RFU Survey

This blog has previously mentioned the proactive involvement of the RFU in establishing attitudes to the ELVs. Whilst I think they came to this late in the game, they, together with the WRU have successfully thwarted the Northern Hemisphere implementation of the Sanction ELV (free kicks for penalties).
Anyway, now we have all had a couple of months with the ELVs they are looking for our opinion once again. RFU Survey. I urge you all to go and have your say.
I thought I would share my answers. We should remember that the tougher stance on sealing off at rucks is not ELVs and no one is asking your view on that.
ELV 1 - Assistant Referee - Assistant Referees to provide additional information to the referee to assist in decision making.
Strongly agree – this formalising what has been done for number years. It is interesting to see the TMO being used to widen his contribution to adjudicate on tries and foul play
ELV 2 – Maul -Remove reference in Law to head and shoulders not to be lower than hips.
Disagree – I take the view that the maul should be held up, body positioning need to support this. Additionally, players going in and down are putting their neck at risk. I don’t see how this sits with the bridging (a bad thing apparently) directive at mauls.
ELV 3 – Maul - A defending team may pull the Maul to the ground.
Strongly disagree – It’s tough to tell if it’s a pull down or a collapse. It removes a skilful, team-work element to the game. Eight blokes onto one sternum is going to hurt and eventually cripple someone. Mr Murdoch and Mr O’Neil don’t think it puts bums on seats but try telling that to The Shed or Welford Rd. If it’s dangerous for U19 then it’s dangerous for all
ELV 4 - Lineout and Throw When a defending player receives the ball outside the 22 metre line and passes, puts or takes the ball back inside the 22 by any means, there no gain in ground
Agree – it’s proved a bit tricky to police with TJs, but it puts more pressure on the defending side and maintains some advantage for the attacking side. That aside, the aerial ping-pong seen in top matches is dull and I hope coaches come up with a more imaginative tactic.
ELV 5 - Lineout and Throw- A quick throw may be thrown in straight or towards the throwing team’s own goal line
Strongly agree- OK, so it speeds up the game and level 12 often needs a few breaks, but it has triggered some great counter-attacking runs. Anything that reduces the number of lines Wales need to complete the better
ELV 6 - Lineout and Throw There is no restriction in the number of players who can participate in the lineout from either side (minimum of 2).
Agree – Perversely, this has decreased the space for the fly-half as the Kiwis have used the additional numbers to launch defence from the lineout, rather than mid-field. From a ref perspective, its one less thing to watch for.
ELV 7 - Lineout and Throw The receiver in a lineout must stand 2 metres back from the lineout.
Does not effect the games



ELV 8 - Lineout and Throw The team not throwing into the lineout MUST have a player in the 5 metre channel who must be 2 metres away from the front of the lineout. This player cannot join the lineout until the ball has left the hands of the player throwing in.
Agree/disagree- I’ve picked this one up once. If the defending team want to leave this channel open its upto them
ELV 9 - Lineout and Throw Lineout players may pre-grip a jumper before the ball is thrown in.
Agree – This has been ignored for years
ELV 10 - Lineout and Throw- The lifting of lineout players is permitted
Agree - ditto
ELV 11 – Scrum - The offside line for a player who is not in the scrum and is not one of the scrum halves is 5 metres behind the hindmost foot of the scrum
Agree – The additional space seems to be used effectively for most teams, but policing it is very difficult without a touch line team. If there is too much nonsense with the front rows then I don’t spend much time watching the back-line. Still, I have picked it up a couple of times.
ELV 12 – Scrum - The defending scrum half must stand next to his opponent when the ball is put into the scrum. Once the ball is in the scrum the scrum halves may then either (1) follow the ball ensuring that they remain behind the ball (2) retreat behind the hindmost foot of their players in the scrum or (3) retreat behind their side's 5 metre offside line, but if they do so they may not come forward again until the scrum is over.
Not affected – Generally, this has needlessly complicated the pre-match team talk
ELV 13 - Posts and Flags around the Field The corner posts, and posts at corner of touch , in goal and dead ball line, are no longer considered to be in touch in goal except when a ball is grounded against the post.
Strongly Agree- At my level, with no TMO, it’s made life much easier.

