Ahem, ‘stripping’, as in stripping the ball from a player in a ball game. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines stripping as the “act of pulling or tearing off”.
In the rugby context, it is the stripping of a ball from the control of a player.
I was aghast as I saw, for the first time ever, an example of stripping the ball at the Rugby World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand.
In the 44th minute, after the Ma’a Nonu try, Aaron Smith box-kicked from the base of the ruck. The ball travelled to the Australian half of the field and was caught by Drew Mitchell in mid-air.
Mitchell landed on his feet, and Nehe Milner-Skudder tried to tackle him. As his feet neared the ground, Sonny Bill Williams stretched out an arm and slapped the ball from the crook of Mitchell’s arm.
The ball came loose and Nigel Owens, the referee, adjudged a knock-on and awarded the scrum to New Zealand!
There should be no room for stripping in rugby. It should be adjudged as foul play. The player caught stripping should be penalised with a yellow card, and the team from whom the ball was stripped should be awarded a penalty.
It definitely is not a knock-on!
There is nothing skilful in stripping. It is an opportunistic act, and should have no place in rugby.
My horror of stripping comes from watching the New England Patriots continuously stripping the ball against opponents in American football in the mid 1980s (obviously a long time ago).
They went to the Super Bowl as the American conference winners, but lost in the Super Bowl, and I have disliked the Patriots ever since. (To put it into perspective, however, in my recent viewings of American football, I have not seen any stripping at all.)
I hope that incidence of stripping at the Rugby World Cup final is the last time I’ll ever see stripping in rugby.
Darth Vadar
Guest
--and THAT my friends is the end of the matter.
Darth Vadar
Guest
That is common sense of course -->nowadays common sense is not common :D
Darth Vadar
Guest
hear hear
Darth Vadar
Guest
haven't you heard rebel-->happy ABs make better ABs :D :D
Darth Vadar
Guest
and didnt even get cited
Darth Vadar
Guest
You should be commended for Knighthood sir :D - Arise Sir Zero
Darth Vadar
Guest
No - that award goes to me :D
Darth Vadar
Guest
You mean rolled the ball on the ground?
Chinmay Hejmadi
Roar Guru
Come on, we aren't playing League. If stripping becomes a penalty then all types of stripping the ball from the ball carrier will result in a penalty, not just the type that SBW does. I agree, adjudging it as a knock on is harsh, when the ball was actually knocked out by the opposition player, but calling for a yellow is over the top, in my view.
Jerry
Guest
I disagree. A scrum isn't as good as actually having possession so you'd only see them in situations where - as now - a defender can't actually catch the ball. I guess teams might try and conceive a strategy where they flood the passing lanes, but all that would mean is that there would be defenders in no-man's land who would be risking being dummied or passed over the top of.
Common Sense
Guest
Kiwi single? The South Africans have been saying that since 2011!
Edward Pye
Roar Guru
Or just hold onto the ball more tightly
Mike
Roar Rookie
rubbish.
Jonathan
Guest
Yes, it is an infringement, but it is usually a scrum infringement -- I'm just arguing that it should stay a scrum infringement. The point of the knock on rule, as I see it, is that you can't pass forward, so you shouldn't be able to benefit from accidentally knocking the ball forward, either. The scrum gives the opposition the ball back and restarts play without further sanction. As for being off the hook after an intentional knock on, yes, you saved 5 or 7 points, but now you have to defend an attacking scrum -- essentially, the offense gets a do-over, except now with more space to attack (since there are 16 forwards locked in a scrum). As for doing it again and again, it's not as if players would smack passes out of the air at will if only allowed to by the laws; remember, there's usually milimetres of difference between a knock and an intercept, and offenses should be doing everything in their power to avoid the latter as well as the former. I restate my original response: any team that is so careless with their passes should not be bailed by the ref out to the tune of 3 points, let alone given a player advantage. Let defenders defend, police the offsides line strictly to ensure fairness, and let offenses adapt.
ClarkeG
Roar Guru
Jonathan you answered your own question. The consequences would be scrums. And lots of them. Less time for ball in play. Less tries. If there is no disincentive for a defending player to intentionally knocking the ball forward other than conceding a scrum feed to the other team then you will see a proliferation of intentional knock ons in the game. And these will not only occur with knocking passes on. It will occur in all areas of the game across the board.
Jonathan
Guest
What consequences would those be? That defensive knock-ons result in scrums just like offensive knock-ons? Why is that a problem? Offense should avoid putting the ball within the defense's reach. If they mess up but the defense can't hold on to the intercept, they get the ball back off a scrum to try again. What problems are we imagining?
Dublin Dave
Guest
For someone called Jibba Jabba, you're talking a lot of sense :) This is the sort of issue analogous to those in the real world dismissed as a "First world problem".
Dublin Dave
Guest
Kane said "The best way to legally do this is to push one of his own unbraced players at a ruck onto the half back as he’s picking up the ball. Very effective" Ask Pascal Pape how advisable it is to try this on someone like Sean O'Brien. OK so once the TMO spotted it (and the ref didn't) O'Brien got a one-match ban. But Pape got precious little sympathy.
CA3ZAR
Roar Pro
Nice
Jerry
Guest
Even if it were a penalty (which I don't think it was cause I think all you 'clearly intentional' people are loons) it's still not a 14 point turnaround. Mitchell lost the ball before he'd even touched Whitelock.