Not rolling away

[Steve70]

At a tackle, red tackling blue ball carrier, red tries to roll away, but ends up on Blue's side, but can't get up but isn't in the way of the 9 passing out. I call 'roll away red' but he can't - do we ping for it, or let blue try and play out if they have the opportunity to do it?

Had this recently and red wasn't in the way, although was lying on the floor near the blue 9, and yet blue 9 seemed happy to pass over him, but his teammate was screaming his lungs out at me (and the prone red player) to roll away.

So I'm letting the blue 9 play on as the red player is not materially affecting the play at that time, and I'm almost inclined to ping his team mate for yelling at me.....

 

[Pinky]

Generally ping only when required. Depends a bit on the level of the game. Pro will mostly ping as red has probably slowed the ball or reduced options. Lower level, if red is not in the way and blue can play it OK, why blow for a penalty?

Oh, and have a word with Mr Shouty at next breakdown, and ping later if he doesn't pipe down.

 

[DocY]

I'd say it depends on the situation, but from the situation you describe I wouldn't penalise the player on the ground (maybe the shouty one though).

My thought process in such situations is:
is the tackler making an effort to roll away? No - penalty, yes - keep thinking
is he slowing the ball down at all? No - play on, yes - keep thinking
does quick possession matter in this instance? No - play on, yes - penalty

 

[Phil E]

If he's not in the way, but rolling away would put him in the way then tell him to stay where he is.

 

[FlipFlop]

Did he stop the ball being played as the team in possession wanted? Yes - PK. He might argue he is stuck, but the counter is - don't end up on the wrong side in the tackle.

IF you let them get way with it, they will always "accidentally" end up on the wrong side.

 

[DocY]

Did he stop the ball being played as the team in possession wanted? Yes - PK. He might argue he is stuck, but the counter is - don't end up on the wrong side in the tackle.

I have to tell someone this at least every few games - it seems to be another urban myth that it's not a penalty if you're stuck.

That said, I would treat a (genuinely) stuck player more favourably when judging a professional offence - at the levels I referee, the players don't manage to deliberately get stuck. Or maybe I just don't notice.

 

[Dixie]

So I'm letting the blue 9 play on as the red player is not materially affecting the play at that time, and I'm almost inclined to ping his team mate for yelling at me.....

The only issue I'd have with your action here is the word "almost" in red. Change that to "definitely" and I'm with you all the way.

Steve70, I get the sense from a few of your recent posts that you have recently taken up the whistle. If so, many thanks and well done. All new refs go through a very steep learning curve, and most recognise that until that curve flattens out the players they ref are not seeing the Finished Article. That self-awareness leads to some sympathy with backchat, which leads to more backchat, which is probably the most negative experience for a new ref.

It's tough, but there's an old rugby saying: the Referee is always right -especially when he's wrong. This is even written into the Law Book:

[LAWS]Law 6.A.4 (a) The referee is the sole judge of fact and of Law during a match.


Law 10.4(s) (s) All players must respect the authority of the referee. They must not dispute the referee’s
decisions. They must stop playing at once when the referee blows the whistle except at a
kick-off or at a penalty kick following admonishment, temporary suspension, or send-off.
Sanction: Penalty kick[/LAWS]

Put succinctly: Ping 'em hard, even if you sympathise with them for having you as a ref. Then work hard on this site and in games to get better.

 

[Steve70]

Took it up last year for the XV game but still playing, and am also the juniors head coach for the club, so have got feet in all camps... Wrote down all the questions I've had over this season and only just got round to posting them..... To be honest the biggest thing I've learnt is to ping hard early on and not let some yapping pain keep on at me. The other thing I've learned is that invariably, there is more than one interpretation of the laws when it gets particularly complicated out there. I've only made two big clangers so far ... Blowing for a PK for accidental offside, and allowing the team mate of a player who's dropped the ball straight down trying to catch it, to pick it up when he was in front of him....I'm sure they'll be more....

 

[beckett50]

Took it up last year for the XV game but still playing, and am also the juniors head coach for the club, so have got feet in all camps... Wrote down all the questions I've had over this season and only just got round to posting them..... To be honest the biggest thing I've learnt is to ping hard early on and not let some yapping pain keep on at me. The other thing I've learned is that invariably, there is more than one interpretation of the laws when it gets particularly complicated out there.

I've only made two big clangers so far

... Blowing for a PK for accidental offside, and allowing the team mate of a player who's dropped the ball straight down trying to catch it, to pick it up when he was in front of him....I'm sure they'll be more....

Well done for recognising them, but remember that the players always make more.

With regard to your OP;

Tackler appears to take positive action by rolling away from Blue tackled player.
Blue 9 is able to play the ball because it is well presented.

However, does the position of the Red player in any compromise the stance of the Blue 9 thereby altering his options to play the ball? If the Red player wasn't there would the 9 be able to execute a long pass to the stand-off?
Also, could the tackler have exited the tackle zone by moving perpendicular to the tackle zone?

If the answer to the above is in the affirmative then you have a strong case for saying that you have to penalise because whilst he may have appeared to be positive, his actions had a negative impact on Blue's options.

But, it's all about your interpretation and empathy for the match.

Bear in mind that written scenarios will elicit a great number of different responses because we all paint a variety of 'pictures' based upon our own experiences and the way the individual mind works.