What happens on the mountain stays on the back

Because Whatever happens in the ruck stays in the pile. This is a phase of the game in which one or more players from each team, on their feet and in physical contact, group together around the ball on the ground to gain possession of it. After the tackle, the ball carrier presents the ball with both hands as far away from the opponents as possible. Players coming to the field to participate in the game must take a stable position on their legs. and they make contact by holding the other player with their entire arm. They must join from behind the last leg of their last teammate where the offside line is drawn. Support players should hold on to their teammate and push the ball past if appropriate. When the ball is out of play during the push, which the team wins, the nearest support player must play the ball.

Sometimes, when the ball is clearly won by one team and is ready to be played, we hear the referee warn, “Use it” because the ball must be played within five seconds. When the ball goes out or the referee decides that the ball can no longer be played, the game ends and play continues. If the referee decides that release is not possible within a reasonable time, a scrum decision will be made.

Every player knows (or should know) the rules, but interpretations of them vary. During the last World Cup in France, we saw the cliffs become literal ‘swimming pools’ into which players dive to gain possession of the ball and ‘clear’ the opponents’ cliffs. Something that is not allowed when you are not working on your feet. Moreover, they often entered from the side rather than through the proper channel. And sometimes the carrier would take a while to present the ball, trying to prevent his opponent from stealing the ball, or by reaching the back first and taking the ‘almond’, causing a recovery and forcing the ball to be held.

Poitier: “There are fouls in all fields”

There are so many irregularities at this stage that South African referee Romain Poitier, one of the most senior referees, left this thought to the last few hours: “There is a foul in almost every game. The essence of high-level refereeing is to pick and choose the foul that has a real impact on the game. The referee cannot point out everything he sees“. In most cases the purpose of these fouls is limited to conditioning the play rather than changing the meaning of the play. You don’t get the ball back, but you get into the rock to disturb the release and slow its resolution, giving your ‘fats’ a few vital seconds to reposition themselves in defence, and when the play is released, they’ll be in position to stop the play. play.

In parallel, the second New Zealander Brodie Retallick, An expert on ‘Business’ emphasized the importance of this stage in the game: “The speed of the ball will determine the game in both defense and attack. Whoever wins this battle will win the game.” In a rugby game with giants moving around the field at ultrasonic speed, managing the timing of the game is decisive, which further narrows down the field. For teams like Retallick’s All Blacks who surgically execute their attacks, slowing down the release of the ball can decide games. We got confirmation of this in the World Cup final, where the South Africans turned debris into carnage with their ‘Bomb Squad’ of unstoppable forwards who neutralized the attacking tsunami of the Blacks.

And for this purpose countless tricks have been combined. There are real ‘experts’ involved. One of them is Richie McCaw, the historic captain of New Zealand, who was warned by the English referee Wayne Barnes, who blew the whistle in the last World Cup final: “Richie always had a knack for asking the right question at the right time. Sometimes I felt like I was losing control. Contrary to popular belief, he didn’t talk much on the field. Aim“I knew the rules inside and out, so when I asked a question I was mostly right.” Urban legend says that McCaw made a habit of being offside, and T-shirts were even printed that read “I’ve been drinking since McCaw was offside.”

Ireland and the limits of regulation

The Irish delved deeply into the boundaries of the game as well as other phases of the game. The Greens created the ‘Strangler’ (The Choke), a type of tackle that consists of a combination of two defenders; where the former holds the ball carrier up and turns him towards his own half, performing a sort of ‘lock-on’ with his hands. weapon. After this maneuver is completed, the second intervening defender quickly comes and steals the ball easily. However In this case, other arts were also used, such as the now classic dropping of the tackler to the opponent’s side, to thwart the medo attack and slow down the release manoeuvre. There they put pressure on the referee, who must decide whether this maneuver was accidental or voluntary.

Another maneuver that explored the limits of the rule occurred in the match between the Irish and the Kiwis, when Green center Stuart McCloskey stood in a pile and waited for TJ Perenara to receive the ball. The Irish player, who remained standing despite being inside the ball, patiently endured until that moment and when the attacker went to pass, he held his arm, causing the pass to be faulty. Perenara complained bitterly to referee Karl Dickson: “It’s offside. If he’s part of the team, he can’t touch me. You know that!” Then Dickson explained: “McCloskey touched your arm, not the ball, which is allowed.” McCloskey was in front of the offside line as part of the attacking group but as soon as Perenara lifted the ball, the move ended legally and became open play. And without a coup, there is no offside line. So McCloskey waited for TJ to get the ball because that put him in play.

Ireland are one of the most dominant teams at the back due to their style of play, producing quick and clinical attacks in terms of attack. In fact, Ireland even before the World Cup They have the shortest average passing distance of all teams, just 6.4 metres, which can be explained because they put so few players on the pitch. This allows him to have more attackers, but also a forward and three-quarters with good handling technique. And defensively they are probably the ones, along with South Africa, who slow down opposition attacks the most, giving them time to reposition themselves defensively.

“Beep everything”

These are just some of the tricks used after the rules get bored. In many games, situations lead to dirty messes where ‘too much’ happens that goes beyond the bounds of the rules. Mathieu Raynal, The Referee, one of the most controversial referees whose decisions were made at the World Cup, left behind another reflection: “What’s happening in the Rock is understandable to those involved in top level rugby. It’s less so to the general public, which I can understand.” But the other key is exactly how referees make statements and communicate with players and fans through the microphone they carry during matches. In this context, the Canadian referee Julianne Zusman Having managed matches at the Women’s World Cup, the Olympic Games and 7 A-Side World Series, he adds: “The best referees in the world are thanks to their communication with the players. This is truly the art of refereeing. managing a match. Anyone can blow the whistle, know the law and apply it. But it’s about understanding the nuances and knowing when not to blow the whistle. In the demanding world of international rugby, it is part of the referee’s job to control events. But so is explaining many of the rules of the sport; Much of this is open to interpretation. “The modern game is so fast and so dynamic that it is extremely difficult for a referee to facilitate a fair match.”

For all this Modern rugby involves staying on top of what’s happening on the field and adjusting ruck timing. If you want to reduce revolutions so that your people can breathe, speed up or slow down as needed, for or against. But no one doubts that we will continue to see psychotic trios throwing themselves into the pool, cutting in laterally, defenders going offside, carriers extending the release to give their support time, defenders hunting down the attacking half of groups on foot… Ruck’s speed reveals the proposed type of rugby. And indeed rugby is pure Ruck’n’roll.