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Defending the try line - where is offside?

F

fatscally

New member
Hi Refs.

When red is attacking the try line with <10 meters to go, let's say they're 7 meters out. Where exactly do the toes of defending blues need to be at the play of the ball?

To the letter of the law my understanding was toes BEHIND the try line.

Wikipedia: "A defending player is offside if he/she is less than 10m away from the play-the-ball (or, if the play-the-ball is inside his 10m line, closer to it than the try-line is) when the ball is played."

Most recently I'm seeing players leave their trailing foot on the try line while they are stretched sometimes a yard into the field of play.

Can someone please clarify?

Thanks :)


:ireland:
 
fatscally said:
Hi Refs.

When red is attacking the try line with <10 meters to go, let's say they're 7 meters out. Where exactly do the toes of defending blues need to be at the play of the ball?

To the letter of the law my understanding was toes BEHIND the try line.

Wikipedia: "A defending player is offside if he/she is less than 10m away from the play-the-ball (or, if the play-the-ball is inside his 10m line, closer to it than the try-line is) when the ball is played."

Most recently I'm seeing players leave their trailing foot on the try line while they are stretched sometimes a yard into the field of play.

Can someone please clarify?

Thanks :)


:ireland:
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Welcome to Rugbyrefs.com

The answer depends on what you are defending against. The offside line is

1. for a line-out on the 10m.... the goal line
2. for a scrum on the 10m line.....5m behind the hindmost foot of their own No. 8
3. for a Ruck or Maul on the 10m line.... a line through the hindmost foot of their own players in the ruck or maul

In all cases, I expect BOTH feet to be behind the offside line.

In General Play or a tackle, there is no offside line as such, only offside in Genral Play (Law 11)
 
Ian_Cook said:
Ooops. That what I get for not reading the breadcrumbs!!

In that case, feet on or behind the goal line at all times...
Click to expand...

BOTH feet though right?
And I would have reasoned that because the line is the target that they should be toes behind the line (if being argumentative).
 
fatscally said:
BOTH feet though right?
And I would have reasoned that because the line is the target that they should be toes behind the line (if being argumentative).
Click to expand...

[LAWS]RL Laws of the Game
GLOSSARY
BEHIND: when applied to a player means, unless otherwise stated, that both feet are behind the position in question.
Similarly “in front” implies “with both feet”. When applied to a position on the field of play, “behind” means nearer to one’s own goal line than the point in question. Similarly “in front of” means nearer to one’s opponents’ goal line.[/LAWS]
 
NRL interpretation (used all throughout Australia): Back foot on the line, and the front foot cannot be past the centre of the ruck.

I'd say in the UK one foot on the line would be standard. The NRL tried to enforce 2 feet on the line a few years ago and it didn't work.
 
leaguerefaus said:
I'd say in the UK one foot on the line would be standard.
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I wish!! :mad:

It appears to be "not so far in front of the referee that he can't see their numbers" sometimes!

Watching at Magic Weekend recently, after watching 6 games on the bounce it appears all the RL top guys are all equally lax in enforcing it so perhaps we should be grateful for consistency.

We were sat on the 20m line so had a reasonable view of the line/offside shenanigans down our end.
 
Last edited:
leaguerefaus said:
NRL interpretation (used all throughout Australia): Back foot on the line, and the front foot cannot be past the centre of the ruck.

I'd say in the UK one foot on the line would be standard. The NRL tried to enforce 2 feet on the line a few years ago and it didn't work.
Click to expand...

try harder??:shrug:
 
If they ask, I tell them "both feet", then as long as they make it look like they're trying and they're not right next to the ruck area, whatever. (Don't think this year's referee policy says anything about it.) The one to watch for is the sneaky bugger at 5m and in who puts both feet on the line and then crouches into a runner's stance at the side of the ruck with his hands on the ground and inside the field of play, who both cuts off the scoot and gets a head start to fire out and pressure the dummy-half.
 
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