Big change to the advantage Law in 2014 Law Book

[crossref]

some big changes smuggled into the 2014 Law Book for Rule 8.
I don't remember anyone mentioning this before? Has it been there since January without me noticing?


2013 Laws
[LAWS]8.5 MORE THAN ONE INFRINGEMENT
(a) When there is more than one infringement by the same team:
• If advantage cannot be applied to the second offence the referee applies the appropriate
sanction to the first offence.
• If advantage is played for the second offence but none accrues, the referee applies the
appropriate sanction for the second offence.
• If either sanction is for foul play, the referee applies the appropriate sanction for that
offence.
(b) If advantage is being played following an infringement by one team and then the other team
commit an infringement, the referee blows the whistle and applies the sanctions associated
with the first infringement[/LAWS]

2014 Laws
[LAWS]8.5 MORE THAN ONE INFRINGEMENT
(a) When there is more than one infringement by the same team:
• If advantage cannot be played or does not accrue to the second offence, the referee
applies the appropriate sanction to the offence which is most advantageous to the nonoffending
team.
• If either sanction is for foul play the referee applies the appropriate sanction to the offence
which is most advantageous to the non-offending team. The referee may also temporarily
suspend, or order off, the offending player.
(b) If advantage is being played following an infringement by one team and then the other team
commit an infringement, the referee blows the whistle and applies the sanctions associated
with the first infringement. If either infringement is for foul play, the referee applies the
appropriate sanction for that offence. The referee may also temporarily suspend, or order
off, the offending player.[/LAWS]

 

[talbazar]

I did not notice the wording change, thanks.

But at the end of the day, the spirit of the law doesn't change much really.

Actually, I don't believe it changes anything in the way of refereeing:
I mean, while you're playing advantage (the second time) and no advantage actually happens, nothing in the 2013 law forces(d) you to blow the second offense anyway:
If you believe(d) the first one was clearly more advantageous, just blow and come back (judging that the second offense wasn't material) :biggrin:

 

[crossref]

yes, the 2014 Laws are better and say what they probably meant to have said in 2013 -- and probably how we were reffing it anyway.

but if anyone was reffing to the letter of the Law, then this is a big change. And we have certainly have threads on this site before where people have followed the letter of the law in solving various dilemmas.

Of course the most irritaing thing is smuggling changes in without drawing attention to them.
Has this new Law really been there since January? Or have they made a crafty change to the Law book in the middle of the year?

 

[Ian_Cook]

Crossref, here's a tip for you so that you can pick up Law changes in the book quickly. Any changes made to the previous Law are highlighted so that the changed clause has a light green background behind the text, like this....

When you download the 2015 Law book, open the pdf at the beginning of Law 1 and keep clicking in the open space in the Adobe Reader scroll bar to quickly flick through the the whole book to look for Law changes. I do this every year with the new book so that I don't get caught out by changes.

NOTE: Law Amendment Trials or New variations are easy to spot too, they have a light grey text background...

 

[crossref]

so when did the 2014 Law book come out -- here's a thread from Feb 2014 when we were talking about two offences, and quoting the old law
http://www.rugbyrefs.com/showthread.php?17363-Worcester-Leicester-knock-on-then-holding-on

Had the 2014 Law book not come out by February ? or did a previous version have the same as 2013?

In fact in that thread we talk about how we would like to see the Law re-written along the lines of what the 2014 Laws now say - it's almost as if the IRB were reading the forum

 

[Ian_Cook]

According to the PDF information, April 2014

 

[crossref]

sounds about right, at the end of our season, which would be why I didn't scrutinise it.

 

[talbazar]

On a side note, now that the law clearly states "the most advantageous"... Would you, if in doubt, ask the non-offending captain which one he wants?

 

[Taff]

On a side note, now that the law clearly states "the most advantageous"... Would you, if in doubt, ask the non-offending captain which one he wants?

I don't see why we can't ask him.

 

[Ian_Cook]

I don't see why we can't ask him.

I can. Its not an option in Law.

However, I see no reason why it could not become an option

8.5 MORE THAN ONE INFRINGEMENT
(a) When there is more than one infringement by the same team:
• If advantage cannot be played or does not accrue to the second offence, the referee offers the non-offending team a choice of which sanction to apply.
• If either sanction is for foul play the referee offers the non-offending team a choice of which sanction to apply. The referee may also temporarily suspend, or order off, the offending player.

 

[OB..]

It is for the referee to judge, and i would have no problem if he chose to exercise that judgement by asking the relevant captain.

 

[OB..]

BTW at last night's meeting, our secretary said he had been chasing the RFU since Christmas to try and get copies of the 2014 Law book. No success.

 

[Phil E]

BTW at last night's meeting, our secretary said he had been chasing the RFU since Christmas to try and get copies of the 2014 Law book. No success.

Do you think there is a warehouse somewhere full of 2014 law books...................that are all going to get scrapped in 4 or 5 months when the 2015 version comes out?


Either that or Nigel Owen has bought them all!!!!


View attachment 3017

 

[OB..]

I note that the law changes in the 2014 book only came into effect in May 2014, so the significance of the date is confused.

 

[Taff]

BTW at last night's meeting, our secretary said he had been chasing the RFU since Christmas to try and get copies of the 2014 Law book. No success.

The WRU seem to have them in stock. I emailed the lady in the referees department last week asking for a paper version and it arrived the next day.

 

[crossref]

Crossref, here's a tip for you so that you can pick up Law changes in the book quickly. Any changes made to the previous Law are highlighted so that the changed clause has a light green background behind the text, like this....G]

I don't have a book, they don't seem to have come out yet, and the Laws website doesn't have this useful shading.
(the .pdf does)

 

[Phil E]

I don't have a book, they don't seem to have come out yet, and the Laws website doesn't have this useful shading.
(the .pdf does)

I got one last night at the Somerset Society dinner.
Apparently London Society are always a couple of weeks behind Somerset?

........and I have never had a raffle before where one of the prizes was a live lamb!

 

[crossref]

we're all getting a new whistle.
Being a long time Londoner - I was expecting a suit

 

[chrismtl]

These were from the April 2014 Law amendments. I'm pretty sure that there was a thread here about them.

The main difference that I see is that in the past, for example, a player would knock on the ball, realize it, dive on it and never release the ball so that the other team only gets a scrum instead of a turnover of possession. Now with the new wording, you would award the not releasing penalty in the same situation. This situation has happened to me a few times while playing.

 

[crossref]

These were from the April 2014 Law amendments.g.

I don't recall any communicaiton of April 2014 Law amendments?