Mind the gap: World Rugby has a decision to make on laws governing the lineout

For all the passionate contributions to the debate on the role of the scrum sparked during the World Cup, rugby’s other prominent set-piece has fallen into a state of confusion.

Lacking the drama of scrum penalties that can on occasion lead to match-winning kicks at goal, the lineout doesn’t garner as many TV studio takes or column inches. Nonetheless, the laws of that particular set-piece are not being enforced.

Law 18.10 states that each team must form “a single line parallel to and half a metre from the mark of touch on their side of the lineout between the five-metre and 15-metre lines. The gap between the lines must be maintained until the ball is thrown in.” In other words, there needs to be a metre between the teams.

The trend of both sides not respecting that gap has been prevalent for a long time now. The World Cup, with all of the extra eyeballs, highlighted it further to an extent, without anything changing. The phenomenon has continued with domestic action now at the forefront of the game.

The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times

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This is no longer the case at any lineout. The defence inches towards their opposition to minimise the distance they have to reach across to pilfer a throw. As a result, the hooker throwing the ball in no longer stands in the middle of the lineout, instead inching across towards his own set of forwards.

Referees sometimes warn both defences and attacking hookers not to move, but the required sanction, a free-kick, is too often omitted.

World Rugby regularly instructs officials on which offences to keep a particular eye on depending on what teams think they can get away with. Perhaps no gap at the lineout does not impact the spectacle, therefore the powers that be are happy with the current status quo.

If that is the case, the laws should be tweaked. If not, then they should be enforced. A free-kick escalating into a penalty for repeat offenders would quickly stop the rot. Perhaps the shaving cream to draw a line for defensive walls in football could be borrowed?

McCarthy’s new Leinster gig

Former Leinster and Ireland lock Mike McCarthy has a new job. He debuted in the role for the province’s home opener against the Sharks, took a break a week later against Edinburgh but was back for the pregame festivities against the Scarlets on Saturday.

McCarthy has been tasked with warming up the crowd before home matches, clearly in a bid to stoke a better atmosphere in Ballsbridge.

On both occasions, he entered by announcing himself as Leinster’s one true god, Devin Toner. Those who have listened to interviews with McCarthy will be aware of his adulation of Leinster’s giant former secondrow, but plenty would still have been confused to see that Toner had shrunk and lost his Meath accent, replaced instead by a London one.

McCarthy proceeds to ask Leinster’s enthusiastic mascot Leo the Lion to lead each of the four stands in the RDS in a Skol clap, made famous by Iceland fans at Euro 2016. McCarthy bangs his drum twice, Leo and the fans respond with a clap, and the sequence repeats itself, getting quicker each time.

Some Leinster fans clearly don’t watch much football, taking a while to get up to speed. Delays on Saturday meant that McCarthy didn’t have time to get to the Leinster ultras in the Anglesea Stand, much to their dismay.

The effectiveness of this new bit will become more clear in weeks to come when fans are more familiar with the routine. In the opening salvos, McCarthy’s methods delighted some in the crowd, confused others, and provided comic relief to plenty.

Bosch suffers shot clock woes

Connacht’s victory over the Sharks flagged a new quirk of the laws. Rugby’s relatively new shot clock grants kickers 90 seconds to take a conversion, 60 seconds for a penalty.

In Durban on Saturday, following the Sharks’ try in the 32nd minute, Curwin Bosch was told by referee Craig Evans he had only 10 seconds left to take the conversion as he was still lining it up. Visibly surprised, Bosch was told by Evans to look up at the stadium’s screen where the clock was.

Bosch subsequently rushed through his effort and missed. The Sharks went on to lose by a point.

After the Sharks’ try, a scuffle broke out between both sides which ate into Bosch’s time to take the kick. The clock did not stop during the altercation. World Rugby’s laws aren’t clear on if Evans was supposed to stop the clock for such a disruption, but given the measure was introduced to stop time wasting, it is difficult to envisage.

What likely happened is the Sharks players acted against their own interest by becoming involved in the scuffle, thus delaying the kick. Perhaps Bosch should have still lined up his conversion regardless of the activity of his team-mates.

Either way, it may be one of the first times we see a kicker rushed in this manner, but it likely won’t be the last.

Number: 1

On December 1st, the class action of nearly 300 former rugby professionals, including five from Ireland, who blame World Rugby, the RFU and WRU for life-changing brain injuries will appear in the high court in London, according to a report in The Sunday Times. Steve Thompson, the former England World Cup winner, is among the players.

Quote

“An Irish journalist described me as ‘a deranged Eton headmaster with a ferret down his pants.” Wayne Barnes in an interview with Donald McRae of the Guardian, published on Saturday.