Who decided that you can't go to the video ref for a forward pass. We all know which are the 100% forward passes when we are watching a game on TV so why can't the video ref make a decision? If he isn't sure, then the try should stand, just like it does with a knock-on.
To me it's the emperor's new clothes. One person (in Australia) must have decided that this must be an exception in the video ref aspect of the game. Some fool in England agrees with this and the rest follow.
Also, this 'look at the hands of the passer' is also badly flawed. If he is running at an angle then the hands won't matter. Only if he is running on a line parallel with the touchline would the position of the hands count.
I just have to look at a pass to know it's forward. If it's borderline, then play on but too many blatant ones are missed.
How did we know that rugby union was littered with forward passes? Did we go to games? Did we heck. We watched them on television...and yet our video refs can't watch them on screen. The big taboo.

Crackers rule.

Good old Rugby league. The visionary sport.

Agree the forward pass should be looked at by the VR.
They look at kicks and whether the onrushing players are on side. Those are the same angles and same tv shots that would decide the forward pass.
The pitch now has whitewashed lines across the field every ten meters and so often a pass is thrown one side of the line and caught on the other side.
No good reason for not looking at forward passes.

Not this topic again! A forward pass is a pass thrown forward out the hands of a player and which travels forward in relation to passing player. The movement of the ball in relation to the pitch has no relevance and never has done.

Forward passes could be looked at in theory I guess. If you go to the screen for a forward pass and the passers hands cannot be seen then the try must be given. If the direction of the pass from the players hands isn't clear then benefit of the doubt should be given. If it's blatantly obvious like a few examples this year and like the example yesterday then it would be ruled out.

Over here the VR is useless IMO due to the fact we don't get it at every game every week!! 2 games a week get played under different rules than the others. Theres no consistency from them either.

Bingo. It always baffles me how few people understand the rules of our game.

I'm not being funny but any tool could see that pass from Hodgson to Monaghan was bare minimum 5 metres forward.

On one post it was 7 metres forward make your minds up

Hence 'bare minimum 5 metres forward'

HTH

But that doesn't mean it was forward. Read Cherry.Pie's post you have quoted.

It was forward. If you look at the replay - look at where the Hodgson was when he passes the ball and then where Joel Monaghan was when he caught it. How anyone can say that wasn't forward is beyond me.

Read what Cherry.Pie wrote! It explains it very well.

It does yes. The pass was still forward though

I agree - but it doesn't change the fact it was forward

I'll check it tomorrow and get back to you.

Hodgson was about 13 or 14 metres from the try line when he passed the ball. Monaghan was about 6 or 7 metres from the line when he caught it. How is that not a forward pass?

I understand what cherry pie is saying but you could say if you knock on but run past the ball before it hits the floor it has gone backswards in relation to wear the player who knocked on is stood.

I'm not saying it was forward but Eli Manning would have been proud of that one!

I would say about 10 yards forward. The lines are there to help in stuff like this.

Wire certainly didn't need any help yesterday, as we were woeful. But I thought some of Gansons calls were awful.

But in particular this forward pass. What was the linesman thinking/doing ? He was right there, less than a couple of yards away, but failed to notice it.

Our refs are dire but the linesmen ?

It wouldn't matter a jot if they weren't there IMHO, as they do nothing except adjudge goalkicks.

The refs need the support of the linesmen, and they are not getting any.

same bloke didn't see hock elbowing the 'best second rower in the league' in the face either.

useless he was

Must be shocking to loose a game cos of a forward pass!!!

The only way to do this would be to have a very accurage GPS type of coverage for a ground with all players and the ball tracked and then a system to monitor the momentum of the players and the ball to calculate the relative travel of the ball to the player.

Clearly this couldn't be GPS as it's not accurate enough and would in effect end up being a system setup within the stadium. Cost anyone?

Maybe a (slightly!) more cost effective option would be to have a mobile overhead camera and use the wonderful geometrical power of modern technology to simply determine the angle of trajectory at the point the ball is thrown.

If the horizontal line is considered to be zero degrees and the pass is zero degrees or less then the pass must level or backwards.

This will also take into account the momentum rule and any angled runs made by the passing player...

Simples really!!

Officials could always do their job? I called it from my position at least 100 yards away behind the gosl.

I understand that there are tight margins in our game but that was obvious. It was as obvious as the Maradona handball and the Spurs goal at Old Trafford when Roy Carroll played basketball. How they get missed is beyond me.

Or the Jeff Lima try that probably won you the RL Cup last season?
I haven't seen yesterdays game yet, I was at the Olympics in London yesterday, but by the sound of things it was one of the all time great forward passes. There simply isn't a way to get this right, but I do think that refs should get more help from the men running the line.

It was forward no doubt.

However, it didn't really effect the game, Wire were by far the better side. I'm sure in time to come the technology will become available to make the correct decisions. Until it does we will have to put up with "the rub of the green scenarios"