Duty Ref #3

Question: Team A kicks a penalty for the corner – weather blowing hard accoss the pitch. Wind carries the ball – touch in goal.
What is the correct procedure if:
a: ball hits flag pole, which is bending and continues into touch in goal
b: ball hits the flag and continues into touch in goal.

Answer: Play On in both cases

Question: 10.4 (j) Lifting a player from the ground and dropping or driving that player into the ground whilst that player’s feet are still off the ground such that the player’s head and/or upper body come into contact with the ground is dangerous play.
It’s obvious that tip and spear tackles are covered by this rule but what about dump tackles where a player is landed flat on their back with feet in the air?

Answer: A difficult one to answer without seeing it. A dump tackle is dangerous play is the player has been lifted and dropped such that the player’s head and/or upper body come into contact with the ground is dangerous play

Question: Reds Vs Blue U 19’s; Red have a back row forward yellow carded to reduce them to 14 players versus blues 15. At the next break of play, Reds take a player off from the backs and they send on a forward in his place.
At the next scrum, can Reds make up an 8 man scrum, on the basis that they now have “8 forwards” on the field? Or must both teams keep the 3-4 scrum formation, on the basis that they only have seven in their pack as a result of the yellow card? We know that they must take off a back to allow a prop, hooker or second row onto the field for the scrum but this is a case of simply sending on an extra man in the pack and not replacing an injured party.

Answer: No they cannot – A team must have fewer than eight players in its scrum when the team cannot field eight suitably trained players in its scrum due to either the team not fielding a complete team, or a forward player being sent off or temporarily suspended for foul play, or a forward player leaving the field because of injury. If a team is incomplete and it cannot field eight suitably trained players in its scrum, the scrum formation must be as follows:
If a team is without one forward player, then both teams must use a 3-4 formation (i.e. no No.8).