

Play on or ball in touch.
Or is this deemed as a quickly taken line obooe( assuming linr out not formed )

No trickery meant by this question
Basically looking for clarification

 

[OB..]

I wish there were an official answer - this question has caused a lot of heated discussion. Current law only covers a player who catches the ball while in the air.

Some 15+ years ago I asked the RFU referee's department (then at Castlecroft) and was told that the player, having crossed the touchline, was in touch therefore the ball was in touch when he played it.


The Australian Rugby Union has produced a PDF Line Ball Your Call which deals with a range of questions about touch. Here is the relevant Q&A

Red player punts the ball from outside his own 22m area and the ball crosses the touch-line on the full. A blue opponent standing in the field-of-play leaps in the air and after he crosses the touch-line slaps the ball back into the field of play.
(a) Is the ball in touch? YES
(b) Where is the line-out? The line-of-touch is where the red player kicked the ball
(c) Team to throw in Blue

However others have diffeernt views, as you will shortly discover.

 

[didds]

At least the leggings thread stayed in one thread... ;-)

didds

 

[The Fat]

Can somebody please clarify following for me .
Not sure why i cant find it in touch definitions of book
( maybe it is there , but im not reading it correctly )

Ball is kicked in air & crosses touch line
My question is this.
Opposition player leaves field of play , jumps in air & knocks ball back into field of play.
He does this with his feet clearly off ground & clearly out side field of play when ball knocked.
The ball crosses back into field of play & then / simoutainesly he lands out side field of play.

Play on or ball in touch.
Or is this deemed as a quickly taken line obooe( assuming linr out not formed )

No trickery meant by this question
Basically looking for clarification

ball is in touch, put there by kicker so lineout location will depend where the kicker was when he kicked the ball (assuming ball went directly into touch )

 

[crossref]

In real life it doesn't really matter much what the technically correct answer is, the touch judge won't know (and probably wasn't watching very closely anyway) the referee might know but is unlikely to be in a position where he can tell who or what had crossed the plane of touch, and the players won't know the Law AND won't be in a position to judge the plane of touch, even if they were watching..

So the TJ may or may not put his flag up.
If he does, and go with it and blow
If he doesn't put his flag up, then make an instant judgement and either shout PLAY ON, loudly OR blow for touch.

The players will go with your call

 

[Dickie E]

In the OP the ball is in touch (as others have said).

For me, if ball crosses plane of touch then it is in touch with 3 exceptions:
1. ball curves or is blown back into FoP, or
2. player with feet in FoP leans over and catches ball or knocks ball into FoP, or
3. player jumps and catches/knocks ball and he lands in FoP

 

[ChrisR]

Isn't this scenario trialed this spring in the SH?