Quote: Rogues Gallery "He was offside, decision should have been no try but penalty to Saints for the late tackle on the kicker. It'll probably get reviewed in @asktheref on twitter on Tuesday.'"
He wasn't offside. See my explanation above. The 10 metres in those situations is not drawn in a straight-up-and-down-the-pitch way. It's a 10m radius from the player catching the ball. Hard to tell exactly from the TV (which is why the video refs couldn't disallow it - they'd have had to be certain), but while Turner was less than 10m away on the Y-axis of the pitch, he was also some distance away o the X-axis. Apply a bit of maths, and he's further than 10m away from the player - hence not interfering.
The formal rule is here. I've highlighted the relevant bits. The italics are mine, as sometimes the rulebook isn't entirely clear, but this is standard refereeing stuff.
Quote: Rogues Gallery "When off side 1. A player is off side except when he is in his own ingoal if the ball touches, is touched, held or kicked, by one of his own team behind him.
Out of Play 2. An off side player shall not take any part in the game or attempt in any way to influence the course of the game. He shall not encroach within ten metres of an opponent who is waiting for the ball [i[in any direction] [/i and shall immediately retire ten metres from any opponent who first secures possession of the ball.
Placed onside 3. An off side player is placed onside ifan opponent moves ten metres or more with the ball. [[iin any direction[/i]
(b) an opponent touches the ball without retaining it.
(c) one of his own team in possession of the ball runs in front of him.
(d) one of his own team kicks or knocks the ball forward and takes up a position in front of him in the field of play.
(e) he retires behind the point where the ball was last touched by one of his own team.
NOTES
Catcher claiming off side 1. A player who catches the ball near an off side opponent must not go out of his way to make interference in play by the offside player unavoidable. He should proceed with normal play and rely on the Referee to penalise the off side player if the latter interferes with play. If the catcher deliberately and unnecessarily runs into the off side player then play should proceed.
Accidental off side Where the Referee is satisfied that interference with play by
an off side player is accidental he should order a scrum.
Interfering with Catcher 2. Any off side player who remains within ten metres of an opponent [i[in any direction][/i who is set to catch a kick up field by an opposing player shall be deemed to be interfering with or attempting to interfere with the catcher and shall be penalised unless the non-offending team gains an immediate advantage.
'"
Essentially, Turner isn't deemed to be offside [iand interfering [/ias long as a line drawn between him and the Wakey catcher is longer than 10m. The fact that he was in front of the kicker is irrelevant as long as he does not encroach within 10 metres of the man. The ten metres does not apply to a simple Y-axis of the field, but to the actual distance from man to man.
Hope that helps clarify things.
