Quote ="Bullseye"Agreed I've seen a fair few 40-20s given where the ball is being struck by the kicking foot over the 40m line but the non kicking foot is behind it.'"
That rule states:
Quote (d) Where a player kicks the ball in general play from
any point in the area bounded by his own dead
ball line, 40 metre line and the touch lines and the
ball finds touch, otherwise than on the full, at a
point on the touchline between the opponents’ 20
metre line and goal line the kicker’s team shall be
deemed to be the non-offending team.'"
If the example you cite is given as a 40/20 then clearly the position of the ball and the kicking foot "outside" the 40 is being held irrelevant, and the ref is judging the player to have kicked the ball from the point where he "is" i.e. where his back foot is.
I suppose that's the same as any other 'line' decision, i.e. you can hang over the touchline as long as you don't touch the ground, you can bat a ball back into play from feet 'outside' the pitch as long as you are in mid-air and have jumped from in-field.
But I still reckon that if the kick did not make touch, then to be onside, a chasing player would only have to be level with or behind the ball - even if his feet were both slightly outside the 40. Anyway that's how i think they interpret it.
Thinking about this,
