Referees brace for the ELVs

Move over Rassie, Naka, Frans, Dick and Eugene. Your job might be tough but the real pressure in this year’s Super 14 tournament is going to be on the man in the middle -- the referee.

The men with the whistle are going to have to introduce and apply the Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) which have the potential to be as provocative as last year’s “crouch-touch-pause-engage” scrum.

The Law Variations will be used in the Super 14 in a truncated form and in all South Africa's domestic rugby in their entirety… while the Northern Hemisphere continues with the laws as we know them -- or should that be as we don’t know them?!

Led by André Watson, SA Rugby’s manager of referees, South African referees have been hard at work boning up on the laws and trying to convey them to the people who will be most affected -- the players.

And to go on reports from this constituency, the players having experienced the effect of the new laws in a number of warm-up games, some of the changes are hard to grasp and make a material difference to the way the game is played.

Judging on the views of the players the most contentious of the new provisions could well turn out to be an automatic off-side line at every tackle.

This change may be most obvious when a player breaks, runs for some distance and is tackled by the fullback, meaning that 14 players of the fullback's team are in an off-side position until they can back onsides. Players falling back, in other words, will always have to get ahead or in front of the ball carrier before they are back on-sides.

The referees have endeavored to put across the laws in layman’s terms but, be warned, even these can be confusing because only some of the provisions will be applicable in the Super 14 while all will be applied in the Vodacom Cup and other club competitions.

The ELVs are a sincere attempt to brighten up the game and encourage more open play and Watson has appealed to fans to be patient and wait for them to bed down before dismissing them.

The laws, in their entirety and also in abbreviated (or simplified) form are available on the SA Referees useful website (SAReferees.co.za) so it might be advisable to do a little swotting before the tournament kicks off on Friday.

Some bullets highlighted by Watson and Co are as follows:

1. The corner posts exist only to help the touch judges in determining whether the ball crossed the touch-line or the touch-in-goal line. They have no effect on any decision related to the touch-line, the touch-in-goal line or the goal line.

If the ball or a ball-carrier touches a cornerpost, it does not effect any decision by the match officials. The lines determine the decision. If a ball strikes the post and bounces back in in-goal or the field of play, play goes on.

2. Quick throw-ins. The quick throw-in need not be straight. The player taking the quick throw-in may pass the ball back to a teammate. He may not pass it forward.

3. Kicking directly into touch from within the 22. If opponents have played the ball into the 22, a defender is allowed to kick the ball directly into touch and the line-out will be where the ball went out.

But if the defender's team took the ball back into the 22 and he kicks the ball directly into touch, the line-out is opposite the place where he kicked the ball. There is no gain of ground. In other words the current practice of passing the ball back to a teammate standing in the 22 for a touch-finder has been outlawed.

Take heed of the following:

This happens:

* if a teammate passes the ball from outside the 22 back into the 22; * if the team has the ball in a maul outside the 22 and is pushed back into the 22;
* if a scrum is awarded just outside the 22 and the ball is heeled and emerges on or inside the 22;
* if a player gets the ball in touch outside the 22 and moves back within the 22 and takes a quick throw-in;
* if a free kick or penalty is awarded outside the 22 and taken inside the 22.

There are concessions in all of this:

If after the defenders have taken the ball back into the 22, there is a tackle, ruck or maul, and they gain ground they can kick the ball directly into touch.

If the ball lands outside the 22 but rolls in touch inside the 22, the defender is allowed to gain ground if he kicks directly into touch from a quick throw-in.

4. Tackle/ruck: There are some big innovations here - off-side at the tackle, the ball unplayable at a tackle/ruck and the use of hands in the ruck, and then the sanctions which will be applied. (Hands in the ruck will not apply to Super 14).

a. Off-side: There is an off-side line at a tackle which will stretch from touch-line to touch-line and will change with each successive tackle. This is true whether or not a ruck is formed.

The tackled player and the tackler are not subject to the off-side law - provided that they get back to their feet to play.

This will apply to both Super 14 and to South Africa's domestic rugby.

