Jonathan Kaplan refereed a Currie Cup match in Johannesburg on Friday night and a schools match in Pretoria on Saturday, and one of the schoolmasters wrote to say how much the boys had enjoyed having him to referee the match. And on Sunday he answered readers' questions.

1. Name: Johan  van Rooyen

Question: Why is that only the player that retaliates when punches are being thrown is given the yellow/red card, the penalty against the player that retaliates I understand. Why are they not both sent to the sin bin? Surely the assistant referees should see who had thrown the first punch and he should also be sent off.   

Jonathan Kaplan: This is not true. It may be that the match officials see only the retaliation in which case we can only react on what we see, but, in general, the vast majority of initial perpetrators will be punished. If the offences are similar, then we would send both to the bin (or off ) with the resultant penalty going against the initial perpetrator! If however, the retaliator does something a lot worse ( e.g. jersey pulling and then a head butt ) then the punishments will be different and the resultant penalty in favour of the first offender's team. And lastly, it is not possible for the assistant referees to see everything! They watch the game in real time, not slow motion, and they are often watching a multitude of potential flash points. This is the reason we have the judiciary to ensure that offences which are not picked up by match officials are correctly dealt with.

2. Name: Morgan Davies

Question: Given the following example:

Player A kicks the ball to player B, who is behind the 22m line. Referee was playing advantage when the ball was kicked.

What do you do in that situation? Does the mark take precedence over a penalty?

Jonathan Kaplan: No.

3. Name: Geraint Jenkins

Question: How has the general slide in law-application come about?

Foot-up used to be so important; now it's gone. Putting it in straight used to be so important; now it's almost gone. Being behind the ball at the kick-off used to be important; it's almost gone. Obstruction by the receivers was most important; now it is overlooked. Hands in a ruck or scrum used to apply to both sides; now it is a one-sided problem.

How is it that this slipshod attitude to the laws come about? If these laws don't matter, why not scrap them; if they do matter, why not apply them?

Jonathan Kaplan: This is a very good question! many of the points mentioned in your question are not well policed, even though they should be! The kick off one is not big ticket issue though, and only on occasion is it a problem. I have not seen a foot up penalty for years, and interestingly the points regarding ‘straight feed’ and ‘hands in’ were two of the primary concerns of the IRB for the top panel of referees in the world. We certainly need to brush up!

4. Name: Peter Poupart

Question: Hi,

I was wondering if the following law also applies to the quick line-out. I have seen multiple times where players fake the throw in when attempting to go quick and then decide not to.

19.6 INCORRECT THROW IN

(b) The throw in at the line-out must be taken without delay and without pretending to throw.
Penalty: Free Kick on the 15-metre line

Jonathan Kaplan: Another very good question. It's not always well refereed; however often it is the opposition's presence in the 5m area which inhibits the quick throw. So it would be tough to freekick the potential thrower!