Quick tap, defenders have not retreated 10m.

[rugbyslave]

I have a question ,if a team get a penalty and they take a quick tap legally and they get a new penalty for not retreating before taking part in the game , then they tap quickly again legally as per law book, when does the referee slow this down ,is the refere obliged to slow the penalty or can the team rack up penalty after penalty before you issue a card for repeated infringements. Is there a limit on repeated penalties until a team scores

 

[ianh5979]

Normally a referee will walk at a reasonable pace and the team can only take the new penalty once the referee has made a mark at the site of the new penalty. ( which is where the myth of can't take a quick tap a second time comes from)

 

[Zebra1922]

There is no limit on repeat penalties, although i will quickly hit the point I will escalate to a YC. The penalty should be taken from the mark though, and how quickly (or slowly) you move to make that mark can help manage this. I’m not going to penalise a team who wants to take advantage of defenders not retreating, but I’m not going to spring to make the mark either.

 

[SimonSmith]

I have a question ,if a team get a penalty and they take a quick tap legally and they get a new penalty for not retreating before taking part in the game , then they tap quickly again legally as per law book, when does the referee slow this down ,is the refere obliged to slow the penalty or can the team rack up penalty after penalty before you issue a card for repeated infringements. Is there a limit on repeated penalties until a team scores

Let's break this down into chunks.

I'm only penalizing if a player who is not ten interferes in some way. Simply being not 10 is not going to get me to blow my whistle.
Usually, I will see if there is advantage, and I'll make clear what it's for.

If I do need to blow, I will walk to the new mark, with both hands extended showing the correct secondary. Once I'm within a couple of metres of the new mark, I'll point to it. A balance needs to be struck between good management and not unnecessarily impeding the team wanting to play quickly.

If the sequence repeats again, I'm blowing time and warning the offending skipper that they are now on thin ice. That stops that sequence devolving into ridiculousness. It does mean that if they repeat the offence, cards might be coming out. But given my stipulation in para 2, I'm OK with that.

 

[Ciaran Trainor]

Don't forget as long as the defenders are retiring, if the quick tap guy runs into them trying to milk a penalty that is play on as long as the defenders not 10 make no attempt to tackle.

 

[chbg]

Further not forgetting that an on-side player (back 10m) can run/sprint in front of retreating off-side players to put them back on-side.

 

[Phil E]

The record in our Society is 80m