wire-quin wrote:
There is no difference, a tackle should be executed by a defender(s) not the guy with the ball. Slater dives out of the in goal onto the floor time and time again. Call it what you will.
Whether you don't see a difference is irrelevant, it exists in the application of the rules. Surrender tackle is diving at the players feet, who completes the tackle. or standing still and succumbing to the tackle. The ref calls 'surrender' and the defenders are rewarded with longer time to re-adjust their grip and control the tackle. A voluntary tackle is when the player plays the ball, with no tackle having been effected. The ref is basically backed into the call because generally the defenders will all otherwise be placed offside in this situation, as they won't have had an opportunity to retreat. It hardly ever/never happens at professional level, but I've seen it at lower levels.
I'd say if Joynt played the ball after initially hitting the floor, it should be penalised as a voluntary tackle. As it is, he stands up again and surrenders to the tackle by Gilmour, thus making it a surrender tackle. The ref should call 'surrender' and give Gilmour longer in the ruck and the opportunity to re-grip (no great advantage at that point in the game, granted).
