So it was the wrong call? I'm always confused by the inside/outside ruling on rucks on the 22m line. Which part of the ruck has to be behind the 22m line?
Not the ruck/tackle/maul. Its the ball. If the ball or any part of the ball carrier is touching the 22m then the ball is in the 22m area. Just think of it as being consistent with the touchline; if the ball touches the touchline or any part of the ball carrier's body touches the touchline, the the ball is out. The only difference with the 22m area is that you have to take into account where the ball or ball carrier was beforehand.
► Ball carrier outside of 22m touches the 22m line with his foot and then kicks out = no gain in ground
► Ball carrier inside 22m or on the 22m line and then kicks out = gain in ground
Carter was tackled and his back went onto the 22m line, but since he was inside the 22m before he was tackled, and never outside it, it was not carried back.
The only other possible error I spotted was with regard to the Quade Cooper's forward throw in. The officials put the scrum down 20m closer the the Crusaders' line than where the forward throw was, on the basis perhaps that this is where the ball crossed the touchline, and so it was the line of touch. However, this is wrong.
[TEXTAREA]Law 19.2 (e)
At a quick throw-in, if the player throws the ball in the direction of the opposition's goal line or if the ball does not travel at least 5 metres to the 5-metre line along or behind the line of touch before it touches the ground or a player, or if the player steps into the field of play when the ball is thrown,
then the quick throw-in is disallowed. The opposing team chooses to throw in at either a lineout where the quick throw-in was attempted, or a scrum on the 15-metre line at that place. If they too throw in the ball incorrectly at the lineout, a scrum is formed on the 15-metre line. The team that first threw in the ball throws in the ball at the scrum.[/TEXTAREA]
Crusaders should have been given an option of a line-out or a scrum 15m in at the place where Cooper threw the ball in incorrectly.
Yeah, I thought the referees were good.
Only thing I can think of, bar the above "carried back" incident, was in the build up to Crusaders first try:
At the ruck before the held up ball Carter dove straight off his feet (to my eyes anyway) - can forgive the ref that as it was a right mess of players trying to get in. Also thought that the ball was lost forward rather than held up, however that was a 50/50 call so not too bad there.
I agree. Judgement calls are in the purview of the referee and they are his to make. Materiality often comes into that too. Referees don't penalise every infringement; if they did, we wouldn't have a game.
I don't really have a problem with the carried back one, because again, that is the judgement of the official, however, I do have a problem with the scrum being set in the wrong place for the Cooper incorrect throw-in, because that is a Law error, and I don't like seeing referees at this level making Law errors.
