Clip 4 - 25 August

Ref down. Thank heavens for commonsense in the midst of battle!

The referee, close to the action as the best place to monitor the tackle, gets a shove from Juan Smith of South Africa which sends him stumbling into a tangle with Jimmy Cowan and Schalk Burger who is tackling Cowan.

How does the match come to a stop in such a case?

The referee blows his whistle. In this case the referee was in no state to blow his whistle.
The assistant referee steps in, preferably by blowing a whistle as he is likely to have one. That seems not to have happened here.
The players stop playing, which is the commonsense thing to do. Even though this match was played with great intensity, commonsense could still rule and play stopped, the players clearly concerned for the referee.

First aid attended to the referee who was able to continue. Had he not been able to continue the Number 1 assistant referee would have taken over.

How do you restart?

Law 20.4 THE TEAM THROWING THE BALL INTO THE SCRUM
(d) Scrum after any other stoppage. After any other stoppage or irregularity not covered by Law, the team that was moving forward before the stoppage throws in the ball. If neither team was moving forward, the attacking team throws in the ball.

New Zealand were moving forward.




Just back from that absorbing Test in Christchurch two weeks ago, Jonathan Kaplan answers some questions pertaining to the match.

READ THE LATEST HERE!

We take a closer look at Richie McCaw's crucial try in Saturday's Tri-Nations Test between the Springboks and the All Blacks. Try or no try? Decide for yourself...
READ THE LATEST HERE!

In our statistics of Test matches we record the number of stoppages. A clever man has now worked out how long the ball was in hand during Tri-Nations Tests and some big matches in South Africa.
READ THE LATEST HERE!

Recently we had an article asking people which referee they wanted. It produced a lot of comment from readers at this time when referees...
READ THE LATEST HERE!

Interested in becoming a referee? It’s never been easier. Fill in the Recruitment form below to find out more.

Full Name:
Location:
Address:
Email:
Contact:
Check out In-touch, South Africa’s national referee newsletter, to stay up-to-date with events affecting the whistle.

› In-Touch Edition 1

› In-touch Apr09- EMAIL

› In-touch Ed2 email

› In-Touch Edition 3- EMAIL

› Intouch_Vol 4 2008

› Intouch Vol 5 2008

› Intouch Vol 6 2008

Want a copy of the latest IRB-approved law book? (R50 incl. VAT and postage).

Full Name:
Location:
Address:
Email:
Contact:
Keep yourself updated by following us through our RSS Feed.