Steff Anderson is a referee in the Welsh Rugby Union. His column hopes to clarify aspects of the game from a referee’s point of view. You can find him on Twitter – @SteffTheRef

The Penalty Try

What is a penalty try? When is a penalty try awarded? What is this the sanction of? All questions that are asked once a penalty try has been awarded. Most recent penalty tries include this summer’s South Africa v Wales test. This is probably one of the most obvious reasons to give a penalty try, this will also be our example for our ‘Clarification in Law’. Our second example will be from the 2012 Heineken Cup final between Ulster and Leinster at Twickenham, where a driving maul is collapsed short of the line.

Clarified by Steve Walsh himself, with one of the best explanations and clarifications of reason behind the awarding of the penalty try, with assistance of his television match official (TMO):

“I’m going to give you [Alun-Wyn Jones] a really clear explanation of what happens with the law here. When there is an illegal act of foul play, we actually take the defender completely out of the picture, as if he is not there. So in my opinion, the try would have been scored here. It is going to be a penalty try.”

Walsh then proceeded to award South Africa the penalty try.

What Steve Walsh has said here is 100% correct, and here under law 10.2(a): “A penalty try must be awarded if the offence prevents a try that would probably otherwise have been scored.”

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The actions of the Welsh full-back, Liam Williams, are illegal. Therefore under the laws of the game, officials rule him out of the picture, to see if a try would have been scored, if he wasn’t there. Law 10.4(g) [Dangerous charging. A player must not charge or knock down an opponent carrying the ball without trying to grasp that player] describes Williams’ foul play. What this law is saying is that the arms must wrap around the attacker. Tackling without the arms is an illegal offence, as it could cause serious injury. A less formal way of addressing this would be a ‘shoulder charge’.

We see that George North’s initial tackle wasn’t enough to prevent a try, so all responsibilities then fall to the final defender. There would have been no issue for the Welsh if Williams had wrapped his arm and completed a fair, legal tackle on the Springbok 14, a tackle which would have saved a try, rather than illegally prevented a try from being scored.

Our second penalty try incident sees Nigel Owens running under the sticks after Ulster’s loose head prop, Tom Court, collapses a maul 3 metres out from the line, preventing the maul from pushing over the line for a try.

http://youtu.be/4aydRR1paro?t=1m44s

When a maul is formed, it is down to the team in possession of the ball to end it. Whether this is by moving the ball from the ball carrier, to the back of the maul and out, or whether it is by taking it to ground and turning the situation into a ruck. NEVER must a player from the defending side collapse a maul by pulling it to ground or by grabbing opposing players around the legs. These are all illegal forms of ending a maul. As a defender the only way to get possession of that ball, is by ripping it out, or when the maul is taken to ground keep hold of ball and carrier.

In 2012 the ever-welcome presence of Nigel Owens deemed that Tom Court, the Ulster number 1, had collapsed the maul illegally. Looking at it, we see that Court re-joins the maul from a legal position, but joins the maul around the legs of the attackers, therefore illegally collapsing the maul, preventing the Leinstermen from barreling their way over the whitewash to score the try. Owens then has no option but to reward Leinster with what they would have gotten, if illegal play wasn’t committed.

Like with Steve Walsh in the previous example, we see that if you took Tom Court out of the picture, the maul would have passed the line and Leinster would have scored:

Law 17.2(e) “A player must not intentionally collapse a maul. This is dangerous play.”

Therefore once again, illegal play has prevented a probable try of being scored, a penalty try then has to be awarded.

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