I saw quite a bit of complaining about Scotland’s first try. I mean sure enough, most of it was from me, but my initial thoughts were that it was hands in the ruck or offside. After having a closer look, I’ve discovered that it was fair play.

The try

My initial concern was that Peter Horne was part of the ruck and playing the ball with his hands. You can only reach in and grab the ball from last man’s feet. However looking closer, we can see that there is no aussie player on their feet bound with a Scottish player.

Rob Simmons and Scott Sio are just standing guard. This means that it is a tackle situation and that there is no offside. That doesn’t mean that Australia can just run around and grab it though. You can only approach the tackle situation and compete for the ball from behind last man’s feet, unless you are the tackler.

There may be a case that Simmons did initiate a ruck by placing his hand on Horne’s back as he came around the corner, but I don’t think momentarily placing your hand on one’s shoulder constitutes as binding onto a player.

Final words

So in conclusion, Simmons let in another try this year. He should have either contested the breakdown to form a ruck, or at least paid attention to Horne. Maybe genia should have been behind the ruck where most halfbacks defend. Either way, it was a well worked try by Scotland and I retract my whinging about it.

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