@crucial said in Wales v Australia:

@booboo said in Wales v Australia:

@tordah said in Wales v Australia:

@gibbon-rib I don't think the argument should be about whether it went backwards by an inch or not.
In basically EVERY instance this happens, the referee penalises the intent, which here quite clearly was to disrupt the pass through a negative play, that is not in the spirit of the game.
The ball was not clearly knocked back (it was knocked back by an inch or two), but the intent of the player was to disrupt and he took the chance of an extremely negative play which he might have been carded for. Seeing as assumed intent is already a part that is refereed, 99 out of a 100 refs would penalise the Welsh player here.

Basically, nobody wants to see a try like this, nobody wants to see plays decided by measuring whether a ball fell downwards at an angle or not. The intent was bad and he got lucky. Yes, play to the whistle and all (fucking idiot Kurtley), but the Welsh player knew himself he fucked up. If that try was chalked off, there would be almost no complaints, as it wouldn't feel wrong. We all know that is not how we play this game.

You would hope 100 out 100 would not penalise.

There is no "negative intent". Stopping a pass legally is a very positive result for Wales.

I think their is a bit of confusion here. IMO it was a negative action but tat was solely because he didn't look to be trying to knock it back,it was just fortuitous that he did. He was just sticking out a hand to stop the pass and it worked out.

Having watched the replays far too many times, I've actually come to the conclusion that Tomkins deserves a bit more credit than just being the beneficiary of pure luck. His motion is more than just sticking his arm out, he actually moves his hand and fingers back as the ball arrives in an attempt to knock it backwards towards himself. And I think he knew it went backwards - he does slow down, but you can clearly see him saying "back" to the ref. (It's reasonable to ask why he slowed down at all, my guess is that he thought it had been called back because of of reactions of all the other players / 75k fans around him).

So I think he was just very lucky, rather than incredibly lucky.

Having said that, it's all irrelevant to the outcome, all that matters is whether the ball went forwards.

The Silver Fern

gibbon rib