HOOKING THE BALL

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 102, 30 March 1929, Page 2

HOOKING THE BALL

INTERESTING RUGBY RULE.

Addressing delegates assembled at tho annual conference of the New Zealand Rugby Referees’ Association yestorday, the president, Mr D. MeKenzie, of Wellington raised the question of how tho ball should be put into the scrum. . . Mr McKenzie expressed the opinion that the hooker on the side from which the ball was put in was open to penalty if he hooked with his inside foot, as the interpretation of the rules showed that the ball was not in the scrum until it had passed hotli his feet. “Some of us may think that the old interpretation of the scrummage rule is better than the present one, but our feelings in this connection ,must give way to the dictum of the English Rugby Union,’’ said Mr McKenzio. “It was the rule at olio time that any lif ting of tho foot before the hall was actually in the scrummage carried with it a ponalty. “Now any player in the front row of a scrummage may lift his foot off the ground before the ball is put in provided he does not move it beyond the front line of feet of his own players. The outside man may follow the ball in with his outside foot, but must not touch it until it lias passed both feet of a player of each team. “The English Rugby Union deals with three players in the front row of tho scrummage,’ and here is one of tlioir decisions:— l

“ ‘ln order to get tho ball into the scrummage fairly and without waste of time, the Rugby Football Union recommends that, when the centre player on the front row of the scrummage hooks with tho nearer foot and in doing so infringes the laws, the penalty shall ho immediately inflicted.’

“As far as we in Now Zealand are concerned, this interpretation seems to me to emphasise what -I have always contended is the correct meaning of tho scrummage rule, viz., that if the front row man on the side from which tho ball is put in hooks with his inside foot, he should he penalised, as the hall had not passed both of his feet before ho played it. “It is. not our purpose as referees to determine how the hooking shall be done, but if we determine that the hooking shall not be done by the player on the side from which tho ball is put in, I contend that we are carrying out tho intention and meaning of the rule. Reports have reached us that in tho recent South African tour the ball was put into the scrummage sometimes as many as seven occasions before the referee was prepared to let the play go on. This seems to me to be on the farcical side. If the ball was prevented from going fairly into tho scrummage, someone was to blame, and the referee should have been manly enough to apportion the blame, and award the resultant penalty kick. Law 15 seems to me to read plainly that it should not need more than ono attempt to put the ball into' a scrummage before the referee takes action.”