The anatomy of good team bias
Let’s face it, banging on about serially successful teams getting all the marginal calls is hardly a new addition to the sport. Or any sport, for that matter. Yet the feelings can run especially strong in rugby, where a significant portion of the calls are marginal/interpreted.
But for rugby players, international ones at that, to go all Kevin Keegan at reporters about it is a bit of a turn-up for two reasons: firstly because the main incident itself is one worth looking at in a wider game context and secondly because it lends further weight to the hypothesis that despite the success – before November at least – of the national team, all is not harmony among the regions.
The incident. A quick note of legalese for technicalities at clean-outs pertaining to this incident.
Law 15.3: Players involved in all stages of the ruck must have their heads and shoulders no lower than their hips.
Law 15.4: Each team has an offside line that runs parallel to the goal line through the hindmost point of any ruck participant. If that point is on or behind the goal line, the offside line for that team is the goal line.
Law 15.5: An arriving player must be on their feet and join from behind their offside line.
Law 15.6: A player may join alongside but not in front of the hindmost player.
Law 15.7: A player must bind onto a team-mate or an opposition player. The bind must precede or be simultaneous with contact with any other part of the body.
For Law 15.3, Jordie Barrett is fine. Head clearly above hips. Bundee Aki is not in this picture, but he did have rights to go for the ball, so his head to hip position is immaterial.
For Laws 15.4, 5 and 6, Barrett occupies a murky zone. He is on his feet. His starting position is behind the offside line. And although he goes beyond the offside line before making contact with Aki, he does join alongside the hindmost player. Frustratingly, he does not go through what used to be called ‘the gate’, but the ruck laws as they are do not make that as explicit as it used to be. Yet the video clearly shows his outside foot well beyond the offside line before he makes contact, so he is clearly offside.
Finally, Law 15.7. Barrett does bind with the arm that is on the outside of the ruck. But his arm on the inside, the one below the shoulder which makes contact with Aki’s head, is tucked in shoulder charge position. He essentially commits an offence with one arm, but fulfils technicalities with the other – and the bind is simultaneous with the contact with Aki’s bonce.
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