clearing the ruck : Sun Feb 12, 2017 11:46 pm  

I read this on the Wakefield forum and wonder what our fans think.
I have to say when i saw Danny Houghton simply throw the ball onto the Wakefield player on the ground when in reality the player didnt impede his ability to pass the ball i thought this is not good for the game even though it gifted us a penalty under the posts.





I have now seen 6 penalties this round on TV and today at BV for dummy half passes being thrown at the defender on the ground on purpose. I know its a penalty in the rules, but it is now getting that even when it is blatently obvious that the pass was thrown directly at te man the refs are still giving penalties. The oficials do have a power of discresion that if a incident of un sprting behaviour takes place a penalty can be awarded. I hate this tactic, most do, its pathetic, it won Hull the game today, we even got one from it, but its poor, and if allowed to continue, coaches will actually coach players to do it and get penalties

Re: clearing the ruck : Sun Feb 12, 2017 11:56 pm  

Really difficult for the refs this one. They need immediate guidance from the RFL who need to put a stop to it before it takes control and Wigan start on it.
That nice person Cameron Smith started all this.

Re: clearing the ruck : Mon Feb 13, 2017 8:03 am  

I'm ok with it
It's as much gamesmanship to lay in the ruck pretending you're making an effort to clear it when you're not and just slowing the attack. It looks cynical but I'd give it a few weeks. Refs at least seem to be consistent on it. Players and coaches will soon sort it if refs are strong

Re: clearing the ruck : Mon Feb 13, 2017 9:35 am  

The one Wakey fans were bitching about was the Huby one, frankly he made zero attempt to roll away from the play and blocked Houghton, not just in being able to pass but also in the speed of doing so and negated any chance of being able to run from dummy half. Clear obstruction and a penalty all day long. The ref was blowing up before DH passed the ball as he hesitated in doing so.

Re: clearing the ruck : Mon Feb 13, 2017 9:42 am  

The majority of Wakey fans have been sporting in defeat, but some are focusing too much on this, it happened twice in the game, one for both teams, we just took better advantage of the situation, on that penalty, the ref should have blown for the penalty before Houghton passed it into the player. They can't moan about this decision or others as ref was pretty good and an equal penalty count.

Re: clearing the ruck : Mon Feb 13, 2017 10:31 am  

The Wakey fans were not moaning when they got a penalty for exactly the same thing about 5 mins prior to the Houghton / Huby incident.

Good rule IMO - should speed the ruck up.

Re: clearing the ruck : Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:02 am  

I don't think anyone is moaning specifically that Hull did it, it's within the rules but just that it's a negative tactic as a whole. The Huby one is getting more attention because he couldnt have got away and was lying prone on the floor, not involved in the play - he would have been more of an obstruction if he'd have got up - he couldnt have rolled anywhere without knocking into the ball, Houghton or the guy playing the ball.

It's different to if the dummy half runs into a retreating player because that's rewarding his speed and thought to run into a slowly retiring player and rewarding a fast PTB

Re: clearing the ruck : Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:13 am  

TrinityIHC wrote:

I don't think anyone is moaning specifically that Hull did it, it's within the rules but just that it's a negative tactic as a whole. The Huby one is getting more attention because he couldnt have got away and was lying prone on the floor, not involved in the play - he would have been more of an obstruction if he'd have got up - he couldnt have rolled anywhere without knocking into the ball, Houghton or the guy playing the ball.

It's different to if the dummy half runs into a retreating player because that's rewarding his speed and thought to run into a slowly retiring player and rewarding a fast PTB

But nobody is moaning about the time the Wakey hooker did the same and throw the ball at Mini.

Re: clearing the ruck : Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:23 am  

Dave K. wrote:

But nobody is moaning about the time the Wakey hooker did the same and throw the ball at Mini.

Think the Hull ones stand out more because they were bang in front of the posts and led to 4 points, but the whole tactic is negative and pretty easy to fix. Just needs a directive issuing that it will only be a penalty if there is intent to block the play, job fixed.

I don't want to see any teams doing it including Wakey! It's not in the spirit of the game.

Re: clearing the ruck : Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:28 am  

TrinityIHC wrote:

Think the Hull ones stand out more because they were bang in front of the posts and led to 4 points, but the whole tactic is negative and pretty easy to fix. Just needs a directive issuing that it will only be a penalty if there is intent to block the play, job fixed.

I don't want to see any teams doing it including Wakey! It's not in the spirit of the game.

Watch the video, he only did it once and not 4 points, getting bored of saying it now.