End Of The Lineout and a Maul

[Taffy]

Last week. Clean catch at lineout goes to maul. I keep my hand up for the opposition defence lines backs. Maul back foot has not gone past line of touch yet. They stay. Maul then goes sideways for about two metres and stops. I call the number 9 attacking scrum half on a "once 9" and then the opposition backs move up. I call them offside and play advantage (and end up playing it out). I still can't remember if my defensive arm was up, but can't help thinking I have got something wrong here.......Could I have let them move another two metres or so sideways and then told them to use it (and all the while the lineout was not over?)

Yours, very confused..........

 

[The Fat]

When the maul starts moving sideways, make the "That's once" call. You don't have to wait till it stops. Moving sideways = stopped moving.

 

[menace]

The 'once 9' call for the sideways movement of the maul is fine.

But which way did the maul move sideways?
If maul moved sideways into the 5m channel then the lineout is over and the backs can come up.
Ie [LAWS]When the ball or a player carrying the ball moves into the area between the 5-metre line and the touchline, the lineout ends.[/LAWS]
If it was sideways in field then the backs have to hold the offside until the last feet crosses the line-of-touch.

 

[Taffy]

The 'once 9' call for the sideways movement of the maul is fine.

But which way did the maul move sideways?
If maul moved sideways into the 5m channel then the lineout is over and the backs can come up.
Ie [LAWS]When the ball or a player carrying the ball moves into the area between the 5-metre line and the touchline, the lineout ends.[/LAWS]
If it was sideways in field then the backs have to hold the offside until the last feet crosses the line-of-touch.

sideways, in field. If it goes past the 15 m line is the lineout over then?

 

[TheBFG]

yep, LO is only between 5 & 15.

You'll quite often hear at top level the ref call "beyond the 15 LO over"

when talking to the SH ("that's once") did you drop your arm? Maybe that's why they came up? did the ask why you were pinging them?

 

[FightOrFlight]

I usually call once to the 9 when the maul has stopped going forward, so that can mean it's going sideways or just stopped. If it is going sideways and is in the vicinity of the 5m line I will drop the arm and call in the 5. Generally you will find that if it enters the 5 the 9 wants it out as he wants to avoid going into touch so it's rare enough it is a big issue.

I was always quite bad at it when I started(hand up and monitoring the backs 10m back) but it was a constant issue at assessments and I worked on it and now it is a strong point. I find that you have ample time to ref the maul and give the odd scan to the backs when the arm is up....you can see clear and obvious maul offence a lot longer before they happen than in some other areas of the game.

I see a lot of refs get caught even at high enough levels by the 5m and 15m lines. I recall an U20s Premier playoff final when 10 mins to go in the game the ball was thrown over the back in a set move to the 8 who was lifted and a dummy maul was set up on the 15 to pull in the pack. Defensive backs rushed up and were PKed as the ref still had the arm up. PK kicked and the team won 12-10.....I did offer to start his car a few mins before FT for him! :biggrin: