2019 NRL Matches

Haha downward pressure has a special, technical meaning in rugby league. It doesn't literally mean he didn't force the ball downwards; it just means he didn't ground it. So anything from a knock on to a knock back to missing it is "not downward pressure", and he ruled it a knock on by sending it back to the 20.

 

Both of them were ruled knock on. "Not downward pressure" isn't really a ruling; it's just the absence of that specific ruling. Downward pressure = try. It's like saying something isn't a forward pass. There's a wide array of things it can be if it's not a forward pass - it can be a kick or a dummy or a high tackle etc etc.

"No downward pressure" is something a video ref will tend to send when the ball is on the ground and bouncing around and a player tries to ground it without actually catching it, but fails. Which is what happened in the Williams example. He's not going to say "no downward pressure" if a player actually has the ball and then drops it, even though it's technically also true. I mean it's also true that you haven't applied downward pressure when you're kicking it but it's not interesting information for the video ref to point out.

I think you're taking what the video ref says as too literally the ruling, when it's often just the explanation of the ruling. The ruling was knock on in goal both times.

 

Yeah I probably would have given it as well tbh. But I made it a new season's resolution to not harp on about refereeing decisions too much unless they're obviously shockers, and that one definitely fell into the grey area for me.

 

I'd be okay with it if DWZ was trying to shepherd the ball out of play, but he was trying to pick it up. Harsh IMO.

I realise the rules make absolutely no distinction between the those two scenarios, but if we're going to play the "I'm okay with it" game then that's where I'm gonna take it.