Touch Judges Call

[Moses]

At what point does a "touch" turn into "picking it up"?
Surely a "touch" proceeds picking it up, there for the rule has already been envoked?
What happens if he went to pick it up but was a gump like Baxter and bobbled it before taking possesion?

That's what I'm thinking.. he'd have to touch it before picking it up, or at least as part of the first action in picking it up.

So he's standing out, the ball touches him.. sounds like the ball is out.

[Burgs]

Maybe it was out until it was in again....

[chook]

I think we can all agree that he stuffed up and should never be selected for the Wallabies again. Whats that? He's picked again? Oh FOr FCUKKEs SAKE!!!!!!!!!

[Ecky]

At what point does a "touch" turn into "picking it up"?
Surely a "touch" proceeds picking it up, there for the rule has already been envoked?
What happens if he went to pick it up but was a gump like Baxter and bobbled it before taking possesion?

That's what I'm thinking.. he'd have to touch it before picking it up, or at least as part of the first action in picking it up.

So he's standing out, the ball touches him.. sounds like the ball is out.

Well, um, as I said before, "A player in touch may kick or knock the ball, but not hold it" So I guess at the point the player holds it is when he doesn't kick or knock it.

Meanwhile, moving on as this one seems to have been done to death......

[Burgs]

Spoil sport

[Ecky]

Sorry - dodgy day at work, easy targets with those who don't start from page one of the posts, exasperation set in.

We all seem to agree our Wallaby victim was a berk and now knows heaps better that to try that sort of thing.

Now, if we can just get Gerrard to remember to hang onto the thing (while in the field of play, of course) when he's under no pressure whatsoever.......

[JediKnight]

He'll have to wait a bit before showing us he's learnt that lesson. Time for that turncoat Digby to show why he's going to be wasted in the Reds team next season (assuming that the ball gets past the centre pairing to him!).

[Ecky]

Tha advantage of Diggers playing is that he couldn't really be accused of thinking too much,

He gets the ball and then runs it back at them. That's how to play lads!

[AndyS]

Interesting take from the referee section of PlanetRugby
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"In touch - whose ball?

James Hook of Wales kicks diagonally across the field towards the touch-line on his right. The ball bounces along the touch-line, breaking slightly infield from the touchline. The bouncing becomes slower. Standing in touch the Australian fullback, Julian Huxley, picks up the ball as it bounces.

Picking up the ball while standing in touch, means that the ball is out.

Whose line-out?

Law 19 TOUCH AND LINE-OUT

Definitions

The ball is in touch if a player catches the ball and that player has a foot on the touch-line or the ground beyond the touch line.

The place where the ball-carrier (or the ball) touched or crossed the touch-line is where it went into touch.

If a player has one foot in the field of play and one foot in touch and holds the ball, the ball is in touch.

By analogy with the goal-line and the 22-metre line, where a distinction is made between the rolling ball and the stationary ball, it would seem that what Huxley did was clever and that his side should have been given the throw-in. He caught the ball - the law does not require the catch to be from the air only - and that made it out. Wales had kicked it and so Australia should throw in.

Peter Shortell writes: "IRB Ruling (14 of 2003) dealt with a similar situation:-

'If a player with one or both feet inside the 22 metre line, picks up the ball which was stationary outside the 22 metre line, and kicks it directly into touch, then the player has taken the ball back inside the 22-metre line, and therefore the line-out is formed in line with where the ball was kicked.

'If a player with one or both feet inside the 22 metre line, picks up the ball which was in motion outside the 22 metre line, and kicks it directly into touch, then the player has not taken the ball back inside the 22-metre line, and therefore the line-out is formed in line with where the ball crossed the touch-line.'"

At the goal-line, if a defender has one foot or both feet in the in-goal and receives the ball which is moving from an opponent, he gets a drop-out. If the ball is stationary and he, in in-goal, fetches the ball and takes it back to ground it, it would be a five-metre scrum.

The same here. The catching of the ball, is not necessarily the catching of a ball directly from a kick. It could be a bouncing ball and there is no specification of how high the ball had to bounce.

The touch judge seems to be explaining that the ball was bouncing away from the touch-line. That too is irrelevant as it clearly would not apply to a ball swinging away in the air - and the laws say nothing about the direction the ball is travelling in."