Rugby union is complex and tactical. Thankfully not everyone needs to understand the intricacies of scrummaging technique, or be in total command of the laws around the breakdown, to fully enjoy the spectacle.
Mercifully, too, there are some aspects of the game that remain pleasingly straightforward. A try is touched down behind the try-line, a conversion has to be kicked between the sticks, and a pass from the hands of one player to another must go backwards to be legal. Right? Wrong, judging by the denouement of the Calcutta Cup thriller at Twickenham last Saturday.
Hunting what proved to be the decisive try, Gregor Townsend’s Scotland team attacked down their right wing, before swiftly switching the ball from right touchline to left, “coast to coast”, through the hands.
Duhan van der Merwe applied a powerful finishing touch to a magnificent attacking move, his second world-class score of the match, ensuring Steve Borthwick’s reign as England head coach got off to an unsatisfactory start.
Around the country of England, though, supporters were yelling at their TV screens: did their eyes deceive them? Surely Matt Fagerson’s pass to his teammate Van der Merwe, lurking on the wing, had gone forward?
What a try!
— Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 4, 2023
Deadly Duhan does it again for the bonus point.
This guy 🔥🔥#GuinnessSixNations | #ENGvSCO pic.twitter.com/N6Ue5T3yRj
The answer was that indeed it had, by one measure, although not the one that actually – mostly – matters when officials apply Law 11, concerning the “Knock on or throw forward”. Fagerson released the ball almost exactly on England’s 22, and Van der Merwe caught it a couple of metres in front of that point, judging by the pitch markings.
The deciding factor as to the legality of a pass, as the referee Wayne Barnes explained on World Rugby’s website during the last World Cup, is the direction of the ball from the hands, rather than the position of passer relative to receiver. “It’s not about the direction that the ball eventually ends up, it’s about the direction it’s travelling in as it leaves the hands,” Barnes said.
It comes down to something called relative velocity. The momentum of a player moving forward will also take the ball forward, even if the pass leaves their hands going backwards. The case of Fagerson’s try-creating pass to Van der Merwe was complicated by the camera angle, which did not conclusively demonstrate the ball going backwards out of the back-rower’s hands.
The referee was well positioned to judge, though, keeping up with the play, adjacent to England’s 22. There is a certain amount of leeway in the interpretation and application of the law, which is the sane way for any sport to conduct itself, compared with, for example, the manner in which the VAR frequently intervenes in Association football.
Room for manoeuvre guarantees room for confusion, though, and nowhere in the laws of the game is this real-world application (taking into account relative velocity) even mentioned. “A player must not intentionally throw or pass the ball forward,” reads the law, with the specific definition of ‘forward’ being “towards the opposition’s dead-ball line”.
It is possible to argue, then, that the reality of the law’s application has little to do with the law as it is written. It is also possible to argue that it doesn’t matter very much. Forward passes are allowed, in effect, if it is a player’s momentum that causes the ball to drift through the air towards the opposition’s try-line.
As the second round of Six Nations matches approaches, then, what’s the answer? It’s entirely obvious. To avoid any confusion players must do as Van der Merwe did in the first half at Twickenham, and negate the need for passing at all.
