RugbyRebels

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/48081282

Mulvihill wasn't happy with not getting a penalty try from Evans's deliberate knock-on.

I took another look at it and - although it looks bad at full speed - in fact, the ball doesn't go forwards from Evans at all. Lee-Lo's pass to Tomos Williams is moving forwards from him (towards the Ospreys' line), Evans knocks it off course so Williams can't get it, but it's still going slightly towards the Ospreys' end. But in real time it looked like a k-o, so that wasn't checked.

So it shouldn't have been a penalty or card at all.

Son of Mathonwy wrote:https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/48081282

Mulvihill wasn't happy with not getting a penalty try from Evans's deliberate knock-on.

I took another look at it and - although it looks bad at full speed - in fact, the ball doesn't go forwards from Evans at all. Lee-Lo's pass to Tomos Williams is moving forwards from him (towards the Ospreys' line), Evans knocks it off course so Williams can't get it, but it's still going slightly towards the Ospreys' end. But in real time it looked like a k-o, so that wasn't checked.

So it shouldn't have been a penalty or card at all.

It would have been a massive call for a penalty try. 5 m out then it would have been but with the distance to go and defenders in the general area, it wasn’t certain that a try would have been scored.

Sandydragon wrote:

Son of Mathonwy wrote:https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/48081282

Mulvihill wasn't happy with not getting a penalty try from Evans's deliberate knock-on.

I took another look at it and - although it looks bad at full speed - in fact, the ball doesn't go forwards from Evans at all. Lee-Lo's pass to Tomos Williams is moving forwards from him (towards the Ospreys' line), Evans knocks it off course so Williams can't get it, but it's still going slightly towards the Ospreys' end. But in real time it looked like a k-o, so that wasn't checked.

So it shouldn't have been a penalty or card at all.

It would have been a massive call for a penalty try. 5 m out then it would have been but with the distance to go and defenders in the general area, it wasn’t certain that a try would have been scored.

I don't think they need certainty to award a penalty try, but I agree there were other defenders around etc, still too much to do.

I thought the same watching the big screen. But in all fairness fumbles like that are ALWAYS given as knock-ons even when they aren't, which is irritating but consistent, so I wouldn't complain in this instance.

What I would complain about (Broken Record Alert!) is that bloody law existing in the first place. It's a knock-on. Give a scrum. If you, as an attacking player, can't throw a pass that an onside defender can't reach, then that's your problem. You get the ball back, what more do you want? If we want to give attackers more space and cut down interceptions, then move the offside line FFS. It boils my piss that Evans gets 10 minutes for a knock-on in midfield, while later on Cardiff cynically offend on their try-line and it's just a penalty because it's "the first offence".

I'm not criticising Owens or his team at all. By the law, both Allen and Evans were textbook yellow cards. But the law is a donkey's bum.

Sourdust wrote:I thought the same watching the big screen. But in all fairness fumbles like that are ALWAYS given as knock-ons even when they aren't, which is irritating but consistent, so I wouldn't complain in this instance.

What I would complain about (Broken Record Alert!) is that bloody law existing in the first place. It's a knock-on. Give a scrum. If you, as an attacking player, can't throw a pass that an onside defender can't reach, then that's your problem. You get the ball back, what more do you want? If we want to give attackers more space and cut down interceptions, then move the offside line FFS. It boils my piss that Evans gets 10 minutes for a knock-on in midfield, while later on Cardiff cynically offend on their try-line and it's just a penalty because it's "the first offence".

I'm not criticising Owens or his team at all. By the law, both Allen and Evans were textbook yellow cards. But the law is a donkey's bum.

Amos's yellow was a tight call too, he protested that the ball went backwards off his hand, something the refs never seem to be able to take into account.

The TMOs need a bit of technology to help with this. It's science but it's not rocket science.

Numbers wrote:

Sourdust wrote:I thought the same watching the big screen. But in all fairness fumbles like that are ALWAYS given as knock-ons even when they aren't, which is irritating but consistent, so I wouldn't complain in this instance.

What I would complain about (Broken Record Alert!) is that bloody law existing in the first place. It's a knock-on. Give a scrum. If you, as an attacking player, can't throw a pass that an onside defender can't reach, then that's your problem. You get the ball back, what more do you want? If we want to give attackers more space and cut down interceptions, then move the offside line FFS. It boils my piss that Evans gets 10 minutes for a knock-on in midfield, while later on Cardiff cynically offend on their try-line and it's just a penalty because it's "the first offence".

I'm not criticising Owens or his team at all. By the law, both Allen and Evans were textbook yellow cards. But the law is a donkey's bum.

Amos's yellow was a tight call too, he protested that the ball went backwards off his hand, something the refs never seem to be able to take into account.

I am also regularly annoyed at how any dropped ball - unless it's obviously backwards - is an automatic knock-on.

The automatic penalty+yellow for the "deliberate" k-o is very unsatisfying because it's essentially a "hero or zero" thing. North was a hero against France, but he could have gone off for 10 had he failed to catch the ball.

But I can see why they need to penalise it otherwise defenders would be waving their hands all over the place. How long has this been a penalty offence - does anyone know or remember what things were like before?

The automatic yellow does seem excessive though. If it's stopped a try, penalty try. If not, why punish it like it was a tip tackle?

Sandydragon wrote:

Son of Mathonwy wrote:https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/48081282

Mulvihill wasn't happy with not getting a penalty try from Evans's deliberate knock-on.

I took another look at it and - although it looks bad at full speed - in fact, the ball doesn't go forwards from Evans at all. Lee-Lo's pass to Tomos Williams is moving forwards from him (towards the Ospreys' line), Evans knocks it off course so Williams can't get it, but it's still going slightly towards the Ospreys' end. But in real time it looked like a k-o, so that wasn't checked.

So it shouldn't have been a penalty or card at all.

It would have been a massive call for a penalty try. 5 m out then it would have been but with the distance to go and defenders in the general area, it wasn’t certain that a try would have been scored.

I do think a penalty try would have been a big call but I'm absolutely certain Tomos WIlliams scores from there.