Thaler let a couple go last night, one which Saints scored from.

Refs these days seem to say to the attacking team 'wait until im in the defensive line before I signal for you to go'. Walsmsley appeared to tap and go before Thaler had blown his whistle never mind made his way to the defence.

Be interesting to see what is said or comes from it. It certainly wasn't consistent with what we've seen from other refs.

The protocols are pretty clear. It's not inconsistent, there is no conspiracy, it's just that every circumstance is different and, as ever, the fans don't know the rules.

I'll admit I haven't got a clue on the rule. Can anyone clear up please what the conditions are for taking a quick tap penalty?
I fully understand a quick tap at a 20m restart but not a penalty. Regularly see players trying to take them and always get pulled back but I just don't understand why (again, I'm genuinely not sure on the rule).

It's a controlled restart. Ie when the ref is ready. The camera wasn't showing the action when one of them happened so I don't know whether it was controlled or not. Can't remember the Walmsley one, if anyone knows when it happened I'll have a look.

Thaler was in the process of blowing the whistle and making the mark, so that was fine.

However, walmsley tapped the ball literally as he out whistle to mouth. However i/we will have all seen refs stop players in this scenario and tell them to wait.

I'm guessing that's the op's query and I thought this last night myself.

That being said cas did switch off badly

Fair enough, maybe an error or him feeling he could get the whistle in close enough after the tap that he could get away with it. I do think getting rid of quick taps at penalties was a good move, too often you would see a player get caught off guard, wrong-footed, reach out and give up a second penalty for a high tackle. That's when you get players running in, atmosphere getting tetchy, ref under pressure to bin someone. Better to take a second to take some heat out of the game after a penalty. I think these days players would find their own ways to slow down quick tap as well, by running in pushing or going down 'injured'.

All credit to Walsmlsy quick thinking, but why has the interpretation of a tap changed? If you go back quiet a few years the ball had to be played along the ground (all be a millimetre or so) then picked up this also applied to tap restarts. My point being is that there was a risk involved especially on a wet muddy pitch. Now the game is so fast defences struggle to get set without attackers allowed to take shortcuts.

to be fair, cas probably switched off cos 'quick taps' dont happen, like every other stoppage in teh game now, there's a load milling around and shuffling of feet, rather than just getting on with it.

Would you bring that back? It's from before my time but I don't see what it would add apart from the odd embarrassing knock on when the ball slips out of the attacker's hands.

I have no issue with either quick tap last night. The issue I have is why refs have stopped them in recent times. As long as the ref has blown the whistle, all players are behind the ball and it’s tapped correctly then you should be free to play. It’s the defences fault if they switch off and turn their back. We should be encouraging play like that - it’s a part of the game that used to be common place. The only thing I would say is that, in response to Grimmy above, the ball should be tapped correctly - the ball must leave the hand, tapped with the foot and regathered. I also think the play the ball should be enforced to actually play the ball with the foot, as it used to be, rather than ‘attempt to’, but that’s a different conversation.

It used to be the rule in both codes & yes I would bring it back, my reason is the game has got so fast & the options to compete for the ball are few & far between. There has (in my opinion) to be a better balance between risk & reward. If you have the skill to tap & regather without fumbling the ball good. It is also why I don’t like the policing of the ruck the slightest hint of impropriety from the defence it’s six again but maybe once a season the attack will be penalised for not playing the ball correctly.
I spend time watching a lot of the old games from the 1970s onwards on line & I don’t find that the speed we see to day has made the game anymore exciting the only thing that has improved is fitness & conditioning, & maybe the expectations of the younger supporters.

I think Technically Walmsley's try was fine as the ref blew the whistle, he tapped it and scored.

The issue is that since quick taps were removed, generally the referee does not blow the whistle until the defensive line is set or until he has taken the defensive team back 10m. I felt Thaler saw Walmsley rushing to take a quick tap, panicked and blew his whistle rather than say wait until I am ready. Guess we just want consistency in relation to what point the ref can blow his whistle to allow the tap.

I used to enjoy the quick tap as it was a genuine reward for the attacking team and could change the flow of the game. It was up to the defensive team to be alert when conceding a penalty and not turn their backs trying to get into line in case someone took a quick tap.

I guess the problem is now - does a quick tap then become a much more effective attacking opportunity than a set restart - if the former can taken advantage of a broken defensive line, whilst the latter can't (usually) ? In which case should the set restart go, and quick taps be universally allowed instead ?

I know it would complicate things but things like holding down or anything to slow the play the ball should be a set restart anything like a flop or ballsteal penalty with a quick tap option.

I thought it was strange to see such a quick tap was walmsley not asking Thaler cam I tap it and he nodded ?

I don't know whether that used to be a rule, but it certainly hasn't been for at least the last two decades. I don't see what it would add to the game if it were bought back either, other than the odd embarrassing knock on as mentioned earlier.