Laid Up

Apologies for the light blogging but I'm injured at present. A torn cartilage in my ankle. In the mean time I shall be watching Wales take on the All Blacks with this image in my mind.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking...?

A few days ago I commented on Green and Gold (very one-eyed) Aussie blog

Green and Gold Rugby-Referees for Wallabies Euro Tour

I think Paul Ackford must have read what I said.

I see the Aussies are blaming the ref again for their poor showing against Italy.. and what is it they call us, whinging poms?

O'Neil at it again

If anyone can slap down the motor mouth O'Neil it is the Dude!
australian & new zealand whine
It was much better when they only came very couple of years anyway.

The Whistler

Another sunny afternoon, but thankfully chillier than late. I am going to grant anonymity to this week’ teams to protect the guilty, in what was a frustrating game to referee. I’ve had some challenging level 11 games in recent weeks, were the speed and skill of players required quick thinking and good control; players were generally positive.
On Saturday it was a level 14 friendly and the drop in skill was marked but the disappointing aspect was the negative play. The home side, Red, were the better drilled team with the higher fitness, I had reffed them last season and clearly remembered a couple of bad tempered characters, though the captain was a calm and reasonable fellow. As with the opposition, they combined a mix of youth and old timers.
The visitors soon looked to be out gunned up front but scored an excellent first try though a fantastic angled run from the fly-half. The penalties soon started coming thick and fast at the tackle area. Both sides seemed unable to stay on their feet or roll away from the tackle. Red responded with some ill-disciplined foot work which resulted in the warnings of cards being issued. A mouthy critique of my performance from Red’s second row saw the team marched back 10m at least twice.
The visitor’s defence held up well, but they failed to roll away from the tackle and this frustrated me and the opposition. It’s a hard line to decide whether it was cynical or old-age, I suspect a mix of both. The frequency of the offences gives me a couple of options; a) whistle on very occasion (and destroy the game),
b) stretch the bounds of what is a material offence (and stretch the patience of the opposition) or
c) yellow card people and hope that gets the message across.
In this case I went for mixture of a) and b), the third option is not what 3rd team rugby is about when the fitness and skill levels are challenged and none of the offences where in the red zone. What ever I did, I was on to a loser but you can only give players the game they want to play. Red were still managing to lead comfortably but the level of chat was still too high despite shorter tolerance that previous matches.
The second half saw the visitors tire and the cheating become more blatant, the Red chat became more pronounced. I needed to make and example and the new hooker’s call of “not straight ref” saw me penalise Red there and then. Soon after, more foot work on the tackler on the floor saw a Red player spend 10 mins on the touch line. The visitors’ no8 started to be more obviously offside, at one point he managed to pick up opposition ball from a scrum. As he also used his position of pack leader to discuss referee discussion too vocally, I think, in retrospect, he too should have cooled off for ten minutes. The missing Red player seemed to galvanise his team mates and they put the game beyond doubt with two well taken tries.
As there was no separate referee dressing room I wasn’t looking forward to showering with the home side, but the good humour returned quickly. Not an epic display from me; plus points, the short tempers in Red were kept under control, negative points I failed to encourage a positive attitude to play from the visitors and deal with their cheating on the floor.
An now, a couple weeks off for family affairs.

STUART MANGAN APPEAL

Tonight I am off to a benefit dinner for Stuart Mangan. It is a tragic story, on 5th April 2008 Stuart, who was 24 at the time, broke his neck, whilst playing rugby for Hammersmith & Fulham RFC’s Second XV in an end of season friendly against Hampstead in Fulham, London. Stuart was playing fly half and the injury, which is extremely rare, occurred in open play. He is now teraplegic.

The greatest aspect of rugby is the brotherhood that battle on a muddy field brings. His team mates have rallied around and are raising funds to support his long term care. Tomorrow they are encouraging teams across the country to “give 2 for Stu”; £2 from every one playing rugby would raise an enormous amount. If you are playing tomorrow encourage your mates to take part. You can find more details here.
Stuart Mangan Appeal

Google Search Words

Two questions.
Which two people found this site with the search words "Referee Porn"?
What else did they find?
It takes all sorts, I guess