This change may be most obvious when a player breaks, runs for some distance and is tackled by the fullback, meaning that 14 players of the fullback's team are in an off-side position.

Players in an off-side position at a tackle come on-side if they reach an on-side position or if an opponent kicks the ball or runs five metres with the ball.

In the second case running five metres with the ball is in any direction. Sanction: a penalty kick. This applies to side entry because it will fall under off-side - the offending player crossing the off-side line to enter the tackle.

b. Unplayable: If the ball at a tackle or ruck or maul is unplayable, the referee will award a free kick to the team not in possession at the start of the tackle or ruck.

c. Use of hands (This will not apply in Super 14): Players in a ruck who are on their feet are allowed to use their hands in a ruck to win possession provided that they are not guilty of foul play.

Hands may be used to pick up the ball. That means that it is possible to turn a ruck into a maul. Opponents are allowed to pull a maul down but are not allowed to pull a ruck down.

5. Sanctions: In many cases free-kicks will now replace penalties. Here’s a quick run-down.

The sanction for being off-side and having an effect on play - a penalty kick.

Dangerous/foul play is always a penalty kick.

The following have been changed from penalty kicks to free kicks:

lying on the ground on or over the ball
falling on or over a player lying on the ground
going off feet at a tackle/ruck
lying on the ground and playing the ball
If any of the above becomes deliberately infringing or repeated infringement. A penalty kick will be awarded.

The following remain penalties: kicking the ball from the hands of a tackled player when he is at the goal-line
collapsing the ruck
jumping on top of a ruck
stamping on a player on the ground

6. Line-outs:

a. Numbers will no longer apply at lineouts in the domestic competition. They will continue to apply in Super 14. Domestically, a team may put as many players into the line-out as it can fit between 5m and 15m, regardless of whether it is throwing into the line-out or not. (NB: This will not apply in Super 14).

b. A team need not have a receiver (scrumhalf) at the line-out, but if they do, he must stand two metres from the line-of-touch.

c. The immediate opponent of the player throwing into a line-out (usually a hooker) must be two metres from the line-out. (This is key as the defending hooker will no longer be able to join the lineout and, as has been the practice for so long, help to lift the front-end jumper.)

d. Pre-gripping of the jumper and lifting of the jumper are allowed. These are de facto practices already.

e. Sanctions: There has been no change to the sanctions in the line-out except that in domestic competitions the free kick for wrong numbers falls away and for an incorrect throw-in a free kick is awarded where previously it had been a scrum.

7. Scrums:

a. The off-side lines for players not in the scrum or involved in putting the ball into the scrum is five metres back from the back foot of their last player in the scrum.

This affects defending scrumhalves in two ways:

(i) If the scrumhalf of the team not winning the ball moves more than a metre from the scrum, he must drop back to the off-side line five metres behind the scrum.

(ii) If the scrumhalf stays close to the scrum but wants to go to the "other side" of the scrum, he must not advance beyond a line through the rearmost foot on his side of the scrum.

b. Sanctions: It is a penalty for off-side.

There are changes to the sanctions:

Having too few players in a scrum: free kick
If the prop pushes in at an angle: free kick
Incorrect binding by props and hookers - free kick
Incorrect binding by others in the scrum - free kick
Handling in the scrum - free kick
Falling on the ball as it emerges from the scrum, - free kick
Scrumhalf kicking the ball in the scrum - free kick

its going to be interesting as many of the refs cannot get the simple points of the game right.

after watching the 1st round of the comp i'm pretty impressed with the way the game looks now.. changing many of the penalties to free kicks seems to have opened up the play in a big way. it must have been some "lateral thought" to say "lets clamp down on stuff by softening the penalty". but i think they have got it right. we are sure not going to see old style english penalty shoot outs anymore. and with lower scores come closer results too!!! look at all the bonus points loosing teams scored.

but the most amazing thing was the transformation in the way the cheetahs and lions played. what a stark contrast from the bulls v stormers game. i't will be interesting to see how each of these teams (cheetas, lions) go when they play one of the more traditional SA teams..

auss.