My apologies to Broon. I have read his thread on 'A tackle or not?' but am not sure if the answer to the following appears!
I refereed a match yesterday afternoon between students. Pink (I know!) 13 tackled his opposite number (blue) by grasping the ball. The two players grappled for the ball in the midst of which, blue put one knee on the ground momentarily. Both players had contact with the ball at all times.
I called 'blue release' which he did and the game continued. Afterwards, the blue player came up to me in the bar (I made a point of congratulating him on holding back until we were in the bar) and queried my decision on the basis that the burden is for the tackler to release first.
I stated that once he had gone to ground, his knee, the burden is on him to (1) get to his feet, (2) pass, (3) place the ball in any direction or (4) release the ball. By maintaining contact with the ball, the tackler had effectively prevented the ball carrier from exercising his first three options and therefore the only thing he is able to do is release the ball and his failure to do so resulted in my call and the potential penalty.
Although he was happy with this explanation, the more I think about it, what actually happened is that he exercised option 1 he immediately rose to his feet and the correct action should have been simply play on.
This simply does not appear right and I would appreciate other's thought on this!
NM
I refereed a match yesterday afternoon between students. Pink (I know!) 13 tackled his opposite number (blue) by grasping the ball. The two players grappled for the ball in the midst of which, blue put one knee on the ground momentarily. Both players had contact with the ball at all times.
I called 'blue release' which he did and the game continued. Afterwards, the blue player came up to me in the bar (I made a point of congratulating him on holding back until we were in the bar) and queried my decision on the basis that the burden is for the tackler to release first.
I stated that once he had gone to ground, his knee, the burden is on him to (1) get to his feet, (2) pass, (3) place the ball in any direction or (4) release the ball. By maintaining contact with the ball, the tackler had effectively prevented the ball carrier from exercising his first three options and therefore the only thing he is able to do is release the ball and his failure to do so resulted in my call and the potential penalty.
Although he was happy with this explanation, the more I think about it, what actually happened is that he exercised option 1 he immediately rose to his feet and the correct action should have been simply play on.
This simply does not appear right and I would appreciate other's thought on this!
NM