Coventry
The Art of Refereeing - The Tackle
By Whistle Watcher
January 14 2022
Whistle Watcher's next instalment on 'The Art of Refereeing' follows. Thanks for the contribution. Steve
One of the areas of the game that coaches get most upset about is when a player is tackled but not allowed to play the ball or, worse, when we’ve made a tackle and the ball carrier won’t release the ball.
I have a couple of hours spare this morning, and was thinking about the more contentious areas of the game. Given that the tackle is an element of the game that occurs most often, I thought we’d look at what the law says about it, how it’s refereed and what the outcomes from a tackle are.
So that we’re clear, a tackle occurs when the player carrying the ball is held by an opponent and is brought to the ground, or the ball he is carrying comes into contact with the ground.
He is deemed to have been brought to the ground if he is on one knee, both knees, sitting on the field of play, or is on top of another player, who is on the ground. A ball carrier who is held by an opponent, but remains on his feet, is NOT tackled, NOR is he tackled if he has been knocked to the ground and is not being held.
Following a tackle, the ball carrier may take a number of options, but whichever one is chosen, it must be actioned immediately. The tackled player may pass the ball, release the ball, or get up and move away from the ball. The requirement to release the ball, allows the player to put the ball on the ground, or even to push it along the ground in any direction, except forward.
The interpretation of 'immediately' is very much at the discretion of the referee, but as they are all very keen to see the ball kept alive following a tackle, they tend to be quite lenient. This is particularly so, if the tackled player is moving the ball back and away from his body.
The tackler - the player who executes the tackle - can’t do anything that prevents the tackled player from playing the ball, so any player who tackles an opponent and in doing so, goes to ground, must immediately release the tackled player and get up, or move away from the tackled player and the ball.
Wayne Barnes talks about the tackle as a process where the referee has to make a series of decisions all the time – and that the decision he makes is sometimes a decision not to give a decision, if that makes sense. For him, the tackle is binary in as much as there are yes/no answers to questions as the tackle progresses.
Decision 1 Did the tackler release the ball carrier – Yes/No?
Yes? Play on.
No? Either award a penalty or play advantage (if that’s feasible).
Decision 2 Did the tackler roll away?
As above,
Yes? Play on.
No? Either award a penalty or play advantage (if that’s feasible).
Decision 3 Did the ball carrier release the ball?
Yes? Play on.
No? Either award a penalty or play advantage (if that’s feasible).
Decision 4 Did the arriving players stay on their feet?
Yes? Play on.
No? Either award a penalty or play advantage (if that’s feasible).
Easy, isn’t it? Well, no. The speed at which the things happen in a game of rugby make it probably the most difficult phase of the game to referee and get it absolutely 100% right every time in every game.
In fact, it’s impossible to get it right 100% of the time in any game, and that’s in a perfect world, because coaches of one side will say the tackler didn’t release and the coaches of the other side will say the ball carrier held on or that the arriving support players went straight off their feet to retain the ball and prevent a competition. More often than not, a ball carrier will have one or two players in close support who, once he has been tackled, will act to 'clear out' opponents who are there to try and get their hands on the ball and take possession or, in rugby parlance, create a 'turnover'.
As soon as the support players make contact with a player of the opposition side, a ruck is formed (ruck is one player from both sides in contact over the ball, which is on the ground).
Their job is to protect the ball, prevent the turnover so that we retain possession, and to create a stable platform to launch the next phase of play.
The tackler will similarly have other players close by the maximise their efforts to create a turnover and, as long as the first player there is on his feet - i.e. his body weight is supported by his feet and he doesn’t rely on anything or anyone else to stop him falling over - he can make a legitimate attempt to take the ball. We call him the jackler.
In attack, we want him to get cleared out immediately, because if he gets both hands on the ball and makes an attempt to lift the ball, the referee will determine that he has been successful and either the turnover is completed or the attacking side are liable to penalty for holding on to the ball to prevent it.
All of which makes it a dynamic and fast situation, which is why we don’t want players to isolate themselves and be tackled, because it leaves him vulnerable (and lonely) to the defending side being there before our support and getting the ball to launch a counter attack.
So where’s the challenge? It lies heavily in spotting the first offence which is why I’m coming back to Barnesy’s process 1, 2, 3, 4. It has to be made as simple as possible if only because of the speed of the game.
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14/01/2022 12:16
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022:01:28:10:40:55 by Kimbo.
Just to confirm that attacking players seeking to clear out defending players from the ruck must stay on their feet? And must use their arms in the contact in doing so?
Could somebody please advise pretty much every referee in the premiership and Championship then please!
Could somebody please advise pretty much every referee in the premiership and Championship then please!
That said, player who *intentionally* go to floor *ARE* penalised - there were two penalities given against Ealing last weekend for exactly that (could have been more as well as for their prop boring on the TH side and walking round on the LH side, and the obstruction that led to their second try as well as the off the ball pull backs and sly nudges imho, but that's just me and my Cov eye).
Quote:OldNick
In 'sly nudges' do you include the one at the top of a line-out jump that knocked a Cov player off his supporters?
Potentially, but I can neither confirm nor deny that particular incident that may, or may not, have taken place.
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