Quote: Slugger McBatt "At first I agreed with you, but then I thought more on it, and now I don't.
If you think about it, if you allow players to play the ball before not properly tackled, it will turn into touch and pass as sides would do it deliberately. The wrestle in the tackle is what gives the defensive line time to get set. If the play the ball is early, they are not set and the likes of Roby would create havoc, making breaks through ragged lines or getting penalties for offside, all for not properly contesting the game. So the rule is just right and Phil Clarke is talking out of his hat.'"
Precisely - it may well be that Mr Huby and indeed Mr Clarke don't agree with that rule, but in the middle of a game is not the time to make a statement; Mr Child could clearly be heard shouting "play on," twice I think, and Huby chose to play the ball instead - a brainfart by a player in a hurry, so no controversy in that decision at all for me, despite the protestations of Clarkey and on last night's SL Show, Millward.
