Throwing the ball away.

At a referees' meeting during the week, the statement was made that it is illegal to throw the ball away when in touch but it does not get penalised. It is popular for lower-graded referees to say this sort of thing, but it happens not to be true. We have had clips showing this recently and we have two this week - just to make the point!

Conrad Jantjes of Western Province kicks downfield and Fabian Juries chases. Golden Lions fullback Louis Ludik gets the ball close to the touch-line and steps into touch as Juries gets close and would like to have the ball to see if it was worth throwing in quickly. To prevent this Ludik throws the ball away and the referee penalises him, producing the first points of the match.

Right to penalise?

Law 19.2 (i) If a player carrying the ball is forced into touch, that player must release the ball to an opposition player so that there can be a quick throw-in.
Sanction: Penalty kick on 15-metre line

It does happen!