I've been referreeing 4 of 5 years and I've only penalised this once, fairly early in my refereeing career. Definitely something that can usually be managed away with a word, then a very stern word, then a "you're going to do it again and you know what will happen"!
For me I will never pull that up the first time a kicker does that...and probably not the 2nd...the 3rd then yes. This falls firmly into the ask, tell, penalise.
so is the "penalise" but straight to PK - or options o nscrum or re-kick as per law sanction?
is there a danger of finessing yourself?
Ask him to not steal ground (having allowed play to continue) , then he does it again.
tell him not to steal ground (having allowed play to continue), then he does it again.
If you go straight to PK (deliberate & repeat offending presumably) then youve ignored the normal sanction.
If you go to the options sanction, he has effectively got away with it twice with no more a penalty now than had he been pulled up the first time.
didds
"Penalise" in that context is broadly to mean "apply applicable sanction".
Yes I apply the appropriate warnings with the "ask" and "tell" as you describe.