LewCharnock wrote:
Two poor examples, one in each half; O'Neil didn't clear the ruck and the ball cannoned off his legs and went forward 2/3 yards and the shout was play on.
They changed the ruling on this a few years ago. There was a season a few years back where teams realised they could get easy penalties by deliberately playing the ball into the defender who had just made a legs tackle or passing it into retreating offside players. There were games that were made into a complete farce by this loophole.
They changed it midseason to say the guy playing the ball has to find space to play it, the hooker has to use his skill to play around defenders who have been left on the floor behind the ruck (as long as they don't deliberately obstruct play as O'Neil didn't), and if you deliberately pass the ball into an offside player you will be penalised (didn't happen here but relevant to the overall rule).
It's not perfect but penalising O'Neil wouldn't be a good outcome either. He's not trying to obstruct the play and if he moves he's likely to make it worse.