4 attempts at a drop goal.....

first 3 easily charged down. Brough's position was poor in all. On the 4th he went for height to avoid the chargers, but put it too high.....and wide....it seems.

Oh well, Huddersfield and knock out rugby don't go. The inevitable occurred.

Walsh in tight space and pressure was deadly accurate.

Except that most St.Helens folk think Mr.Ganson should change his name to Wayne Kerr

The rules I posted are for the 2013 season admittedly (2014 are released for public viewing until seasons end I believe)

Has a drop goal ever been scored after hitting an opponent?

Yes, I think so and well before last season also.

Can't bring any specific instances to mind here but what was once enough to rule out the extra point I understood to have been removed in a similar way to making contact with the corner flag is now irrelevant for try-scoring - which was probably just as well for an Ade Gardner touchdown for Hull KR at the weekend given it was laid horizontal reaching into the field of play at the time.

the rules on the RFL website state
[i
Drop Goal 7. A drop goal is scored by a drop kick during play from any position in the field of play and counts one point. A drop goal shall be awarded notwithstanding that the ball touches or has been touched in flight by an opposing player.[/i

BTW, it also states that your ball needing to cross the whole of the crossbar red herring doesn’t even apply to drop goals. It applies to
[i(a) by a place kick after a try has been scored and counts two points
(b) by a place kick or a drop kick when a penalty kick has been awarded and counts two points.[/i
The drop goal kick is dealt with in the specific way I suggested
[iBall blown back 6. If, after passing completely over the cross-bar the ball is
blown back, a goal is still allowed.[/i

The drop goal is specifically not dealt with in that way. The "6" in "Ball blown back 6" (from the notes on section 6 - scoring) refers to your partial quote which in full is

"Goal – 6. A goal is scored if the whole of the ball at any time how scored during its flight passes on the full over the opponents’ cross bar towards the dead ball line after being kicked by a player (and not touching or being touched in flight by any other player) in any of these
circumstanceswhole of the ball at any time during its flight passes on the full over the opponents’ cross bar towards the dead ball line after being kicked by a player."

I must admit I have always thought that a goal of any colour passing literally over the top of a post was a goal. Now, not so sure...

Yes, in the rule that Smokey quoted later.

Has the ball ever been touched during a penalty kick or conversion in League? I vaguely remember a few occasions in the other code some of the lanky lads being lifted line out style in front of the posts to try and touch the ball.

At a conversion the players should remain outside the field of play while the kick is being taken so probably not possible in League.

I think I possibly wasnt clear in my use of specifically, which was referring specifically to what i said, not specifically to the drop goal.

Magic Superbeetle said that this [iGoal – 6. A goal is scored if the whole of the ball at any time how scored during its flight passes on the full over the opponents’ cross bar towards the dead ball line after being kicked by a player [/i meant that a ball over the post couldnt count as the whole ball wouldnt have gone over the cross bar.

I said this wasnt the case, that this rule was a provision for a ball for whatever reason crossing the crossbar before coming back out. This is specifically confirmed with [iBall blown back 6. If, after passing completely over the cross-bar the ball is blown back, a goal is still allowed[/i

I think the international law phrasing is saying the same thing in a different way, phrasing it as one law rather than one law and a clarification, and it isnt a provision for the ball going over the post but for a ball being blown back out. Otherwise it would make mention of the posts rather than simply assume that the crossbar ends where the post begins, because there is also no clarification that this is the case.

i was wondering how that provision came about, in league a player should be behind the tryline for the conversion, and isnt allowed to make a play for the ball whilst it is in flight so i have no idea how a ball could realistically touch an opponent and go over without a rule already having been broken.

Just what I was thinking. We could get into the realms of the ridiculous by imagining some sort of human pyramid completely behind the posts with a player trying to bat the ball back over the crossbar, providing that the whole of the ball hadn't crossed. I'd actually give the non-kicking team a point if they could do that!!!

It would be legal to touch a penalty attempt though. Difficult but legal.

Union has different rules, and you can charge a conversion down (there was a funny incient when an Aussie kicker took so long in a match against the Barbarians that the Barbarians scrum half - Irish fella, forget his name - strolled up and picked the ball up). Seems fairly impossible in League.

Right, now I get what you mean. I still attach relevance to the wording that specifies that the whole of the ball must cross the crossbar, irrespective of what consequently happens to it.



I saw your crossbar conundrum earlier. Look at the diagram on this page rlhttps://www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/rules/official_laws/1_playing_fieldrl . The crossbar on the bottom set of posts is 5.50 m wide measured from the inside of each post thus no part of a post is crossbar. If any part of the ball passes over a post, the whole of the ball has not passed over the crossbar.

I read another explanation which may resolve the confusion about the posts; when the rules mention the ball going "over the posts" they actually mean that the ball is just higher than the height of the posts, not that it has passed through an imaginary extension of the posts.


Having just read through that, I need a drink.

Indeed. It surprises me that the fastest players can actually cover the distance from try line to ball quickly enough to almost effect a charge down. It looks like miles to me!!!



It certainly should be, if the rules are enforced. I'd like to see players show a little respect to the kicker by standing still and not lumbering back towards the half way line before the kick has been taken. It doesn't help that the rules are written so poorly - "When a kick at goal is being taken following a try, the opposing players shall stand outside the field of play." Is the kick "being taken" when the kicker begins his run up, when he strikes the ball or when the result of the kick is determined?

'Nother drink needed...

Just to ratchet up the pedant-o-thon a few tweeks.if the ball miraculously hit post and somehow bounced and sat like a herring gull on the crossbar if an attacking player wobbled a post to help it drop over would this be adjudicated interfering with the ball ?