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Ref stopping game

Dickie E

Dickie E


Referees in Australia
2 incidents from the weekend made me wonder:
1. Wales v SA. Ref stops game to deal with handbags (the RC incident)
2. NZ v Aust 7s cup final. In 1st half extra time, Aust try imminent. Ref stops game to check on a possible FP which TMO confirms no FP. Bad luck Aust, half time.

What is best practice in these situations? I understand stopping play for serious injury but is it appropriate for other incidents? I think not, but interested in what others think
 
I( suspect it comes under the "when you see it, you will know" category. Id feel it harsh to stop play when one team is in a very strongly advantageous position tantamount to an imminent score for something that may then turn out to be incorrect. That said in the vast majority of games played the ref is the only one that can make that call so what he/she calls is what goes.
 
I think if the ref stops play for injury/tmo/dog on pitch or any other extraneous event then play should always resume .

Otherwise spectators or other bad actors can easily force the end of a time expired game by (for instance by throwing an extra ball on)
 
Dickie E said:
2 incidents from the weekend made me wonder:
1. Wales v SA. Ref stops game to deal with handbags (the RC incident)
2. NZ v Aust 7s cup final. In 1st half extra time, Aust try imminent. Ref stops game to check on a possible FP which TMO confirms no FP. Bad luck Aust, half time.

What is best practice in these situations? I understand stopping play for serious injury but is it appropriate for other incidents? I think not, but interested in what others think
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As @didds mentioned if there are assistants and TMO for the ref then allowing the play to continue and assess if there was a forward pass via comms with other officials or TMO makes sense. You can scrub a try but you can't add one on, especially if it's half time or no-side.

Any afters then play should stop if the clock has expired then that is not the refs fault but belongs to those who felt grabby shouty games were more important.

Other elements or imponderables the power of the time is with the referee!
 
BikingBud said:
Any afters then play should stop if the clock has expired then that is not the refs fault but belongs to those who felt grabby shouty games were more important.
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though youd need to be careful that this doesnt effectively reward the team that have started it when one point up and under the cosh near their line...
 
how can you tell who is who when everyone is involved in grabby shouty games - but the 1 point up. dieing seconds team maybe realises provoking an early whistle for it is in their favour? Short of as a ref you hearing the captain saying to do it, very blatantly, you going to play that guessing game? Cos what if its the losing team provoking it to GET that PK? To win? You can tell THAT difference?
 

This is the 7s incident starting at about 14:30.

As an aside, I note they don't have in goal officials anymore. Presumably due to having TMO
 
Dickie E said:

This is the 7s incident starting at about 14:30.

As an aside, I note they don't have in goal officials anymore. Presumably due to having TMO
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that's maybe "bad luck" but it comes from a ref mistake where "potential serious foul play" was not what was in front of his eyes.
Time over clock is one thing, but when it is stopped by the ref and not an in game error for a scrum restart it should really be able to resume

Final score 22-26, harsh.
 
In today's Bath v Exeter game, Luke Pierce stopped the game with 41 minutes on the clock for a possible injury.
He declared, as he had stopped the game without foul play, he would restart with a "final play."
Discuss?

My view
Given; "safety, equity, law" - he had to stop play and equity trumps law, so should restart.
Play went nowhere, so everything is moot.
 
Camquin said:
In today's Bath v Exeter game, Luke Pierce stopped the game with 41 minutes on the clock for a possible injury.
He declared, as he had stopped the game without foul play, he would restart with a "final play."
Discuss?

My view
Given; "safety, equity, law" - he had to stop play and equity trumps law, so should restart.
Play went nowhere, so everything is moot.
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When you say a "final play" do you mean a scrum?
 
didds said:
Its a mistake. We are all human.

That's bloody appalling though.

Plenty of "mentoring" to come?
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With a TMO in place why not play on . And at the stoppage (try or whatever) ask the TMO to look at it. Then either award the try (No FP) or go to the Penalty.

In the sticks we would go with what we "saw". Either "I felt it was FP so PK" or play on. I'd buy either call from a "sticks" ref.
 
Dickie
Yes, scrum to side in possession.
Luke said, "there was no foul play, so we will restart."

I think he could equally have sold, the clock is in the red, so we will stop for half-time.
One thing to say is he was very clear with his communication to the players the entire game.
 
Camquin said:
In today's Bath v Exeter game, Luke Pierce stopped the game with 41 minutes on the clock for a possible injury.
He declared, as he had stopped the game without foul play, he would restart with a "final play."
Discuss?

My view
Given; "safety, equity, law" - he had to stop play and equity trumps law, so should restart.
Play went nowhere, so everything is moot.
Click to expand...
I saw something similar last week - maybe a welsh game? - where with the clock in the red and accidental bump with the ref saw the ref blow, and restart with a scrum - even though time was up etc.
Personally I thought it was the right call - safety, enjoyment, alw etc - but could see a different ref may have called that time
 
The game has to end at some point.
I saw on one of the gossipy rugby websites, someone arguing that a knock on by the defensive team should not end the game.

Both sides have had the previous 80 minutes to score.
In football and hockey, the whistle can go with the ball on its way towards an empty goal.

I personally do not like the American football thing of changing the rules on how the clock stops in the last 2:00 minutes, though I know why they do this.

I can see the argument that the referee should never affect the result. So if the referee prevented a possible coring opportunity, then there is an argument that for equity reasons play should restart.
 
Camquin said:
In football and hockey, the whistle can go with the ball on its way towards an empty goal.
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That reminds me of a charity sevens tournament I was reffing a few years ago. Our local semi pro RL team Barrow put a young squad in and ultimately won it.
They entered into the spirit and it was a good day. In one game the were winning approaching half time, the RL standoff threw a lovely dummy and set off unchallenged for a length of the pitch try but as he approached the 22, I blew for half time. He turned round flabbergasted, "are you joking". I just said sorry mate, it's differnt in RU when time is up, that's it. Shrugged his shouders and said" fair enough, I didn't know". Told him the truth at the end of the match alongside his teammates and coach who I know well who P*ssed themselves laughing!
 
Always felt that Thomas showed how he was an "all about me" type of referee with that call. Right in law but come off it. No feeel for the game at all.
 
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