Anyone else seeing this as a major problem at the moment?

There is no consistantcy in the decision, and it seems coaches are coaching their players to squeeze the oppositions arms to get them to drop the ball. Is a punched ball in a tackle a loose carry?

And another thing, when a player is tackled and drops the ball backwards, the ref gives a knock on and scrum down, surely this should be an incorrect play the ball and penalty?

Yes very grey area, think its a bit of a lottery which decision the ref goes with, as half the time he may be unsighted and don't know if the half witted linesmen help him come to the right one. Like u said a lot of the time the ball clearly goes backwards but he gives a knock 90% of the time, saw one in tonites game clearly backwards, very frustrating.

How about that forward pass from Riddell So blatant.

The knock on or ball steal thing is becoming a major source of frustration amongst both players and supporters.

Reference forward passes in last nights televised game, Wigan must have thrown at least 3 or 4 blatent ones missed by the officials.

The whole things need tidying up, its all been brought on by the "wrestling tackle" wheres the defense slows the game right down. You can get 4 pairs of hands around the rugby ball and the ref has to make a decision whose hands dropped the ball or reaped it out. This is very difficult I would suggest quicker play the balls to eliminate some of the grey area.

The forward passes, I would think half the time the officials don,t see them because of other players being in the way of the line of sight, its the spectators that probably have the better viewpoint from the stands even if we are 50metres away.

I,m sure the touch judges need to do more especially on the referees blind side, but Mr Cummings will always come up with some negative response.

It also seems like anytime the ball hits the floor the referee gives a knock on, even when the ball goes back.

I would say in some situations id call a 'ball steal' others not so

simple soloution stringent reworking of the stripping ball in the tackle. if more than one person is in the tackle and the ball is lost pen attacker. simples. this will lead to a reduction in the wrestle tackle and therefore a quicker play the ball.

Erm, so what's to stop the attacker throwing the ball away (or, more likely, losing grip on the ball) as soon as a second man comes in?

nothing. throwing the ball away would be silly cos its a deliberate knock on. however something needs to be done asap. the crusaders game on sat one of the guys was face down on the deck. the ball carrying arm was pulled behind his back so the ball was bascially on the back of his ribs. he still had controll and as the tackler got up he hit the ball with his knee which was forced torwards the tackled players head. there is no way you can retain control in that situation ast the joints of the arm are below the ball.

results knock on given. that is not a knock on. with regards to what i said it would put the advantage back on the ball carrier atm the advantage is firmly on the defending team

if he cant keep hold of it, its a loose carry. if it goes ofrward, its a knock-on.

If a player cant control possession he doesn't deserve it, hence a knock-one and t'other side getting possession. I saw the bit you were talking about - he never had full control of it in the first place, if he did a loose knee wouldn't have dislodged it. The call was the right one IMHO.


It's difficult to call either way and there will never be a failsafe rule, a magic law which is introduced to remove this from the game. We just have to get on and hope the refs get it right most of the time.

As long as we have players who are ready to risk a penalty and attempt to reef the ball out, we'll have this problem. As long as we have players who lose possession (not saying deliberately, their only human after all!), we'll have this problem.

he didn't have full control? could that be anything to do with 2 guys pulling the ball carrying arm behind his back? if a player is able to fully control the ball with 2 guys trying to pull it behind his back he may in your oppinion deserve the possession but in my mind he needs a drugs test. 2 guys in a leveraged position will always force a single players arm around if they try. its lose the ball or break or arm/shoulder what would you chose