Different Ball

England are set to discover on Tuesday whether they will face any sanction for Jonny Wilkinson's attempts to change balls during Saturday's World Cup win against Romania.

Wilkinson twice sought out a different ball to that which was touched down by the try-scorer, which is against the rules.

A World Cup spokesman said after the game that England were warned to "desist" at half-time and did so.

England manager Martin Johnson explained Wilkinson thought "one of the balls was slightly less than perfect so he wanted to swap it" and he said it was "not an unusual occurrence".
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I think it's very unlikely that anything will happen regarding changing the ball.
But if they did decide that rules were broken what sort of sanctions could the possibly impose ?

Immediate cessation of chocolate rations.

A fine.

What England will havve to do is make sure the ball goes into the crowd after every try - a few teams are doing it, obviously a bit smarter than England.

Changing the ball was a brilliant plan but possibly one that should have been saved for the stronger sides coming up.

England seemed to be pretty convinced that they either preferred one ball or there was one ball that they were trying to avoid,i dont which.

At this level this just should not happen, and I cant see how England can be blamed for realising the situation first.

One if not both of the teams would have had access to the ball in the warm up period,(i'd have thought) so why wasn't it picked up then?

If anything England has probably done evryone a favour by raising it.

That Jonny is such a bad lad.

I think there will be a penalty and it will be severe. The organisers risk being embarassed further unless they put a stop to it.

I can't imagine it would be as severe as a points reduction/ban but a fine probably makes sense.

Who cares?
Why should the kicker have to kick a poor ball?
Surely the onus is on the suppliers to make sure their products are identical as much as possible.

Gatts wrote:I think there will be a penalty and it will be severe. The organisers risk being embarassed further unless they put a stop to it.

What? Really?

Well i imagine England will back JW all the way so that means the organsiers will have to defend their position and equipment and nip this in the bud. JW can only really be criticised for not bringing this to the attention of the ref which i don't believe he did. Its something and nothing but the organisers aren't about to replace all the balls

England will discover on Tuesday whether they are to face a sanction from World Cup officials after Jonny Wilkinson was warned on two occasions about attempting to us the wrong ball to kick conversions during the 67-3 victory over Romania on Saturday.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/8790141/Rugby-World-Cup-2011-England-to-discover-fate-over-Jonny-Wilkinson-ball-change.html


Want to know your thought on the subject.

so the laws states that the ball used to score the try should be used for the conversion - is this always enforced though? What happens when the try scorer throws/kicks the ball into the crowd, does the ref ensure that the same ball is retrieved, or is it (up until now!) a law thats not really enforced?

I thought we had covered this isue this morning?

I'd heard that he was spoken to at halftime by an IRB official and "told to desist" which he did for the second half.

I'd got the impression it had been dealt with at the time, but it wouldn't be a WC without an "England controversy" would it?

aucklandlaurie wrote: I thought we had covered this isue this morning?

really? didn't realize that, sorry.

So a different ball was never actually used in taking a conversion?


A Rugby World Cup spokesman earlier confirmed that England were warned at half-time about attempting to use a different ball that had been used to score a try for kicks at goal.

England manager Martin Johnson said Wilkinson thought one of the balls “was slightly less than perfect”.

“He wanted to swap it, but the referee said we can't do that,”

surely no 'punishment' - just a clarification of the laws would be sufficient

Gatts wrote:I think there will be a penalty and it will be severe. The organisers risk being embarassed further unless they put a stop to it.

I can't imagine it would be as severe as a points reduction/ban but a fine probably makes sense.

I read this as sarcasm at first, but then realised it was a serious comment!!!

Based on the article, it seems like a different ball was never actually used.


A Rugby World Cup spokesman earlier confirmed that England were warned at half-time about attempting to use a different ball that had been used to score a try for kicks at goal.

England manager Martin Johnson said Wilkinson thought one of the balls “was slightly less than perfect”.

“He wanted to swap it, but the referee said we can't do that,”

hawalsh wrote:Based on the article, it seems like a different ball was never actually used.


