Knock on from a last play kick off

[JJ10695]

I had a match, the score was 13-8 following a late penalty. Play restarted as the ‘last play’. The receiving team (who were winning) attempted to catch the ball but knocked it on.

Should that have be deemed as a final play or must the scrum for the knock on be played?

Surely if that was the situation, teams could easily attempts to catch the ball and knock it on to end the match in every situation?

 

[BikingBud]

Did you call last play before the kick off? Cynical part of me thinks a receiving team might "fail" to catch it but they run the risk that you might deem the KO deliberate.

That aside if you have restarted because there was time left on the watch "restart kick following a try or touchdown, awarded before time expired, has not been completed" but that has now expired, then the KO is a break in play and should lead to No Side.

 

[Decorily]

Not an snswer to your question but related.
Don't use the term 'last play'.....try using the term 'time is expired' or something similar.

 

[jdeagro]

I had a match, the score was 13-8 following a late penalty. Play restarted as the ‘last play’. The receiving team (who were winning) attempted to catch the ball but knocked it on.

Should that have be deemed as a final play or must the scrum for the knock on be played?

The scrum doesn't have to be played and I would normally end the game there, under the assumption it wasn't intentional.

Surely if that was the situation, teams could easily attempts to catch the ball and knock it on to end the match in every situation?

An intentional knock on would be a penalty, and then the game would continue instead of ending, with the ball being given to the non-offending team.

A team would have to do something rather elaborate or be pretty cheeky to intentionally knock on and make it look like it wasn't. In the former case, doing something elaborate is risky and might end with knocking it forward into the opponents hands (which then I'd play on for advantage). Essentially it just seems a lot more complicated and risky as the winning team to try to intentionally knock it on but make it look unintentional as opposed to catching the ball and kicking it out or running it into touch.

 

[crossref]

Not an snswer to your question but related.
Don't use the term 'last play'.....try using the term 'time is expired' or something similar.

I now say "clock is in the red"
Really like that phrase (from this forum) it's concise and I think its intuitive for the players

 

[Dickie E]

I had a match, the score was 13-8 following a late penalty. Play restarted as the ‘last play’. The receiving team (who were winning) attempted to catch the ball but knocked it on.

Should that have be deemed as a final play or must the scrum for the knock on be played?

Surely if that was the situation, teams could easily attempts to catch the ball and knock it on to end the match in every situation?

A knock on from a restart is no different to any other knock on during the game.

I wonder if you're conflating this with the requirement on the kicking team to not end the half/game with an infringement (eg kicking restart into touch on the full)?

 

[smeagol]

Surely if that was the situation, teams could easily attempts to catch the ball and knock it on to end the match in every situation?

In that spot, the onus is on the kicking side to gain possession. I think most players on the receiving side would try to catch it and boot it out.

 

[JJ10695]

The responses have been very helpful.

I guess it’s how you frame the scenario.

When the clock is in the red, Why would the receiving team attempt to knock the ball forwards when the opposition could potentially retrieve the ball and play continues.


Thanks for the guidance

 

[Rich_NL]

When the clock is in the red, Why would the receiving team attempt to knock the ball forwards when the opposition could potentially retrieve the ball and play continues.

Because the logical capacity of a tight-5 player after 80 minutes of rugby might not stretch to the possibility of the opposition retrieving it..?

 

[didds]

.. becasue its just a tiny knock on with an immediate retrieval.
Watch videos of George Gregan.

 

[Volun-selected]

When the clock is in the red, Why would the receiving team attempt to knock the ball forwards when the opposition could potentially retrieve the ball and play continues.

As many have said, they wouldn’t do so deliberately - that’s a penalty against them. But tired arms and brains could lead to accidental offenses.

 

[didds]

As many have said, they wouldn’t do so deliberately - that’s a penalty against them. But tired arms and brains could lead to accidental offenses.

In theory yes.
George Gregan proved that not to be though in reality. He would deliberately drop the ball (always blown as a KO at that level) if there was a PK-advantage given to Australia and he wanted to tap and go with 10m o/side available. Eventually I beleive WR got wise and made refs stop him from being able to go quickly - but noticeably he wasn't pinged for deliberate knock on though

 

[didds]

CF an old thread

[Law] - Not taking the advantage.

we've been here plenty of times before so its apologies for the regurgitation. Scrum/FK/PK advantage - but the team with advantage doesn't want it. Gregan started (?) the concept of the deliberate knock -on ... I'm really uncomfortable about that approach as it seems to most definitely break...

forum.rugbyrefs.com

 

[Stu10]

I had a match, the score was 13-8 following a late penalty. Play restarted as the ‘last play’. The receiving team (who were winning) attempted to catch the ball but knocked it on.

Should that have be deemed as a final play or must the scrum for the knock on be played?

Surely if that was the situation, teams could easily attempts to catch the ball and knock it on to end the match in every situation?

Potentially yes, but I would look for advantage to the kicking side before blowing my whistle.

 

[didds]

I had a match, the score was 13-8 following a late penalty. Play restarted as the ‘last play’.

so the clock was already past 80?