“Merci Beaucoup!”

Set the scene

Okay, England has a new coach and it is the home game against France. Everybody eager to see how the English rugby team will be ‘en route’ to the RWC and what a better test than against the team ranked second in the world: France!

It turned out that the French felt they underperformed in the 2023 Six Nations and thought they had something to prove too!

Ollivon scores

Lots to talk about but I discussed this with some friends: Charles Ollivon scored the easiest of tries. Let us view the try:

Marcus Smith is retrieving the ball near his own goalline, gets pushed over but with help of some teammates (yes, rugby….) brings the ball back into the field of play. It all gets converted into a ruck and England players think they have mitigated the risk and prepare for the kick back up to the field.

However, Ollivon peeks over the pile-up and sees the ball on top of the tryline, leans over and simply grounds the ball: try.

England players protest, off-side? Hands in the ruck? o’Keefe has nothing of it.

What are the rules?

Law 8 is about scoring:

2. A try is scored when an attacking player :

• a. Is first to ground the ball in the opponent’s in-goal.
• b. Is first to ground the ball when a scrum, ruck or maul reaches the goal line.
• c..
• d…

So he can dive and come off his feed Owen…. Looks like our Charles knew about the rule 8.2.b very well!

Yes Sean, also good to see how Dupont allows Smith to come on to his feet first and does not dive on him. Another example of understanding the rules.

Get certified!

My story about rugby laws with Sparta Rugby: frustrated with 34 penalties & free kicks against us in one game, Timo made a 60 second clip showing only the referee blowing his whistle. Obviously the players were a bit shocked after seeing it. I reasoned that the best possible training would be educating ourselves on the rugby rules rather than go out on the pitch. Next week I had printed nearly 30 Rugby Laws Certificates!

We can guess what is done in the French Coaching Staff but Jerome Garces clearly is educating the players very well. And how smug he looked after that Ollivon try!

Learner Mindset

How quick can we learn? Great awareness of the video crew showing us Marcus Smith talking to the touch judge Piper after the try. Later in the game he made a better decision in a similar situation. Like that a lot!

Not only Frnce, but what a great game did the o’Keefe and his touch judges had! When the French players are so aware of the rules, are they easier to referee?

Related material

• An great article on the Rugbypass website on the role of Jerome Garces in the French camp;
• World Rugby Rules are here: Laws of the Game;
• Get their Smartphone App;
• Take the Law Exam here, please note that the exam is set-up as a sort of training as well, with an account you can break it up in several evenings;
• Simply download the Lawbook from the World Rugby site through this link;

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