Wednesday 18 March 2015

22 Restart or Scrum?

A question to "Ask The Ref"

 Team with the ball are 5m from their own try line. They pass the ball back into their own 'in goal' area, attempted kick is charged down by opposition and ball goes dead. 
What is the correct decision? 
Regards,  Damo
 Hi Damo

Assuming the kick didn't leave in-goal, the defending team took the ball into in-goal, and then the ball was made dead, so it is an attacking 5m scrum.

Unless, the kick left in-goal and the charge down was in the field of play and deflected the ball back into in-goal, in which case the charge downer is the one who took the ball into in-goal. That would be a 22 restart as the attacker put the ball into in-goal.

The key here is "who put the ball into in-goal" and not "who made it dead".

The Rugby Ref