No sorry this is the farce that arises from caterpillar rucks and law drift. I get the scrum half must recover the ball from the ruck and this will entail picking but this really was excessive. I mean we are in pantomime season here.
Pink 9 has leant in with his right hand, started to pull the ball back, then leant in with the left hand and had a couple of rolls backwards with it whilst the caterpillar grows another body.
Then he has both hands on it:
Rolls it a bit more and then tries to position it in between the feet of the last player. But then requires another roll with both hands and finally there is a slight lift and place when on the Try Line.
So taken back by Pink - no dispute
Those feet are in goal and the ruck is over, no offside line and yellow can come and touch down.
15.19 - The ruck ends and play continues when the ball leaves the ruck or when the ball in the ruck is on or over the try line.
Being benevolent the referee might have found that is was touched down:
21.1 - The ball can be grounded in in-goal:
a. By holding it and touching the ground with it
or awarded the 5 m scrum:
21.17 - If there is doubt about which team first grounded the ball in in-goal, play is restarted with a five-metre scrum, in line with the place where the ball was grounded. The attacking team throws in
However I'm kinda in full support of the decision here, if the Pink 9 is not aware and the ball is in goal then Yellow can play and did to their advantage.
Let's stop some of these charades and apply the Laws - No further additions to the ruck after:
15.17 - When the ball has been clearly won by a team at the ruck, and is available to be played, the referee calls “use it”, after which the ball must be played away from the ruck within five seconds.
Biking Bud the caterpillar killer
