Was Prendergast crawling?

Watching this match there is no doubt who the better team was….clearly not the Bulls. But one was struck again by things the TMO decided to review and the things he ignored. Prendergast did a fabulous job of getting back for the kick ahead at minute 19. But after he secured it he got up on his knees and pumped forward three times before releasing. Here’s the rule:

2. Going to Ground in Open Play

Under the laws governing players on the ground in open play, if a player dives to gather the ball or falls to the ground with the ball (without an initial tackle taking place), they cannot simply crawl forward. [1, 2]

1. The Requirement: The player on the ground must immediately stand up, play the ball (but not kick it), or release the ball. [1]

……

He clearly didn’t do that because Moodie was right over him…the two extra pumps on his knees got him away from Moodie and allowed the cavalry to arrive. Why did the TMO not choose to look at this incident? A penalty there would have resulted in points or a 5meter lineout.

Much of this ref cheating business is merely fan passion.Very rarely do you see an actual decision being made incorrectly….but I’m not so sure that is true of what you are given to see.

The supposed "no clear evidence" of the ball being grounded for Vorster's try was appalling.

Moodie's offload being called forward after a try was given was also shocking, considering that, from one angle, it looked forward and from the other it didn't look forward at all. And then you take into account that when a player gets stopped immediately as he passes, it tends to look forward even when tis not. So was it really clear evidence of a forward pass?

And if those two scores stood, then it was something like an 8-point game with 10 or so minutes to go.

Still, as Matfield said on his podcast...the Bulls got turned over 26 times. That is a staggering amount. That's once every three minutes, and that's before you add in the kicking away of possession.

Yeah good call I'd say, Moz. Definitely didn't get up immediately as the law demands. Got to his knees and then crawled.

I haven't seen the Vorster thing yet, saw the forward pass briefly on a FB reel and it kinda looks like it could go either way.

The Bulls need to get their starts right, you can't play 20+ point catch up rugby all the time. I don't know, they didn't look switched on to me. The bundling up and falling over their own feet and each other as Keenan broke away to set up Rieko's try was pretty embarrassing.