James Short's Try Disallowed?

In the WaspsvSaracens game today Short scored an intercept which on the replay looked questionable.

Wasps try zone is only a few feet wide and as Short slid in on his behind he does not place the ball until he's inches from the dead ball line. Infact it looks like the only reason he doesn't cross the line without placing the ball is that his team subs are there and push him back on to the field.

Is this allowed and is there a ruling for this?

I think so long as the ball is grounded in the "In Goal" area it doesn't matter where his feet are.



Could have got mixed up though.

I'm pretty sure you can ground the ball from Touch-in-goal but maybe it's different if you are in possession at the time you slide out?

Well he would have slid out, but his subs pushed him back in-play, can they do that?

You would think that the subs would be in diffs.

Wasn't one of the Quins subs carded for interferring a few weeks back?

Not sure how they could disallow the try though.

But hey, what do I know!

Must have been a bit farsical looking!

If he goes over the dead ball line then shouldn't it be a 22 restart? MrsP is correct interfering in play whilst being a substitute is punishable by a card but I think in this case it was accidental as they were hugging him rather than the Quins player who was delaying a lineout.

It looked pretty touch and go on the grounding.

Even as a Sarries fan I was a little bit bemused by the situation too. It did look like the ball was grounded but anyhow the match is over. The game is set in stone.

Yea I wasn't trying to cause a fuss, just more bemused as it really looked odds on he'd slide over the line and miss the score!

Yappysnap you wouldn't gain much from a Saracens loss though would you?

MrsP, if you're in touch but don't have the ball you can touch it down (as in press down on it). If you're have the ball and go into touch then the ball is dead.

So if Short had gone out then it should have been a 22. If he had slide out without the ball, leaned in and put his hand down on the ball it would have been a try.