Kick Forward question

Hi there Ref

I saw a situation the other day and was not sure if it was legal or not and request your advice.

Situation:

Blue team backs have the ball in the middle of the park and the centre chips the ball forward and all the backs advance, The parson who chipped the ball get to the bouncing ball first and kicks it off the ground as its bouncing, a second blue player who was just in front of the this person collects the bouncing ball collects the ball and scores a try.

So was he off side if he was in front of the player kicking the ball? I don’t think it could be a forward pass as a kick is not a pass is it ?

Hi Alan

Thanks for your question.   

Law 10.1 A player is offside in open play if that player is in front of a team-mate who is carrying the ball or who last played it. An offside player must not interfere with play. This includes :

a. Playing the ball.

b. Tackling the ball-carrier.

c. Preventing the opposition from playing as they wish.

So after the second kick, the team-mate in front of the kicker is offside and must not interfere with play. Since the player in front "played the ball" he did interfere with play.  Penalty.

Thanks for the question

The Rugby Ref