When is a forward pass not forward?
Following on from a comment in the analysis of Kaplan's rulings during the Aus-NZ test last week, I thought it might be interesting and even instructive to examine exactly what constitutes a forward pass.
The rugby law book says "a throw forward occurs when a player throws or passes the ball forward. "Forward" means towards the opposing team's dead ball line"."
You will note the laws do not say a throw forward occurs when a player passes the ball and it ends up closer to the opposing team's dead ball line.
The difference?
As we saw in the Aus-NZ test, the ball can travel forward -- be caught at a place further down the pitch than the point from which it was passed -- but not be a forward pass.
How is that possible? Ask a physcist for the technical explanantion, but in layman's term, it goes like this: If the player is running forward at speed carrying the ball, the ball is also travelling forward at the same speed. When the player lets go of the ball, it does not come to a sudden halt. It keeps travelling forward under its own momentum.
As long as the player directs the ball sideways or backwards with his hands, it is entirely legal for the ball to travel forward provided it does so under its own momentum and not from any forward motion imparted by the player's hands.
So don't waste your time looking at pitch markings to see whether the ball was further down the field when it was caught. Look at the pitch markings, if you can, to see whether the ball left the player's hands in a forward direction, or sideways or backwards. After that, it can go where it likes.
Feeling sorry for the poor mugs who volunteer to be refs yet?
Try this point on people who think they know a bit about rugby. You can have some great arguments with the pedantically minded.
