Craig Joubert is taking a crash course in changing nappies and the duty of answering readers' questions now falls to Mark Lawrence.

1. Name: Jaco de Wit 

Question: Hallo. Ek is 'n jong opkomende skeidsregter. Ek is 18 jaar oud en blaas al van ek 12 is. Ek is tans in SWD en ek maak goei vordering. 

Ek wil net graag iets weet. As span A die bal aanslaan en speler van span B tel op en word met 'n gevaarlike hoogvat wat tot 'n geelkaart kan lei neergeduik.

Is dit reg as ek nog die skrum vir span B gee maar ek gee wel die geel kaart vir die speler van span A. Of kanseleer dit die skrum en word 'n strafskop? Baie dankie. 

Mark Lawrence: Hello Jaco,

Ek hoop jy geniet dit om te blaas. Daar is fanatastiese geleenthede as skeidsregter. So hou so aan!

In die scenario bo glo ek jy moet jy die vuil spel straf. Jy kan nie 'n geel kaart gee en met n skrum begin nie. Jy gee 'n straf skop vir die vuil spel en die geel kaart is die “caution” aan die speler! Reël 8.5.a sê as daar meer as een oortreding is speel jy voordeel. Dus as die span aanslaan is daar voordeel tot hulle weer oortree, en dan is daar 'n nuwe voordeel.

Sterkte vorentoe

Groete, Mark

NB Jaco, who is 18 and has been refereeing since he was 12, asks what one should do if a player from Team A knocks on, a Team B player picks up and then a Team A tackles him with a high tackle bad enough to warrant a yellow card. Mark says that you award a penalty for the high tackle.

2. Name: Johan Wessels

Question: At a ruck or maul the offside lines are the last feet, but what about players that enter the ruck and the maul through the gate and are properly bound to the ruck - can they play (like a flank in the scrum)? 

Mark Lawrence: Hello Johan,

Thanks for the question. I am not sure what picture you want me to see, so let me give you the law and explanation and then hopefully you can answer your own question.

At a ruck, players joining must bind on the hindmost player of that ruck. There is no gate, as this applies to a tackle only. Law 16.5 describes what is offside and is quoted below for you to read.

Law 16.5 OFFSIDE AT THE RUCK
(a) The offside line. There are two offside lines parallel to the goal lines, one for each team.
Each offside line runs through the hindmost foot of the hindmost player in the ruck. If the hindmost foot of the hindmost player is on or behind the goal line, the offside line for the defending team is the goal line.

(b) Players must either join a ruck, or retire behind the offside line immediately. If a player loiters at the side of a ruck, the player is offside.
Penalty: Penalty Kick
At a ruck or maul, the offside line runs through the hindmost foot of the player of the same team.

(c) Players joining or rejoining the ruck. All players joining a ruck must do so from behind the foot of the hindmost team-mate in the ruck. A player may join alongside this hindmost player. If the player joins the ruck from the opponents’ side, or in front of the hindmost team-mate, the player is offside.
Penalty: Penalty Kick on the offending team’s offside line

(d) Players not joining the ruck. If a player is in front of the offside line and does not join the ruck, the player must retire behind the offside line at once. If a player who is behind the offside line oversteps it and does not join the ruck the player is offside.
Penalty: Penalty Kick on the offending team’s offside line

Hope this makes things clear.

Keep well - Mark

3. Name: Hendri Greyling 

Question: Hi.

If Team A takes a quick line-out and throws the ball towards one of their own players in the direction of their own goal-line, and before the ball can cross the 5m line, a player of Team B from an onside position intercepts the ball and scores a try, is the try allowed?

Kind Regards, Hendri

 Mark Lawrence: Hello Hendri,

Very good question.

In the days before the ELVS allowed skew throw-ins, the ball had to travel 5m, which meant it had to cross the 5m-line which is parallel to the touch-line. With the advent of the ELVS and the skew quick throw in, this meant a player could throw the ball 5m backwards to a player standing between the 5m line and touch-line. This would have created problems for referees having to judge if the ball travelled 5m, especially if they were quite far away from a quick throw-in because the ball was kicked a long distance.

An interim ruling was that the ball had to cross the 5m line even if it was thrown in diagonally and backwards. That has been confirmed in the laws just promulgated and to answer your question, the ball must cross the 5m and therefore team B intercepting the ball will be penalised with a free kick for stopping the ball from crossing the 5m.

