All The Time Ref said:
Ball is rolling loose towards the (red) try line red player and blue player dive towards the ball blue wins the ball and slides to score. A second red player dives in and knocks the ball out of blues players hand. Is this a penalty and therefore a penalty Try (foot or so from line) ?
May not be totally clear cut - depends on some very close call issues.
Blue player, dives on ball - has a duty to get to feet immediately. Sliding towards the goal-line doesn't sound like he is complying with that. If he was tackled then he could claim momentum, and most refs would allow the slide, for a pretty short distance, even if not tackled, though I don't think this is actually allowed in strict law, and the law is pretty uncompromising about the duty of a player who falls on the ball - he MUST NOT prevent the ball being playable IMMEDIATELY by other players from EITHER side.
1st Red player sounds like he was in direct competition for ball but got beaten to it - so I don't see a problem there.
If the 2nd Red Player dived on top of the Blue player, then that is illegal. But it may come down to timing, if he was also in competition for the ball but just a spilt second late then probably not a problem. If however he was noticeably late, then illegal.
This timimg also is important if he didn't dive on top of the player, but went for the ball. If you felt he was part of the initial competition for the ballthen I would say play on. If he was a definite late arrival, after the Blue player has clearly won the ball then penalty - the game is to be played by players on their feet.
I think you could get away with almost any decision - depending on how you felt the timings played.
Play on since all was a fair contest; or,
Penalty to Red for Blue not getting to feet, or releasing or passing; or,
Penalty to Blue for Red diving on top - and if that was the decision then I guess the Penalty Try would be inevitable.
Round and round we go, when the music stops......you make an instant decision which somebody will quite justifiably argue with. Tough luck for them - its YOUR call.
