[Scrum] Offside lines at scrum

[PeteTheMeat]

Quick question for you all...

20.12 (g) states that "Players who are not in the scrum and who are not the team’s scrum half, are offside if they remain in front of their offside line or overstep the offside line which is a line parallel to the goal lines and 5 metres behind the hindmost player of each team in a scrum."

Are the "5m behind the back foot" offside lines fixed at the start of the engagement, or do they move as the scrum advances/retreats?

Regards,

Pete

 

[Taff]

The offside lines move with the scrum, until the scrum ends.

Welcome to the forum by the way. Stick around, there are people on here who have forgotten more than I will know. :biggrin:

 

[PeteTheMeat]

The offside lines move with the scrum, until the scrum ends.

Thank you - that is the answer I expected.

I often see attacking backs track the forward progress of a winning scrum, however I rarely see the defence retreat accordingly.

So what we're saying is ...

Scrum is driven 4m and stops with the ball playable at rear. "Use it". The ball travels #9->#10 who is duly flattened by his opposite number who didn't retreat with scrum. <PING>

Pete

BTW, I've been reading this forum for years - thought it was about time I got involved. :smile:

 

[Pinky]

Pete, just remember that at a 5m scrum the defenders will be on the goal line and do not have to retreat further.

 

[Taff]

... I often see attacking backs track the forward progress of a winning scrum, however I rarely see the defence retreat accordingly.

The team in retreat will try pinching space by standing still - it's not as obvious as moving forward, but effectively that's what they're doing.

As Pinks says though, they can't be pushed back further than the goal line.

.... So what we're saying is ... Scrum is driven 4m and stops with the ball playable at rear. "Use it". The ball travels #9->#10 who is duly flattened by his opposite number who didn't retreat with scrum. <PING>

Yes, he's offside an it's material. Don't forget though the mark is on the offenders offside line, not where he tackled the No 10. There could be quite a few metres between the two.

 

[Dickie E]

why do they call you Pete the Meat? Are you a butcher?

 

[chbg]

why do they call you Pete the Meat? Are you a butcher?

Please say 'yes', to avoid Dickie's gallery of photographs.

 

[Dickie E]

please say 'yes', to avoid dickie's gallery of photographs.

msfmsf

 

[PeteTheMeat]

Sorry to disappoint, but I'm a network engineer by trade. The name was first uttered by a drunken colleague whilst in the Slug & Lettuce in Islington about 10 years ago, and it stuck.

Nowadays I get called PTM for short.

Pete

 

[crossref]

The name was first uttered by a drunken colleague whilst in the Slug & Lettuce in Islingtone

not known for being a popular hangout for North Midlands Refs

 

[tim White]

I see Islington has gone 'up-market' by adding an 'e'. At least its a start.

 

[VM75]

why do they call you Pete the Meat? Are you a butcher?

He works as Front of House, at Dyslexia KU.

 

[VM75]

At recent Eng v Aus, noticed that Ben Youngs would slide away from being alongside the feed tunnel & stand c.1.5m away from/alongside his 8 [ie not going around the other side - staying the same side as the feed]

A referee buddy & I had different opinions, he said it's fine - I said he's not permitted to stand there , albeit I do understand how it's easier to get away with it due to it not being easily noticeable for a ref trying to watch c.12 other things simultaneously.

thoughts?



Any thoughts anyone

 

[tim White]

Not sure what advantage he is getting from moving to there, except the option to move either side of the scrum when the ball is moved away by to opposition. 1.5m does not seem like 'moving away from his normal position' unless he is leaving a clear run for his flanker? I'd like to see play come his way and watch the results before I took any action here. No disadvantage to opponents= no action required.

 

[didds]

At recent Eng v Aus, noticed that Ben Youngs would slide away from being alongside the feed tunnel & stand c.1.5m away from/alongside his 8 [ie not going around the other side - staying the same side as the feed]

was that for all Aus scrums or just those with a (England perspective) right hand side blind side? OR other field positions?

didds

 

[VM75]

was that for all Aus scrums or just those with a (England perspective) right hand side blind side? OR other field positions?

didds

Tim White
"Not sure what advantage he is getting from moving to there, except the option to move either side of the scrum when the ball is moved away by to opposition"

Yep, that's exactly the positional option gain he's creating.

Didds,
It looked to me like the drop back [although not to behind the 8's feet] was a deliberate widening of his options to give him a free'er run passed his own 8, if he needed to get to the other side sharpish, whilst retaining 'open' defence options.

I can't find an example in the highlights clips, if ive time i'll trawl the whole match & post

as i said, it's not major - it's just a difficult to spot overstep IMO.