OFFSIDE
If you thought explaining the offside rule in football was complicated, then it steps up to a whole new level in rugby. Probably 90% of people watching a game have no idea when the ball is offside, including the players.
The basic rule (as much as can be explained without a hefty tome) is that a ball cannot be passed to a player who is in front of the player in possession of the ball. So, any players in front of the player with the ball are offside. Rugby 101 – pay attention and stay behind the player who has the ball. If you know that fact alone you can bluff your way through a game of rugby.
If a player finds himself offside, then he can redeem himself by either: running behind the player with the ball, or his teammates run past him. Seems a bit obvious.
The opponent can also put you back in play by running five metres with the ball or kicking or passing the ball.
If the ball is kicked forward and the opponent intercepts the ball, an Offside player who is less than ten metres away is not allowed to run towards the opponent or the ball. He must move back ten metres away from the opponent in possession of the ball, to be back onside and avoid a penalty.
Imagine a player waiting to receive either a pass or a kick that’s travelling with the velocity of an asteroid and he grabs at it but it bounces out of his grasp. If that player has lightning fast reactions and can regain control and stop the ball hitting the ground, or another player, then he can play on and his teammates rejoice. Instead, if he fumbles with butter fingers and drops the ball forwards, then this is called a Knock-on and a Scrum is awarded. And, he gets a pounding from his teammates later.
However, if the ball should hit him in the face, breaking his nose and bouncing off or if it should smack him in the chest, winding him and leaving him a gasping wreck that can’t breathe, then that is not a foul. The ball must come out of the hands to be a knock-on (his teammates rejoice).
Fullbacks waiting to catch GarryOwen and Bombs lie awake sweating about this rule.
When a player joins a ruck he must only come at it from behind, parallel to the back foot of the last player on his team. A player cannot come into a ruck from the side. God help you if your weakest player is the first one into the ruck!
Players cannot jump on a ruck, collapse a ruck or intentionally fall in a ruck. It’s not a fight in a pub car park.
A player has to Bind onto the opposition with his whole arm and suck up the overpowering smell of sweat.
Balls cannot be kicked back into the ruck once it is out.
And, absolutely no stamping on players on the ground near a ruck is allowed. A swift kick with the back of a boot to push him away from the ball is tolerated but a player on the ground cannot lie on the ball (unless he isn’t moving and it’s time to get a stretcher).
A maul must always be moving forward and the referee will call ‘use it or lose it’ if momentum stalls. In this situation a Scrum is awarded to the opposition.
The ball can only be passed backwards and sideways.
Like a ruck, all players must stay on their feet and not deliberately jump on or collapse the maul. Again, we’re not in a pub car park.
A player cannot be dragged out of the maul, no matter how bad their body odour.
If the ball is dropped, the maul then becomes a Ruck and play must switch to accommodate those rules.
Rules surrounding scrums have tightened considerably over the years due to the number of injuries and fatalities. If a scrum collapses, play is stopped immediately and players are peeled off to make sure that no-one has been mashed permanently into the ground.
Players must Bind tight onto each other’s shirts with full arms and to avoid necks and spines being snapped like twigs, Props cannot push downwards. If a player is lifted off his feet, then the whistle is blown.
Players cannot touch the ball with their hands. Only the Scrum-Half and the Number Eight can pick the ball out of the scrum.
The scrum cannot shove until the ball is placed inside. If the scrum turns 90 degrees, then it is stopped and is re-formed. All eight players have to stay bound together until the ball exits.
In a lineout, the two most critical areas for fouls are how the ball is thrown and also, how the player is lifted to snatch the ball.
The Hooker has to ensure that he throws the ball at least five metres and similar to the Scrum Feed, he has to throw straight and true down the middle of the line, thus apparently not offering any advantage to his team. The only advantage he can offer to his teammates, is in the code words he shouts out which signal how high and how fast the ball is going and which player should leap as gracefully as a ballerina that his six-foot-six and 110kg frame will allow.
Teammates lifting a player must do so from the waist and above only. Having your arms wrapped tight round your fellow player is not a time to worry about being handsy to a big lump of sweaty muscle and hair.
The jumping player cannot use other players for extra support in a gymnastic upwards move.
During the lineout, until the ball is caught, players cannot attempt to obstruct, push, shove, pinch, stamp on or pull hair of the opposition.
Only once the ball has been caught and in possession can players charge to Tackle - game on.
Like the Scrum and critically for the safety of the players, there are tight rules on tackling opponents who are attacked by what in the real world would be considered a brutal assault from a huge sweating animal of a man.
Most importantly, a tackle must be from the shoulders down on the tackled player and shoulder-only tackles are a foul.
Attacking players must not trip, kick, stamp on, punch, bite, gouge or tear ears off during a tackle – all fouls.
Players who have jumped to catch a high ball are off bounds for tackling and once a ball has left a player, the attacker cannot Late charge him. Easier said than done, when a man the size of a rhino has started his run-up.
Players cannot charge or push each other when they are running for the ball and other players cannot obstruct by running in front of the player in possession of the ball.
Tackle infringements are a common reason for a trip to the sin bin to cool off.