England Rugby have asked for clarity relating to when a ball is deemed to be leaving/emerging from a ruck and when such a ball can be dived on to claim control of the ball.
Law 15 describes how a ruck ends, and says a player cannot fall onto the ball, but we seek clarity on when a player is legally entitled to dive onto the ball?Clarification of the designated members of the Rugby Committee
Relevant law wordings
Law 15.16: “Players must not: d) Fall over the ball as it is coming out of a ruck.”
Law 15.18: “A ruck ends and play continues when the ball leaves the ruck or when the ball in the ruck is on or over the goal line.”
Definitions: Near = within one metre.
The ball is leaving/emerging from the ruck when it is in motion away from the ruck, or when the ball is sitting just beyond the hindmost player.
This becomes relevant when determining if a player can fall onto the ball so that player can comply with law 15.16.
In being consistent with other areas of Law (Scrum law 19.38a, tackle law 14.8d), we determine that the player can only dive onto such a ball if it is more than 1m away from the ruck it has emerged from. ‘Near’ is defined in law as being “within one metre.”
If the ball has left the ruck, then the ruck is over, and the ball is out. Providing a player comes from an onside position and does not dive onto the ball if it is within 1m of the ruck, they may play the ball.
Five players who challenged Eddie Jones and NEVER played again
#1. Danny Care
Former England start Kyran Bracken was the first person to reveal why the Quins playmaker was mysteriously frozen out of Jones plans in 2018 despite being a regular up until that point.
“He (Care) made the mistake of speaking his mind to Eddie Jones and questioning how he wanted him to play when he was playing with an England ‘B’ team against Japan in the autumn of 2018,” revealed the former England scrum-half.
“Eddie’s response to that was ‘that’s not the f***ing attitude I want’ and he binned him from his plans.”
This story was later backed up by England and Harlequins teammate Mike Brown in his column for the Mail Online with Care confirming he’s been blacklisted
DID YOU KNOW? At age 11 he was invited to join the Academy at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club which meant giving up club rugby union for a few years