Illusion of the forward pass

[shtove]

Just saw Llanelli beat Munster, and there was talk about a forward pass for Munster's first try.

This vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgMlDy2jP9s explains something I never understood before.

The point is that, because of momentum, it's almost impossible for the ball NOT to move forward relative to the ground if a player is at full tilt and passes across his body. It becomes obvious with the example of passing back over your head - nobody would say it's forward, but the ball still moves forward. So the ref should judge the movement of the ball relative to the passing player.

 

[Bullitt]

But that pass was nothing to do with momentum, the ball literally pointed forwards when it was passed and gained 5m+. That's not momentum, simply a frustrated girls rugby (gridiron) player.

 

[SmokeyMonkey]

shtove, shouldnt Mark Jones's try been allowed then? You can't have it both ways.

 

[dobrien7]

I think the ruling goes that as long as the first movement of the ball is propelling it back or across then it isn't a forward pass... so as long as you don't propel the ball forward in the act of passing, it's play on.

 

[shtove]

Only sharing something that I just learned. No point being made about the Munster try. It'll make me slower in future to jump up and shout "Ref, forward!!!!"