Let's put it this way for those who don't think the laws of physics should be applied to a game of RL...



Say a RL player can run at 100m in about 12.5s (so a nice round 8m/s).



Now, stand on the back of a pick-up truck going at 45km/h (or about 28mph) with a rugby ball and throw it directly backwards as it crosses a mark on a track. See how hard you have to throw it in order for it to stay behind that line.



Now bare in mind that this is a pretty fast speed with the ball being thrown DIRECTLY in the backwards direction. The rules the anti-physics lot are implying is that someone running directly forward with the ball basically cannot pass it without having to turn directly around (thus stopping their momentum) or stopping all together.



Basically, you want to slow the game down.



Also, work out how deep players would have to stand in order to be able to receive these non-physics backwards passes.

You forget that he's not running on a track in a vest. He's running on a rugby pitch with boots and a ball in hand. I remember being told by my sprint coach that he can run 100m on a football pitch in about 9.9 or something. Now imagine him with a ball in hand and looking for the pass as well as having to turn his body to the side!

Apart from offside, what else needs to be?



Passing is the only rule where the direction the ball travels in matters, so why would their need to be similar rules for other parts of the game?

*Knock on?

Yes, and look at the difference in the speed of the game now. Much faster stuff.





You don't even necessarily have to look at the direction of the hands. If the ball travels in front of the person passing it, it will 9/10 be a forward pass. It's only the change in velocity of the passer after the pass has been made that makes it particularly difficult to see.





Why would the home fans want to help the other team!?

Good shout.

Although, that's sort of an inadvertent pass to the floor (or opposing player!)





(Yes I know, deperate!)

But you'd never see a player running forwards at full speed and passing the ball to his side then, which is why the game would be slower. The passing moves would be almost static.





Not really. The ref should be looking at the direction of the ball in relation to the player in order to determine whether it is forward or not, so will be able to see any obvious changes in velocity that would/wouldn't affect the forward propulsion of the ball.





I know, I was just trying to see if anyone would make a smart-allick comment on that one!

Alternatively, it would encourage a deep attack, just as he said.



Which I'm kinda partial to, to be honest!

But still slower, as players would have to stop or slow down in order to turn around.



And with the speed of the game as it is at the moment, these players would be wiped out by the defence before they could even pass the ball, resulting in no passing anyway!

... and the person moving onto the ball may well be moving faster, having run from deep as opposed to having to constantly check the run to prevent overrunning the guy with the ball.



Drives me nuts when wingers do that; why not just hang back another metre or two and make a full blooded run in support when the centre (or whoever) gets the ball? I know there's situations where you can't always do this, but I'd like to see more of it than we get at the mo.



So it's not quite as clear cut as you may think at first glance; you frequently have a guy passing having stopped or checked his speed anyway, it's not always passed at full tilt.







Not sure I follow you here; if the defence is advancing, running full tilt into them gives you [iless[/i time to pass than you would have if you were running more slowly with the ball.

Because by dropping back 3-4m more than before, you have to make up 3-4m more on the run, and that 3-4m gives the defence time to come and get you.

Elite sport is all about reducing things to the absolute minimum in order to get even the smallest advantages. This is one of them.



So it's not quite as clear cut as you may think at first glance; you frequently have a guy passing having stopped or checked his speed anyway, it's not always passed at full tilt.







No. Stopping or slowing your momentum to turn and pass the ball gives the defence more time to pick up on where they are passing the ball and who to, as well as more time to cover the ground.



The slower you advance forward, the more time the defence has to come and get you. The attack my have more time to make decisions as well, but they won't be making any ground.