Given that in the case of referral to Video Refs forward passes are allowed, is it time for them to be allowed in general play providing that the receiving player is not offside. This would give forward passes the same status as forward kicks, so that any infringment can be referred to by all officials including VR.

The Rhinos would never be awarded a try if we went down that road

You mean we should allow forward passes, but only to players who are level with or behind the player passing the ball? Have you thought this one through?

Sh...

I think he means they should be allowed to go to the VR...after all they can do it with kicks & offside cant they.

Posted after a season of delibrate forward passes, leading to tries etc. Either we allow forward passes or we dont.

We don't. Never have.

Then again, it depends on your definition of "forward".
What's your definition?

Thats the difficult question-what is forward? is it relative to the ground, the player etc

The rule book is pretty clear on what it's relative to.

which is?

relative to the passing player, not the ground. A ball can be passed backwards and still travel forwards relative to the ground for a number of reasons (one of which we saw in the weekend's play-off games). And it is a perfectly legitimate pass which it would be stupid to outlaw.

Richie, at the moment the Video Ref isn't allowed to review forward passes, so in effect forward passes are allowed by one of the match officials.
What i am saying is that either the forward pass rule needs ammending or its interpretation clarified to allow all match officials to be able referee all aspects of the game.

Why does it need amending? How could it's interpretation be further clarified? t's already perfectly clear?
If you changed the law to allow the VR to rule, all you would get is a ton of VR decisions saying "back to you ref. My angle and footage doesn't give me as good a view as you had"

We don’t have that back to you ref rubbish over here-it is passed to the VR for a decision not to be sent back otherwise the ref would have given it first time

For a very simple reason: camera angles lie (or at best are confusing)

We would have to if we were to start asking the VR to look at forward passes.

The camera angles don't always lie (ok some do) and most are pretty clear cut (like Hicks last try against Hudds on Saturday, clearly forward), if on the other hand it is inconclusive, then fair enough benefit of the doubt should be given as other borderline decisions decided by the VR.
I'd rather some forward passes be caught by the VR than none at all, it's frustrating. The game is too fast sometimes for the refs to catch them in real time, lets trial it and see how many are caught in slow motion!

BOD to who the attacker?

As always

But there was fsk all doubt about Hicks try on Saturday was there

It's simple how do work it out by video. Get the highest shot available, from the pitchside (basically the tele cam), then draw a red line across the screen where the ball was passed from, and another at where it was recieved , then judge from that. (think of how replays show offsides in football). Simple.

Could the same thing not be said about offsides?

Simple but useless. That would only tell you whether the ball went forward relative to the ground. It wouldn't tell you whether it was a forward pass according to the laws of rugby.

No it isn't.



That won't work.

[iThe direction of a pass is relative to the player making it and
not to the actual path relative to the ground. A player running
towards his opponents’ goal line may throw the ball towards
a colleague who is behind him but because of the thrower’s
own momentum the ball travels forward relative to the
ground. This is not a forward pass as the thrower has not
passed the ball forward in relation to himself. This is
particularly noticeable when a running player makes a high,
lobbed pass.[/i

The above text is quoted from the laws of the game.

The one that was passed backwards and then drifted forward in flight? A clear-cut case of a legal and legitimate pass.



The main reason for the controversy around forward passes, imo, is ignorance of the actual rules of the game, by fans and by the Sky commentary team.

Offsides are judged relative to the ground, so, no.

Nope. Because when judging offside, all that's required is to see whether a player is forward of or behind some point on the ground. That doesn't apply with passes (see various posts above)