Here's a question, watching the Widnes - Wakefield game. I didn't think Kevin Browns try should of been allowed as Ah Van threw the ball backwards, but as it was thrown Phelps was in front of him, he then ran back & offloaded it.

My question is should phelps not be given offside?

The challenge is still catching it, not how we punish it.

FWIW, I think forwards passes happen in only a fraction of the quantity most fans believe. The punishment of loss of possession via a scrum is sufficient.

I'd be happier if they could be caught more often and leave it as a scrum, but considering all the evidence points that it's too difficult to catch, increasing the punishment in some way is the only other option to use as a deterent.

Yes lots of fans shout forward when it's not, I agree with you there, which adds more weight to it being hard to spot as mentioned above.

However, when they are missed, at crucial times it can lead directly to a try.

The combination of the difficulty in judging it and the direct impact it can have on the scoreline means that this basic rule of our game often leads to the most arguments come the final whistle, especially when players/coaches/officials admit they missed it after the event.

But that brings me right back to my main point about why the hell can't the VR have a look at forward passes. HOW DO THEY KNOW these passes were forward? Because if the proposition that "you can't tell from a video" is true, then the only reply the refs could give is "well, we can't tell if it was forward or not because video evidence doesn't help a ref decide".

If video evidence can't be and shouldn't be used for the stated reasons, then how do we account for these admissions?

(The answer is, of course, that I'm right, and in many cases it is perfectly clear from the video whether or not a pass was forward).

Any update on the proposed trail of the GPS chip in the ball that was happening down in Oz? This was supposed to be able to distinguish if the ball was released backwards and would alert the video ref/4th official who would then alert the ref.

Deliberate forward pass was generally identified by the ball being released to a player already in front of the passer. This is basically covered by the offside rule as well and the offence is generally given for that. I have seen these given.

Deliberate knock on is hardly ever seen now as the identifying indicator was the hand position of the defender. If your hand is facing down you have no intention of catching the ball....result, players go for the ball with their hand up/sideways on so therefore no indication of it being deliberate.