: Sat Jun 06, 2009 9:47 pm
Disco wrote:
I don't think anyone's saying it should have stood, mate. Natural justice concedes there was an infringement in play which ruled out the try. TBH though, it seems a little oblique to infer that infringement was in fact a 'clear knock on', purely to justify the act of going to the screen. It certainly wasn't clear by any definition, and for Thaler to miss so much else in the game yet pick up on this particular nuance of this particular play seems a tad beyond the credible for me. It strikes me that, ordinarily, a ref would have either called that play as forward on the spot (the 'just' outcome, in this case) or - much more likely - would have let the try stand.
TBH I think in a non TV game they would probably have blown straight away and the fans would hav gone mad.
There was quite a lengthy debate about this after that Leeds game, with some fans claiming the VR couldn't disallow it as it was a pass rather than a knock on, and he can;t rule on a forward pass.
My take on it (and obviously the ref's too) is that the player (in both cases) did not have hold of the ball, so isn't actually passing the ball. If it is deemed the ball has gone forward it is a knock on. IMO in instances like this, unless the player has held the ball at any stage then the VR is well within his rights to call a knock on.
As you stated, the ball clearly went forward (I only watched on TV but called it instantly, and was glad that he got over the line, as had he been stopped short and you scoring on the next tackle, it would have stood).
My point saying it was a clear knock on was not to be dismissive, but when you look at it, it hit's his hand, and travels forward, collected by another player, remove the whole debate about whether this is a pass and that has 100% of the characteristics of a knock on.