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.