Just wanted some clarification on this one. Danny juggled the ball but still had a hand on it when it touched the ground. For me it should have been play on, but the commentators said it was a knock on, baffled me at least.

Looked a knock on at the time but difficult to say even on a replay. Not as strange as the sin bin warning for being offside twice

You're right, it was not a knock on and it should have been play on. You can hold that ball and drag it along the floor for the full length of the pitch if you want to.

Another one of Ganson's rules which he likes to make up.

That's what i thought, but with the "expert" commentary team backing the ref up I wondered what others thought. I use the term expert loosely.

Looked like Briscoe's foot hit the ground at the same time he caught the kick through near the start as well. Shouldn't that have been a tap 20 ?

Yep. Another in the Ganson rule book.

Think that one was down to Ian Smith the VR.

He's a great bloke an all.

I think that on the Sky commentary Stevo thought that is should be play on - an being a Hooker he should know - but Eddie and Phil thought that it was a knock on (but Phil said that he'd take Stevo's word for it because he used to be a hooker).

Ganson is a fool as we all know. His poorest call of the night was blowing his whistle for a 20m re start when Tom Briscoe caught a high kick in goal. Ganson then asking the VR to see if Tom had jumped from the field of play or not. Yes he did as the VR confirmed but no one tackled Tom in goal to force the drop out! So the mistake was Ganson's for blowing to early, so why the hell was a drop out awarded? Should have been a scrum or handover on the 10m.
He is our best ref though.... Honest!!!

They boss was a poor ref so what do you expect from this lot he back them right or wrong

He used the ground to help him regather it properly, correct decision

It should have been a scrum, with Cas head & feed

Surely the team in posession get the scrum?

No, it goes to the attacking team

Unless i'm mistaken it used to be a rule that you could put a foot dead in goal and tap the ball over to create a 20m restart for your team but the rule changed to favour attacking teams and put more pressure on the defence, so i think that call was actually correct!

So why is it not a "knock on" when a try is scored??

Ganson is a decent ref, but when he has a largeish audience, and especially when increased by being on TV, he tends to big up his role and make himself the centre of attention, when it should be the game and the players first and foremost.

Although I did like his comment to one, unidentified, player "Enough of the running commentary, there'll only be one winner"

The ball never left his hands, so it doesn't matter. Incorrect decision.

I think it left his hands for a fraction of a second before he regathered it.

It all depends on whether he regathered [ibefore[/i the tip of the ball hit the deck or at the same time. The former is play on, the latter is a knock-on. I didn't look too closely TBH but I think it was nip and tuck. Not the worst decision of the match.

What I meant was it never left his hands and touched the ground, when it did the ball was still in his fingers.

Like you say, he regathered it before it hit the deck.

Ganson was correct in the decision - the ball hitting the ground in the way it did is a knock on - you cannot push the ball forward on the ground. As a fan, I thought it was wrong, but when you watch it back - the ball hits the ground and thats a knock on whether its in your hands or not.

You are correct - however, if it was from a kick off and he had a foot on or over the deadball line when he received, then it would have been a penalty, but from open play it favours the attacking side and the emphasis on the defence is to either clear the line or concede a drop out.

That's quite a strange rule IMO. Effectively you can play the ball while standing off the field of play ? Because that's what Briscoe did.

Really? That seems a strange rule and I don't recall a section in the Laws that covers it. I'll have to go take a look.

On the face of it this would mean ruling out tries where the ball is grounded short but the player slides over, or many pick-ups on the run where the ball is dragged forward a few inches before leaving the ground. In fact it would be almost impossible to police I would have thought?

Has it always been like this or is it a recent interpretation?