Sanzaar refereeing boss Lyndon Bray says Ryan Crotty's try was legitimate; Rugby Stuff

Sanzaar refereeing boss Lyndon Bray has confirmed Ryan Crotty's controversial try was legitimate in the All Blacks' nail-biting win over the Springboks.

 

Debate about the influential try by the All Blacks centre has raged in South Africa since New Zealand's 25-24 win at Newlands in Cape Town on Sunday (NZT).

 

There were strong suggestions that Crotty knocked on or didn't have control as he pounced on the bouncing loose ball in the ingoal area.

 

Even South African refereeing boss Mark Lawrence felt the try should not have stood, arguing that once a player touches the ball and the ball is in the air, he is deemed to have possession.

 

English TMO Rowan Kitt took a long time to make his decision off repeated replays, exploring various angles and explained that Crotty had knocked the ball backwards before grounding it with his waist.

Bray backed up Kitt as he looked to bring some calm to the debate in a result that saw the All Blacks sweep the Rugby Championship with an unbeaten run over six tests.

 

"Crotty was not carrying the ball so there was no loss of control or knock-on at that point," Bray told supersport.com as the South African sports website sort an official explanation of the ruling on Tuesday (NZT).

 

"Therefore the next issue to consider is if he propelled the ball forward trying to ground it.

 

"When he first made contact with ball, the ball was not at first in contact with the ground, and it appears the ball movement was straight down and not forward.

 

"If it was determined he had insufficient downward pressure it was still not a knock on. Then his momentum meant his upper body forced the ball and under law this is a try."

 

Crotty's try was the only one of the first half and gave the All Blacks an 8-3 lead at the break.

 

The see-sawing battle was only clinched late in the game with a Lima Sopaga penalty on the back of a stunning Damien McKenzie try.

 

Having been beaten 57-0 in Albany, the result represented a magnificent comeback by the Springboks in the return encounter but there was huge frustration among their supporters - and management -  that they hadn't been able to beat the All Blacks.

 

That wasn't helped by lingering doubts over the Crotty try.

 

Even Crotty himself looked hugely relieved when French referee, on the advice of Kitt, blew his whistle to confirm the five pointer.

I thought the try was legit pretty quickly. It just looked a knock on from the initial camera angle- but it was knocked backwards by the Bok defender. 

 Well that clears the matter up, an unbiased professional removes all doubts.
Should we mention Lyndon Bray is a kiwi?

 Crotty grounded that ball with his left bollock .

Blobbok, haha any body part will do as long as there is contact & downward pressure, lol Ps. Control is not necessary

 Not below the waist, Just_win_any_ole_how

 Crotty knocked the ball on and hence I assume this was the reason Mark Lawrence saying clearly it was no try?
Bray is a one eyed kiwi. Nothing worse JW!!!

Downward pressure, downward pressure, downward pressure. These referees, and the commentators, are digging their one graves with the crap the sometimes come up with. Bray would have done much better if he quoted and properly explained the laws that he used to assess whether that try was legitimate or not. This is Law 22.1 as it stands: "a) Player touches the ground with the ball. A player grounds the ball by holding the ball and touching the ground with it, in in-goal. ‘Holding’ means holding in the hand or hands, or in the arm or arms. No downward pressure is required. (b) Player presses down on the ball. A player grounds the ball when it is on the ground in the in-goal and the player presses down on it with a hand or hands, arm or arms, or the front of the player’s body from waist to neck inclusive." There is also an image in the laws showing the exact same situation where a try is scored by the upper body pressing down on the ball. Bray using the downward pressure term without properly explaining it with reference to the law. Mallet said that Mark Lawrence said that it wasn't a try and Bray says it was. None of them explained the law. And to top it all Bray comes with the downward pressure as well. This confuses all of those who never have a look at the laws as well as the commentators. There are two different scenarios where downward pressure comes into play. In the one it is required and in the other it is not required and that is mentioned as such. The problem is that, because it is not explained properly, people do not understand it.

 There are more articles about Garcia's poor reffing and the lack of accountability of Sanzar, there is focus on the de Allande red card. Basically saying it is not enough to say it should have been a yellow.
The fact is we don't know what internal action they took against Garcia, Is this ok? For a ref to be publicly disciplined is pretty tough. How many people would want to be refs under such circumstances?

 If you exert downward pressure where is the knock on ? You cant knock on in goal in this instance .Garcia is a disgrace and somewhat shady . Yellow card and thats it but he is suss as a 3 pound note.

The knock on could have been prior to pressing down with his upper body. IMO it looked to me as though the ball went straight down from when he touched it, as Bray has said, and not forward, as Lawrence have said. Remember what the law says about the knock on, or throw forward, as it is in the law book. See the definition at the beginning of law 12.

I thought if anything his attempt to ground the ball pulled the ball back under his body. I saw no evidence of the ball going forward off his hands. Ioane lost the ball as he attempted to ground it, by coming in contact with Kriel’s leg. Allende took two steps directly into Sopoaga without slowing down or avoiding the head area. .. All those calls were right.