[Junior] U13 girls advantage

[CliveG]

Hi all.

Ive been asked to ref at an U13 girls tournament this weekend. To my horror I've discovered the laws are quite different to senior rugby.

So I've been swotting up over the last few days and I think I have understood most of the changes - however - there is one statement right at the end of the document I have been reading "Appendix 10 (Under 13s Rules of play - girls only)" which has me perplexed. The last section , section 14 infringements, item g

g) Pushing at the scrum

Note to referee: No advantage shall be played:

A player is assumed to have fallen voluntarily unless the referee is
absolutely certain the fall was accidental.

In the very rare instances when the fall is accidental, play must be
stopped and a scrum awarded to the team previously in possession.
The object is to keep players on their feet and to prevent them from
falling to the ground, thus removing a dangerous area of play. This
will create proper rucks and mauls through encouraging players to
remain on their feet.
​

Everything from Note to referee is in italics - my question is, does this this note refer to just item g - so no advantage to be played if one side pushes at the scrum or is it a general comment on the whole appendix ? The comments below "no advantage shall be played" don't seem to refer specifically to the scrum and indeed they specifically reference players staying on their feet at rucks and mauls, so that leads me to think this is a general note for the whole doc not just item g. But no advantage to be played in a game of rugby just seems wrong.

However Section 1 (General) item b says

b ) Only infringements that affect the oppositions play should be sanctioned. If there is no effect, advantage should be played wherever it is safe to do so.

​

Can anyone out there who has reffed girls u13, throw some light on this fairly major discrepancy ?

 

[L'irlandais]

Hi Clive,
Belated welcome to the forum. I reff’d mini/midi/maxi here in France for 5 years, from 2006.
Here the referee’s role is very much educative.

Looking at the boys version.
RFU REGULATION 15 – AGE GRADE RUGBY Appendix 7 Under 13s
Effective from 1 August 2017

[LAWS]14. Infringements:
...
f) Foul play.
Note to referee: No advantage shall be played:
A player is assumed to have fallen voluntarily unless the referee is absolutely certain the fall was accidental.
In the very rare instances when the fall is accidental, play must be stopped and a scrum awarded to the team previously in possession.
The object is to keep players on their feet and to prevent them from falling to the ground, thus removing a dangerous area of play. This 1 will create proper rucks and mauls through encouraging players from each team to remain on their feet.

15. If a player is temporarily suspended in an Age Grade match, the duration of time in the Sin Bin shall be 5 minutes.[/LAWS]
Your section seems to have been lifted directly from here. Only the sub-heading has changed. Is it possible somebody made a cut ‘n paste error? In this instance it is clearly not a general note, but specific to whole Infringement sub-heading, not just the foul play.

For your game, in the case of foul play whistle immediately. This is both for player safety and to make the infringing player aware of his/her error. (I guess it also draws his/her teammates attention to who gave away the FK; in the hope Peer pressure will keep some players honest.) Otherwise it is fine to play advantage, positively encouraged to keep play flowing, where possible. But even better is to look to blow the whistle as little as possible. What others on here call materiality, U13 through lack of skill players infringe constantly, as the match referee you need to filter out what is not material. Obviously in the case of a scrum collapse you need to blow straight away.

I realise this doesn’t answer your question about pushing in the scrum.

 

[Flish]

Both of these are straight from the NROP for all minis ages, U13 boys and girls. The latter one you quoted (first in the doc) is the most important, it basically empowers you and encourages you to play on unless material (much to the confusion of the touch line experts!).

The going to ground one is worded confusingly, but I think is an emphasis on staying on feet and being safe and stopping the game if there’s a pile on. Certainly that’s how I use it