Quote: andymacca "....with that in mind, surely the RFL should experiment with allowing the VR to judge on whether a pass is forward or not. You can still use the Benefit of the doubt rule if its not clear, but in cases such as the Salford cup game and last night, a quick look at the video would have clearly proved the refereeing decisions to be incorrect. Thoughts?'"
What makes it more difficult is that the pass is not judged against the ground but against the momentum of the payer passing the ball. You must be able to calculate where the player who passed the ball would be standing if he carried on running at the same speed as when he passed it, at the moment the receiver catches it. If he would be in front of the receiver then it is not forward. This is the "momentum rule" that Stevo often talks about. This is the case with Hall's pass on Saturday - Hall was in front of Raynor when he caught it even though Hall was being tackled at the time. Unfortunately, and I suspect controversially, I believe the same applies to the Salford try. If you view it again you will see that the player receiving the pass would have been behind the passer. The fact that the ball moved two to three yards forward in relation to the ground is irrelevant. Now tell me that a video ref could rule on that without some sort of "Hawk-eye" type technology.