Quote ="Kevs Head"Thanks. This makes sense, not so much in this case but imagine a situation where a player is off side 15 metres in front of the ptb. The dummy half makes a break, runs
the 15 metres and passes to the offside player, clearly gaining an unfair advantage. So, yes, good rule. But I can't see any reference to it in the laws of the game.'"
This is how any player can be brought back onside:
Placed onside 3. An off side player is placed onside if:
(a) an opponent moves ten metres or more with the ball.
(b) an opponent touches the ball without retaining it.
(c) one of his own team in possession of the ball runs in front of him.
(d) one of his own team kicks or knocks the ball forward and takes up a position in front of him in the field of play.
(e) he retires behind the point where the ball was last touched by one of his own team.
This is the rule for downtown:
“Down town” Any player who is in front of the kicker in general play is not permitted to advance beyond the point of the previous play the- ball until the ball has gone past the off side players. This rule delays the movement of the off side players downfield in an attempt to encircle the ball receiver as he collects the ball.
As you can see, a player can be brought back onside when one of his own team members runs in front of him with ball in hand (c), and downtown requires a kicker, if it didn't require a kicker then the rules wouldn't specifically state kicker.
Had the Wakey player gone for a chip through then Downtown would have applied, but as he ran past the player and still had ball in hand then he brought that player into play.
Teams tend not to play in front of the ball because the player would be caught offside had possession changed or a kick goes through, but it's perfectly legal to do so
