But this is not what happened on Monday.

It wasn't a 40/20 kick.
Whiting caught the ball as he was stood on the white line hence the moment he touches the ball it becomes touch. He didn't make it touch. Head and feed should have gone to Hull.

Had he caught the ball a split second before touching the white line then its head and feed to Saints.

That's not what it says in the rulebook though. It states that the scenario you just mentioned is only applicable when the bull sails out on the full, without bouncing.

That's the official rule from the official rulebook, I do have to say before reading it I would of agreed with you, however the opinion I had and that you currently have is unfortunately wrong.

I dont know which rule you're looking at but can assure you the decision on Monday was wrong.

Surely if its caught on the full without bouncing then thats ballback anyway.

I would of agreed with you originally mate, but have a look at the rules regarding a player making contact with the ball in touch.

Yeah, it is ball back on the full, but that's the only time a player can handle it in touch without it going to the opposition. The ball must bounce in touch first.

If the defender catches the ball in touch after jumping from inside the field then he is deemed to have made it touch.

If the defender catches the ball in touch after jumping or standing outside of the field (on the whit line if you like) then it is deemed to be already in touch. This is what happened on Monday.

Yeah I know, but the rulebook is what I said before.

Need to go to bed now mate but try to link the bit out of the rule book and I'll take a look tomorrow.

I'll see if I can find it again , it wasn't easy.

I can't see anything in the Laws that makes any distinction regarding it going out on the full.



As soon as Whiting touched the ball it was in touch. As Saints had kicked the ball into touch they should have been regarded as the "offending" team, hence Hull's head and feed

Exactly. In the scenario we saw, the ball hitting Whiting, who is stood in touch, is no different than the ball hitting the corner flag.

Just watching the Huddersfield Saints game from the weekend and noticed that 2:08 into the game the ball is kicked by Danny Brough into Saints' in-goal area. It bounces in the in-goal area and is caught from this bounce by Gardener who has a foot in touch-in-goal. A 20m restart is awarded to Saints.

Yes he would. Bentham is from Leigh, not Warrington.

From the kick off, if a receiving player is straddling the dead ball line when he takes the ball, if the ball has bounced, a goal line drop out should be awarded as the ball has gone out of play. If the ball has not bounced when he catches it, it is a penalty on half way as the catching player did not take it dead, it is already dead if/when he catches it.

From a kick in general play, whether the ball bounces or not, if a player catches the ball straddling the dead ball line, it is a 20 metre restart as the ball is deemed already dead because he caught it when outside the field of play.

With regards to the Whiting incident, as the kick was in general play and he jumped from out of play, the ball is already dead when he touched it, whether he touched the ball inside the playing area or not. It is about where he jumped from, not where he touched it. If he touched it having come from out of play, play goes on as if he didnt touch it and it just went out of play.

Before anyone questions me, I have passed the RFL match official course and that is my interpretation of the rules.