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Mon 28 Oct 2013 | 10:32
Amazing kickoff as strong winds blow ball back over the dead ball line

14
Comments

Incredibly strong winds hit Ashburton on the South Island on Saturday, affecting the Meads Cup Final between Mid Canterbury and North Otago to the point that twenty minutes in, a restart kick got blown back 50m, well over the deal ball line.

North Otago's Ed Keohane had already seen the power of the gale-force northwesterly, but while he may have attempted to keep this restart low, mother nature had other ideas.

"Have they learned their lesson from the last kickoff that went into touch,'' remarked the commentator, before watching on in astonishment as the ball got swooped up and travelled all the way over the dead ball line, resulting in a scrum restart on halfway.

"I've never seen that. I have never seen that before, in 45 years of watching rugby," said fellow commentator and pundit, Richard 'Pod' Turner.

Perhaps the closest we've seen to this type of thing in the past is when in 2008, then Leinster flyhalf Felipe Contepomi's penalty was blown back, after it had already gone through the posts. 

Mid Canterbury claimed it's first ever Meads Cup title with a 26-20 win over North Otago.

Posted By: Grant Constable

14 Comments

  • drg
    7:22 PM 29/10/2013

    As they say in outer Mongolia...."No shit Sherlock"..

    The point is the favoured option of a ball going over the dead ball line having last touched a "defending player" is a 5m scrum.

    If you read what Cheyanqui (the ONLY person who made that comment) actually said, it was: "..preferred to accept the outcome as if it were general play".. the words "AS IF" suggest to me that no one believes this is the true outcome of this scenario, however IF it was general play, the true outcome would be a 5m scrum..

    ...to be honest, I can't believe I've given this as much effort as I already have.. learn to read, no one suggested the referee should have given any other outcome.

  • benny
    1:48 PM 29/10/2013

    Boooooo! Unlike, unlike. I love this site. I don't want to trawl through thirty other sites to find footage of a kick being blown back by the wind in humourous fashion when I can find it here on RD along with several related videos.

  • stroudos
    1:46 PM 29/10/2013

    What a miserable bastard.
    However, I second the demand for a new Trysavers & Rib-breakers compilation! Well overdue!!!

  • drg
    11:23 AM 29/10/2013

    I think people are saying that would be a favoured option, they aren't saying that SHOULD be the option.

    Please read the comments again. IT really is quite useful.......

  • guy
    8:55 AM 29/10/2013

    Awesome, that clears it up! Thanks!

  • totesmcgoates
    5:49 AM 29/10/2013

    "9.A.2 (b) If the ball has crossed the crossbar a goal is scored, even if the wind blows it back into the field of play."

    http://www.irblaws.com/index.php?law=9.A.2

  • nzbougnat
    10:30 PM 28/10/2013

    @johndoe: I am sure you will be happy to provide a link to all the great contributions you are making to the rugby community mate. Even better, quite surely RD could do with someone of your talents for digging great vids. I would have complained all the same if I was making the slightest contribution. Which I'm not. So, I am quite happy to come to this "shameful" site and check the vids...
    BTW: nice vid RD. And quite some wind!!! Good call from the ref IMHO.

  • reality
    10:27 PM 28/10/2013

    I don't know. I think you're comparing apples with oranges. With a touch-finder it has to hit the ground because there's no other way of measuring whether it's in or out. With a goal-kick though my understanding is that you have to kick it through the posts, and there are two officials there to judge whether or not it's gone through the posts. Where it lands - and if it lands - doesn't really matter as a result, and in the absence of a law that states it must hit the ground or a player before being awarded then the two officials did the right thing in Contepomi's case. That's how I see it anyway. I'd like to see what the IRB definitions are for a successful goal-kick and a touch-kick.

  • guy
    9:37 PM 28/10/2013

    *breaks the left button on his mouse clicking the dislike-button for johndoe's comment*

  • guy
    9:35 PM 28/10/2013

    I don't think it is the right decision at all. Both linesmen raised their flags too soon. They should have waited for the ball to touch either the ground or a player after going through the posts.

    If a ball gets kicked over the sideline and gets blown back in before touching anything it's also not supposed to have been out. I guess the same should go in the Contepomi-case.

    Not that the linesmen could have forseen this happening...

  • johndoe
    9:28 PM 28/10/2013

    you've really fallen behind rd. seeing all your videos on other sites up a week before you guys have it. i havent seen you be the first to post a video for over a year now and your generally days behind at least. and you have less content now. and no more TSRB and that kind of thing. it's a shame

  • kevkoc
    8:17 PM 28/10/2013

    This happened a while back but in this instance it was a penalty kick and as it had travelled through the post the ref awarded it, which seems fair...
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnCTqhVYbBs

  • eddie-g
    4:40 PM 28/10/2013

    In the lawmakers' defence, I don't exactly blame them for not envisaging this scenario.

  • cheyanqui
    1:30 PM 28/10/2013

    In general, the receiving team woulod have preferred to accept the outcome as if it were general play -- i.e. carried into in goal by the kicking team. Scrum 5m to the receiving team.

    Funny how the nuances of Law 13 (if the ball doesn't travel 10m, the only choices are to play the ball, re-kick, or scrum at midfield) gave the recieving team a sub-optimal scrum location.

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