Re: ROBBED AGAIN : Mon Mar 01, 2010 3:49 pm
Bonzo wrote:
I think that's the difference - the emphasis on regathering the ball (and with it regaining full control) to prevent completion of the knock-on. On this occasion, completion of the knock-on occurred when the ball hit the floor in the in-goal area.
There are times like this one when recollecting the ball isn't appropriate or even possible. In that sense I think the argument for the try being awarded is that he got his hand onto the ball and as such got as much control as he could possibly get.
Another issue I have always had with knock-ons is the whole "did it go backwards?" argument. I think we have been quite fortunate with a few incidents where we've dropped the ball but it has been deemed to have gone backwards. Sherwin dropping the ball before Shenny's full lengther against Leeds immediately springs to mind as does another incident in that game where Scott Moore dropped the ball from a Guttenbeil offload which led to Westerman's try.
Rules are supposed to be clear and the knock on rule is far from clear for many reasons. Would it be easier to award a knock on for a clear loss of ball control in which cases all 3 incidents mentioned before would be given as knock ons? The downside of this is more stoppages which nobody wants.
I suppose the benefit we have with this particularly incident is that a precedent has now been set for awarding a try if it occurs again. We can argue that it ultimately cost us the game but I'm of the inclination that we didn't win on Saturday because we failed to put the game to bed. Sure, it was unfortunate that it had to go against us but these things happen.