A Rugby World Cup spokesman earlier confirmed that England were warned at half-time about attempting to use a different ball that had been used to score a try for kicks at goal.

England manager Martin Johnson said Wilkinson thought one of the balls “was slightly less than perfect”.

“He wanted to swap it, but the referee said we can't do that,”

there was footage of the English waterboy kicking the ball away which suggest that they were going to use another ball BUT the footage doesn't show that.

storm in a teacup. If they get sanctioned for this it would be the biggest over reaction and England fans could have some right to think they were being targetted

What is the reason that you must use the same ball, it is not like a quick throw in, unless they see it as a quick kick.

is targetted the right word? not sure but they would certainly have a right to be a bit p1ssed off

Fuss over nothing.
Kickers know better than anyone the state of a ball.
If its not good enough to use for goalkicking then change it.
Time wasting is the only thing to worry about.
Tennis players throw low pressure balls out all the time and wikinsons a perfectionist.

Temper the rule if it is one.

I think it is in the Laws somewhere T'man, but I agree in so much as if it doesn't feel right to a kicker it can have a negative effect on their prep.

To save time wasting perhaps each kicker should pick a ball prior to kick off and have a ball boy responsible for looking after it?

JW does have a mild form of OCD I think.

In 03 the trainers were getting Wilkinson balls that were slightly more deflated than others in order to gain more control over the ball in flight. It's nothing new to be honest.

Well if the ball pressure is not correct, does the law exclude a pump on the pitch.

If not Johnny can then ask the guy that brings the kicking tee, to bring a bicycle pump too.

biltongbek wrote:Well if the ball pressure is not correct, does the law exclude a pump on the pitch.

If not Johnny can then ask the guy that brings the kicking tee, to bring a bicycle pump too.

I don't think pumping is the way forward Biltong!

this is a non story. The only thing it shows up is the ball manufacturer

Man, you just have to go that little step too far.

Oh dear.

biltongbek wrote:

Man, you just have to go that little step too far.

It's my low-brow intellect Biltong, it's an affliction I can do little about. I will try harder.

Low, brow, or unibrow?

http://www.google.co.za/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KiqkO5wuUZ0/SsvkM6F6KiI/AAAAAAAAA5A/jn7E8wh0iVw/s320/unibrow.jpg&imgrefurl=http://sassy-fashionista.blogspot.com/2009/10/man-mishap-unibrow.html&h=280&w=210&sz=13&tbnid=VF7n0GHiI9DwvM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=69&prev=/search%3Fq%3Duni%2Bbrow%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=uni+brow&docid=GrAd6h9YSN1R3M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PIOBTsrOLaPT0QXBl4XcAQ&ved=0CEAQ9QEwBA&dur=2371

biltongbek wrote:Low, brow, or unibrow?

http://www.google.co.za/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KiqkO5wuUZ0/SsvkM6F6KiI/AAAAAAAAA5A/jn7E8wh0iVw/s320/unibrow.jpg&imgrefurl=http://sassy-fashionista.blogspot.com/2009/10/man-mishap-unibrow.html&h=280&w=210&sz=13&tbnid=VF7n0GHiI9DwvM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=69&prev=/search%3Fq%3Duni%2Bbrow%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=uni+brow&docid=GrAd6h9YSN1R3M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PIOBTsrOLaPT0QXBl4XcAQ&ved=0CEAQ9QEwBA&dur=2371

Urghhhhhh!

disneychilly wrote:In 03 the trainers were getting Wilkinson balls that were slightly more deflated than others in order to gain more control over the ball in flight. It's nothing new to be honest.

Did anyone complain about it being done then? Were any other countries doing the same for their goalkickers?

I think someone was complaining Luckless, can't for the life of me remember. Noone else was doing it-Jonny stole a march on the rest.

Actually ROG I think has the potential to be the best kicker at the cup due to the angle at which he places the ball. It eliminates the deviation that has plagued a fair few kickers in NZ. Could be crucial in a few weeks...