remember the days when a player could tap the ball and go again after a tackle if the marker was not in place.i recall bob jackson and bateman scoring a few from this rule.the question is was the ptb quicker then or was it due to lazy markers?and when did the rule change?was it the start of sl

the ptb is a complete farce atm, markers not standing square, attackers moving off the mark, it's a mockery of a sham i tell ya!!

isnt it just! the diveing. trapping of arms with the ball resulting in a penalty that never was.

Its the yards players steal at PTB that annoys me. You watch they always gain at least a yard or so from where they are tackled to where they PTB, and in a game where inches matter this should be penalised more.

late 80s/early 90s would be my guess, youngy. If you watch the 1985 CC final - Wigan v Hull - you'll see a lot of players standing up and rolling the ball back to themselves, picking it up and going again.

Rob Burrow is the master at this.

Although, check out where Lee Briers is given the mark for a kick to touch penalty and where he actually ends up kicking from - I think he starts his run up from the mark !! (irrelevant when Monaghan kicks by the way, we would be better off taking a tap !)

Watch where Lee Briers connects with the ball on a goal line drop out, too.

Dont forget after conceding a try, the players stand 5m in field from the try line.

We don't have them we just do 20m one's

One thing that refs need to clamp down on is the actual play of the ball, players a lot of the time are simulating touching the ball with their foot but you can clearly see that they are just rolling it between their feet with no actual foot contact.

Talking of rules, one thing that needs to change is this silly rule where you can ground the ball with the torso of your chest or your upper arm, it should be just hand contact to ground the ball and nothing else which would make a lot of ref and video ref decisions a lot easier.

I think we should go back to the rule as well where the onus is on the ball carrier to protect the ball at all times, ball stealing used to be an art form, remember Clinch the pinch ? Its a skill we should bring back where its irrelevant how many defenders are in the tackle, the ball carrier has become too protected.

And then their is Thierry Alibert who has his own version of the rule book

Remember this well, completely forgotten about it until i watched a DVD last year going to Harlequins, Wire V Widnes match from years ago when somebody made a 60 meters break, got up and touched the ball forward and played on.

Those were the days.