Marius Jonker insists his decision to award the Sharks a penalty try in their game against the Stormers was "100%" the right call.
The Sharks were awarded a controversial penalty try early in the second half of the match at Newlands after Jonker, the television match official (TMO), deemed that Stormers flank Siya Kolisi kicked the ball out of Sharks scrumhalf Cobus Reinach’s hands as he attempted to dot the ball down.
Kolisi was also sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes.
Watching the replays of the incident, it appears as though it was not Kolisi’s intention of kicking the ball out of Reinach’s grasp. However, according to Jonker, it’s irrelevant whether it was Kolisi's intention or not.
“The rule does not deal with what a player’s intention was. If his foot did not make contact with the ball, then a try would in all likelihood have been scored. You also can’t award a penalty try if the incident does not warrant a yellow card,” Jonker told Netwerk24.
According to Law 10.2 (a), “A penalty try must be awarded if the offence prevents a try that would probably otherwise have been scored. A player who prevents a try being scored through foul play must either be cautioned and temporarily suspended or sent off.”
The Stormers can nevertheless feel aggrieved by what occurred, as Reinach transgressed in the build-up to the try when he kicked the ball back into a ruck, but it was not spotted by Kiwi referee Mike Fraser."
The problem is that intention is not a defined norm in rugby. How many times in games does it happens that a player is taken out in the air when two players go for a ball in teh air and the one player is penalized and nearly always carded - and the plea always is that it is without intent. if intent becomes a norm in rugby they might as well withdraw all rules since all players will claim lack of intent to commit offences and nothing will be blown up as illegal.
