Quote: Bullseye "The mess that is the play the ball has become the “be all and end all” in the game and at the moment the coaches are winning the arms race against the referees. The result is that games are being dominated by both teams employing cynical tactics. It makes for a poor viewing experience.
Time for referees to be allowed to use their initiative. The same applies to the obstruction rule interpretation. Allow refs to make a call based on what they see and allow a bit of latitude. Get rid of the laws that are too prescriptive.
For me I’d allow a ball carrier to take a step to the side to play the ball if a player is lying in the ruck. If he doesn’t do that and instead plays the ball on top of a defender to try to win a penalty I’d penalise the ball carrier since he would’ve been able to play the ball in most cases.
As for passing the ball into a defender it’s easy to tell if it’s being done on purpose or not. Penalise those milking the penalty. If a defender is in the way deliberately let the ref make a call.
It’s not rocket science.'"
It's not rocket science.
However, a bit of subtlety from either the defender not moving quickly enough (on purpose) or, the attacking player "taking advantage" of the offside defender can change everything.
I think that if the defender has made "every effort" to clear the ruck then, it should be play on but, even this is a judgement call.
However, IF and attacking player, has deliberately "passed" the ball into the "off side" defender and we have seen this done with a forward pass on many occasions, the penalty should go to the defending side.
So often now, we actually see the attacking side step over the defending player who is on the ground, just so that he can play the ball into him to gain a penalty and in general play, even when defenders are not interfering, how many times do we currently see the ball played from the wrong place.