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?

I think it is one of those grey areas that get discussions like this going!!

As a ref, my view would be that in gathering the ball it hit the ground and would be a knock on. I can see the play on argument in the debate - but if you watch Houghton he does push the ball forward along the ground in gathering it. The difficulty in judging is whether he had control of the ball when it hit the ground - at full speed its a tough decision and instinctively, it would suggest a knock on.

The argument about diving over is fair and not one I had given much thought to.

In that case half of the tries in RL are knock ons. Can you back it up? For my own interest.

On the third viewing of the match we discussed that particular point too. Once he regathered the ball, Danny had full control, so it did seem an odd decision by Hollywood. Completely irrelevant now mind...

From a kick off, if you have a foot "off the island" (to quote Barry Mac), you are deemed out of play and if you catch it whilst out of play - the ball has never been in play - its the same if the ball hits the posts and goes out on the full from a kick off - it has never been in play, so would be a penalty. Strange Law, but one that is clear in the book.

In open play - you are deemed off the island, but the ball is in play before you recieve it, therefore you are deemed to have taken it out. Briscoe was demed to have taken it out.

The other issue, I am surprised didn't get more discussion was Briscoe's take on the full after leaping from the field of play into the in-goals, where he passed it forward to the twenty for a tap - ref had called that - but TJ confirmed to him that it was not an on the full take as he had gone from the field of play, so it was brough back for a forward pass in the in-goal area and awarded a drop out.

Now if the ref was being pedantic, he could have awarded Cas a Penalty for a deliberate forward pass!!

I will look through the laws book at home tonight!!

At full speed - front on - it does look like a knock on - but sky coverage slowed down does put the doubt there.

The morale of the story for Hull is make sure you get a good clean PTB

Ta! I'm pretty sure on this one but would appreciate it being verified.

Double Post - SNIP

The abridged web version states:

Accidental 2. If, after knocking-on accidentally, the player knocking-on regains or kicks the ball before it touches the ground, a goal post, cross bar or an opponent, then play shall be allowed to proceed.
Otherwise play shall stop and a scrum shall be formed except after the fifth play-the-ball.

Now did Houghton regather before it hit the ground or as it hit the ground?

The point here is that Houghton did put the ball on the ground whilst moving forward - which would be a knock on. His earlier attempts to ragather the ball weren't a knock on - but after gathering it - he propeeled the ball forward on the ground - the detailed laws book has greater annotation and definitions than the website and I will look it up later.

I think he would have needed to sub himself for incompetence if he'd done that. Briscoe (it appeared) went with the first call, by Ganson himself, before he got the word in the ear

thats the way i saw it too, i thought we were hard done to on that as if Ganson hadn't called it Briscoe had the chance to make good yards away from his line as nobody had gotten hands on him and with the way he was playing who knows where he'd have ended up, i know once Gamson got the call he gave the right decision but if he'd not blown in the first place it wouldn't have happened!

As for the knock on, in real time it looked like a knock on and in slow motion it was dubious so, in fairness, it's probably unfair on Ganson to suggest it was a bad mistake.

The Briscoe catching the ball when out of the field of play was again a very close call and could have gone either way (assuming I am correct in thinking that had he been standing out of play when he caught the ball it would have been a 20:20 restart).

I think he had an okay game but not one of his better games.