Whistled, but not in touch.

[OB..]

Dixie; "That bit is trumped by several more specific bits of law"
wasn't aware that certain laws had precedence over others- makes one wish for the good old days when LOTG were written elegantly enough so as not to be contradictatory.

There was never any such time.

Law 8 "The Law of advantage takes precedence over most other laws ..."
We all know that "Let him up" is wrong.
Etc.

If there is an apparent conflict between two bits of law, the more specific takes precedence and the other is interpreted accordingly. In this case the law was deliberately changed to stop the referee giving a 22.

 

[OB..]

An elastic trip wire - seems to defeat the point

It is an essential piece of equipment on an aircraft carrier. It stops the plane safely without jerking it to a halt. I like the analogy.

 

[OB..]

PaulDG - of course you can play advantage, in the normal way. If the defenders gain a suitable advantage, then play on. If they do not, you come back for the scrum, again as usual. The law simply says you cannot award a 22.

We can argue the rationale, but I do not see how we can ignore the law.

 

[SimonSmith]

What OB said.

It's not about advantage or not. It's about the sanction applied for the knock on. I don't see the rationale for a 22m as the law seems pretty specific to me.