Marius Jonker must be fit - 223 points in two matches. He must sleep well after that but is awake to answer readers' questions.
 
1 Name: Derek Summers
 
Question: How do you handle repeated infringements, say in this case at the breakdown? At what point do you say enough is enough and start using cards after discussing it with the captain? And once you go to cards what do you do if a team continues to infringe at the breakdown during the match.

Marius Jonker: Hi Derek.

Repeated infringements by the team need to be identified by the referee. If this is the case the referee gives a general warning to the team and if there is no change in behaviour the referee should then caution and suspend (sin bin) the guilty player. It often happens that a player, for instance No.6, has been playing within law and has not been penalised at any time leading up to the warning by the referee but straight after the warning this player gets penalised for his first offence then he will be binned based on the warning to the TEAM by the referee.

Repeated infringements by a player are dealt with differently though. . . .

When a player offends three times (does not have to be the same infringement) the referee should caution the player.

With the above said keep in mind that infringements by the team/individual player in the 10th minute of the game, then a warning by the referee, and then another infringement in the 30th minute of the game does not automatically qualify for a suspension. The referee will assess the situation and will take into account the fact that there was a change in behaviour/or not and deal with it as the situation at that time requires of him.

Nice question.

Regards, Marius.
 
2. Name: Paul Roblin
 
Question: With clock past 80 minutes in the Wales France game last Friday night, the French restart kicker seemed to deliberately grubber the kick into touch without attempting to kick the ball 10 metres.
 
Why did the referee  (Jonathan Kaplan)  not give a penalty to Wales at the centre of half way line for infringement of law 10. 2  (a) 
 
Paul Roblin

Marius Jonker: Hi Paul.

I did not see the incident but can tell you that the law requires of a team to restart the game with a dropkick. Whether the kicker kicks the ball 10 metres or 20 metres/a high kick or along the ground is not for the referee to decide. That is the team's choice as long as the kick is taken properly.

I am sure that Jonathan would have adjudged it as such.

Kicking the ball out is not an offence. It's not like deliberately throwing/knocking the ball out.

Regards, Marius.
 
3. Name: Naas Ferreira
 
Question: In one of the weekend games the following happened frequently. Lock catches ball in line-out While still in the air throws to another player who runs back into the lock . In my mind a contravention of law 10 1  (e)  and a penalty. That did not happen. The referee now rules a ruck and penalises the opposition for all sorts of things.

As the above catcher runs into his own player and immediately hands the ball backwards the ball carrier is never in contact with the opposition. My question how can a ruck be formed in such circumstances?

Marius Jonker: Hi Naas.

I am not sure why the referee penalised the other team 'for all sorts of things' and I can only assume that he identified an offence prior to the ball being passed by the lock.

In regards to your question. . . . .
If the lock passes the ball to a teammate, that teammate runs into the lock and the lock makes contact with an opponent it is obstruction or at the very least accidental offside and thus either a penalty or a scrum to the opposing team.

If they do not make contact with opponents then it is not a ruck or a maul and they can move in the direction of the opponents goal-line. If they do make contact then it needs to be the ball-carrier that needs to make contact first or else it is obstruction.

Regards, Marius.
 
4. Name: Neil Alberts
 
Question: Hi Marius,
 
How are you? All is well here in Phalaborwa.
 
A simple question! South African teams have been renowned for their scrummaging ability, are you of the opinion that with the application of the law at scrum time now being refereed more stringent, that Australian/New Zealand teams will be able to dominate the SA teams more regularly or is the playing field now leveled. It would be interesting to see the statistics in relation to scrum infringements of the SA teams vs Australian/New Zealand teams.
 
Anyway i am sure the way the referees are handling the season thus far, it is a step in the right direction.
 
Keep well and my regards to all.

Marius Jonker: Hi Neila.

Lekker om van jou te hoor. Alles nog wel in die Baai ook.

I am not sure whether the efforts put in by referees at scrum time would be seen as an advantage to any team in particular but I can tell you that the game deserves proper scrums and properly refereed scrums.

In South Africa  (and elsewhere in the world) there has been a helluva lot of thinking/strategising gone into improving scrums. Referees in SA work very closely with Wattie [André Watson], Tappe [Henning] and Balie Swart to improve scrums in every game.

I know we are moving in the right direction and although we might not get every call right I can confidently say that referees are much better equipped/educated when it comes to scrums than ever before. The best thing of this whole process is that I find that front row players are now starting to trust referees at scrum time and we then get player compliance.

Credit must also go to the teams for taking ownership of scrums and realizing that it is a part of the game that needed urgent fixing.

Cheers, Marra.

5. Name: Michael Jones
 
Question: When two players both go to ground holding the ball and neither of them release who is at fault? And in a tackle is there a particular order of what has to happen first, does the tackler have to release first or does the tackled player have to release first?

Marius Jonker: Hi Michael.

The tackler will get penalised.

The tackler needs to release first in order for the ball carrier to fulfil his options.

Regards, Marius.