France v Italy

fitz · 26-02-2024 1:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121818499#Comment_121818499

But the ball has not been kicked. The law clearly states they need to "stand still with their hands by their sides" until the ball is kicked. They didn't do that. Even leaving the charge downs aside, the fact that players and the medic/waterboy were wandering around and not standing still was grounds for sanction.

The point of the law, I would think, is you're not allowed to distract the kicker for a penalty, hence the standing still requirement. You can't really assert that people wandering around directly in Garbisi's eyeline weren't a distraction, never mind when they encroached.

It's against both the letter and the spirit of the law, and is as blatant a refereeing cockup as I've seen in ages, imo. It's not one of those instances where you can see where the ref's interpretation is coming from, or where it's a law with grey area...he just decided to not enforce what I would think is one of the most basic and clear laws in the game.

Augme · 26-02-2024 1:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121818932#Comment_121818932

The law states they need to stand still with their hands by their sides from when the kicker starts to approach the kick to the point he kicks it. During that time the French player takes about half step back towards his own goal line. Technically its a penalty, but I would consider that extremely harsh.

fitz · 26-02-2024 2:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121819063#Comment_121819063

I don't think any of the French players are actually standing still when Garbisi starts his rushed approach. It wouldn't have been at all harsh to tell the French to stand where they were, not to charge a third time, and to get the waterboy off the pitch before restarting the clock for a retake, even if you didn't move it forward 10m.