Fending off above armpits

[smeagol]

My view is that hand offs are fine in the game, they do encourage good tackle technique, and I recall well from my playing days that receiving a hand off was an embarrassment.

I would also add that in my experience a hand off to the chest was far more effective, and that most hand offs to the face are out of malice, thus using excessive force and sanctionable.

IMO, hand-offs/fends/stiff arms are fine, it's a matter of teaching players to use them to push and not strike/punch (and penalizing those who do the latter).

In my area, in youth rugby (U19 and lower), fends to the face are banned, as are squeeze ball and gator/croc rolls. The fends are by far the most common issue due to football converts. In the other code, players are taught to either aim for the helmet side/top, chest, or shoulder; for the latter two, they are taught to use force (I've heard it described as akin to a punch).

 

[Mipper]

it’s probably a language thing but “stiff arms” as I know them, are certainly not acceptable.

 

[chbg]

it’s probably a language thing but “stiff arms” as I know them, are certainly not acceptable.

A think that a 'straight arm' would be an appropriate translation.

 

[Volun-selected]

A think that a 'straight arm' would be an appropriate translation.

That the clothes-line tackle. Arm locked out out sideways at neck/throat height as the ball carrier runs past?

 

[chbg]

That the clothes-line tackle. Arm locked out out sideways at neck/throat height as the ball carrier runs past?

Depends who is using it, doesn't it?

I was merely trying to clarify a possible UK/US difference in word usage. In RFU-land a hand-off (defined by WR as "Hand-off: A permitted action, taken by a ball-carrier to fend off an opponent, using the palm of the hand"), never a 'fend-off', must be used "without excessive force" (Law 9.24) and is therefore expected to be delivered by a 'straight' (perhaps 'extended' may be a better word) arm i.e. without the additional force engendered by straightening the arm onto the target area (as in a boxing punch). The US word for a straight/extended arm may be a stiff arm.

 

[crossref]

is that quite right right though? running into someone with arm straight out, elbow locked is going to be a lot more forceful than if the elbow is 'soft'

 

[Stu10]

is that quite right right though? running into someone with arm straight out, elbow locked is going to be a lot more forceful than if the elbow is 'soft'

This is my interpretation of a "stiff arm" and is not safe for the person doing it or the one on the receiving end.

 

[Locke]

It’s simply US phrasing. In American football and otherwise in the American vernacular, the action defined by World Rugby as a “hand-off” is known as a “stiff arm”, with or without the hyphen.
Uses are essentially identical, to my understanding.
Noun: “That was a great stiff arm!”
Verb: “He stiff armed the defender.”

 

[crossref]

So it doesn't mean the arm was necessarily stiff?

 

[Locke]

In my experience, it’s simply the American terminology for what is called a “hand-off” in other English-speaking countries. The arm generally starts out somewhat bent with and the ball carrier attempts to push the defender away with the palm/hand as they approach for a tackle. The term does not indicate that the arm starts out fully extended, elbow locked, etc. I can’t say that it never happens in American football but I don’t consider it any more commonplace than in rugby.

 

[smeagol]

Yes, it's a language thing. I use the terms interchangeably depending on the audience.