Law 19.2 (e) At a quick throw-in, if the player throws the ball in the direction of the opposition’s goal-line or if the ball does not travel at least five metres to the five metres line along or behind the line of touch before it touches the ground or a player, or if the player steps into the field of play when the ball is thrown, then the quick throw-in is disallowed. The opposing team chooses to throw in at either a line-out where the quick throw-in was attempted, or a scrum on the 15-metre line at that place. If they too throw in the ball incorrectly at the line-out, a scrum is formed on the 15-metre line. The team that first threw in the ball throws in the ball at the scrum.

Thanks again for the question

Regards, Mark

4. Name: Lili G.
E-mail: Lguha@aol.com 

Question: Good evening from Scotland.

First allow me to thank you for this fantastic website. It's very informative even for us non-rugby-playing females (you know, those who prefer shoe-shopping) and I've learnt a lot thanks to you gentlemen.

My question: Could you please tell me which ELVs the IRB have decided to keep and which they are ditching and why?

Thanks 

Mark Lawrence: Hello Lili,

Thanks for the nice comment regarding our website. It makes the hours we spend answering questions all worth while.

Now hopefully you have learnt enough to pick up the whistle and apply what you have learnt. Imagine if you could referee the women’s world cup and travel the world refereeing matches. We need positive and dedicated people like you as referees! 

Now to answer your question.

I have listed below all the ELVS to be adopted. Remember there were 13 ELVS used in the northern hemisphere. They adopted 10 and dropped three. 

ELVs adopted into Law

ELV 1 is now law: Law 6 – Assistant Referees able to assist Referees in any way the Referee requires
ELV 2 is now law: Law 19 – If a team puts the ball back in their own 22 and the ball is subsequently kicked directly into touch there is no gain in ground
ELV 3 is now law: Law 19 – A quick throw may be thrown in straight or towards the throwing team’s goal line
ELV 4 is now law: Law 19 – The receiver at the line-out must be two metres back away from the line-out
ELV 5 is now law: Law 19 – The player who is in opposition to the player throwing in the ball must stand in the area between the five metre line and touch line and must be two metres from the line of touch and at least two metres from the line-out
ELV 6 is now law: Law 19 – line-out players may pre-grip a jumper before the ball is thrown in
ELV 7 is now law: Law 19 – The lifting of line-out jumpers is permitted
ELV 8 is now law: Law 20 – Introduction of an offside line five metres behind the hindmost feet of the Scrum
ELV 9 is now law: Law 20 – Scrum half offside line at the Scrum
ELV 10 is now law: Law 20 – The corner posts are no longer considered to be touch in goal except when the ball is grounded against the post

The 3 ELV’s not adopted into law are:

No numbers in a line out.
Pulling a maul down.
The sanctions of Free Kick and not Penalty kick for infringements at the Break down other than off side and foul play.

Regards to all in Scotland .. a wonderful country.

Kind regards, Mark

5. Name: Monde Skeyi

Question: Good day.

After the try scored, the defending team contest the conversion kick and the referee allows the scoring team to retake the conversion kick. Is that allowed?

Secondly, in case of the wind, kick-off: the ball does not pass the 10 metre, as it is blown back by the wind. What is the referees decision? 

Mark Lawrence: Hello Monde,

In your first question, a team may charge down the conversion kick unless they charged early (before the kicker started his run up to kick) in which case the referee may order a rekick.

Law 9.B.3 THE OPPOSING TEAM

(a) All players of the opposing team must retire to their goal line and must not overstep that line until the kicker begins the approach to kick or starts to kick. When the kicker does this, they may charge or jump to prevent a goal but must not be physically supported by other players in these actions.

(b) When the ball falls over after the kicker began the approach to kick, the opponents may continue to charge.

(c) A defending team must not shout during a kick at goal.
Penalty: (a)-(c) If the opposing team infringes but the kick is successful, the goal stands.
If the kick is unsuccessful, the kicker may take another kick and the opposing team is not allowed to charge.
When another kick is allowed, the kicker may repeat all the preparations. The kicker may change the type of kick.

In question 2 the referee must award a scrum or a re kick because the ball must cross the 10m line.

Law 13.7 KICK-OFF OF UNDER 10 METRES AND NOT PLAYED BY AN OPPONENT
If the ball does not reach the opponent’s 10-metre line the opposing team has two choices:
To have the ball kicked off again, or
To have a scrum at the centre. They throw in the ball.

Regards, Mark