Last few minutes timekeeping

[GogLais]

I had to miss the last few minutes of Wales v Scotland. Now watched it and something struck me re time-keeping. There's the illegal tackle by Basham whenever it was (about 78 minutes?) and play goes on with Scotland in possession deep in their 25 while the TMO reviews it. He tells the ref and play stops at 79:58 so Scotland basically have one play left assuming no further offence by Wales. Logically/fairly should the clock have gone back to 78:00? I realise that's not how the laws are written.

Would play have restarted at 80:00 if the TMO had pointed out Basham's offence to the ref and the clock was already in the red?

Or am I missing something simple?

[JM2K6]

I had to miss the last few minutes of Wales v Scotland. Now watched it and something struck me re time-keeping. There's the illegal tackle by Basham whenever it was (about 78 minutes?) and play goes on with Scotland in possession deep in their 25 while the TMO reviews it. He tells the ref and play stops at 79:58 so Scotland basically have one play left assuming no further offence by Wales. Logically/fairly should the clock have gone back to 78:00? I realise that's not how the laws are written.

Would play have restarted at 80:00 if the TMO had pointed out Basham's offence to the ref and the clock was already in the red?

Or am I missing something simple?

Play would have restarted at 8x:xx yes, as the game doesn't stop on a penalty. We don't rewind time on penalty advantage - it's a pain in the arse to track and would make whistlefests last literally forever.

On a vaguely related note, I hope that the points difference lost in the Italy/England game doesn't matter at the end of the tournament. Ref blew up for a try that wasn't, but it should've been play on to England. Instead the game ends. Just bad luck, but imagine if that had been the winning try...!

[Slick]

The latest thing to annoy me is kickers running through the mark before kicking to touch. Ref gives a mark, player steps a couple of metres beyond it, then starts his run to kick. By the time they do kick they have grabbed another 5-6 metres

[JM2K6]

The latest thing to annoy me is kickers running through the mark before kicking to touch. Ref gives a mark, player steps a couple of metres beyond it, then starts his run to kick. By the time they do kick they have grabbed another 5-6 metres

They've also started to dummy the run-up!

Either remove the ability to charge the kick at all, or make them do it properly

[Torquemada 1420]

On a vaguely related note, I hope that the points difference lost in the Italy/England game doesn't matter at the end of the tournament.

I suspect it won't be the difference between Eng being champions or not. Although that does not alter the principle any more than disallowing Jaminet's try would!

[Torquemada 1420]

The latest thing to annoy me is kickers running through the mark before kicking to touch. Ref gives a mark, player steps a couple of metres beyond it, then starts his run to kick. By the time they do kick they have grabbed another 5-6 metres

This is another Law that annoys the sh*t out of me but the bit where we insist on it being taken exactly from the offence spot. I want the game speeded up. The Law should be changed so that the kick can be taken anywhere behind a line where the offence occurred and anywhere wider out from it too.

[GogLais]

I had to miss the last few minutes of Wales v Scotland. Now watched it and something struck me re time-keeping. There's the illegal tackle by Basham whenever it was (about 78 minutes?) and play goes on with Scotland in possession deep in their 25 while the TMO reviews it. He tells the ref and play stops at 79:58 so Scotland basically have one play left assuming no further offence by Wales. Logically/fairly should the clock have gone back to 78:00? I realise that's not how the laws are written.

Would play have restarted at 80:00 if the TMO had pointed out Basham's offence to the ref and the clock was already in the red?

Or am I missing something simple?

Play would have restarted at 8x:xx yes, as the game doesn't stop on a penalty. We don't rewind time on penalty advantage - it's a pain in the arse to track and would make whistlefests last literally forever.

On a vaguely related note, I hope that the points difference lost in the Italy/England game doesn't matter at the end of the tournament. Ref blew up for a try that wasn't, but it should've been play on to England. Instead the game ends. Just bad luck, but imagine if that had been the winning try...!

Ta, yes I get it that turning the clock back wouldn't really be practical. It's just that if the ref had spotted the offence when it happened, the clock would have stopped while he consulted with the TMO and Scotland would have had maybe two minutes play left instead of two seconds. Anyway, it's only a game.

[Paddington Bear]

I had to miss the last few minutes of Wales v Scotland. Now watched it and something struck me re time-keeping. There's the illegal tackle by Basham whenever it was (about 78 minutes?) and play goes on with Scotland in possession deep in their 25 while the TMO reviews it. He tells the ref and play stops at 79:58 so Scotland basically have one play left assuming no further offence by Wales. Logically/fairly should the clock have gone back to 78:00? I realise that's not how the laws are written.

Would play have restarted at 80:00 if the TMO had pointed out Basham's offence to the ref and the clock was already in the red?

Or am I missing something simple?

Play would have restarted at 8x:xx yes, as the game doesn't stop on a penalty. We don't rewind time on penalty advantage - it's a pain in the arse to track and would make whistlefests last literally forever.

On a vaguely related note, I hope that the points difference lost in the Italy/England game doesn't matter at the end of the tournament. Ref blew up for a try that wasn't, but it should've been play on to England. Instead the game ends. Just bad luck, but imagine if that had been the winning try...!

Ta, yes I get it that turning the clock back wouldn't really be practical. It's just that if the ref had spotted the offence when it happened, the clock would have stopped while he consulted with the TMO and Scotland would have had maybe two minutes play left instead of two seconds. Anyway, it's only a game.

It's an interesting point - have to say when they first introduced TMO checks to rugby I assumed they'd do an NFL style 'reset the clock'.

[Mahoney]

It's not really the same thing, but I'd like refs to stop thinking in terms of time for advantages. They should blow the moment there's not a clear likelihood of the team getting more advantage from continuing than they would have from getting the penalty / free kick / scrum.

More often than not that should be the next ruck. Knock-on advantage & you got clean possession at or beyond the point where the offence was committed? Advantage over, you've done as well as you should at a clean scrum. Penalty avantage, ruck formed & the defence are reasonably well aligned? Blow the whistle, have the penalty. We don't need to go through another phase on the off-chance that something happens.

Advantage should be about preventing the team offended against losing out on a crystal clear chance, not so that they get a save point they can go back to if they screw up while they go through several phases.

[Niegs]

The latest thing to annoy me is kickers running through the mark before kicking to touch. Ref gives a mark, player steps a couple of metres beyond it, then starts his run to kick. By the time they do kick they have grabbed another 5-6 metres

This is another Law that annoys the sh*t out of me but the bit where we insist on it being taken exactly from the offence spot. I want the game speeded up. The Law should be changed so that the kick can be taken anywhere behind a line where the offence occurred and anywhere wider out from it too.

I disagree. The Law, I'm pretty sure, says "within one metre" and I think that's fair. Scrum halves, at least, have known this from youth - either at the mark the referee has given, or from the spot of the infraction, which some refs seem to allow if they haven't actually put the foot there.