THINGS THAT LOOK OK BUT AREN'T

A player cannot chase a ball that has been kicked upfield by a teammate who is behind him. The player must wait until the person that kicked the ball, or someone behind the kicker, runs upfield, passing the others and thus putting them onsides so that they may play. A player may also be put onside if the player catching the ball either drops it or runs at least five meters with it. What the defender cannot do, is play the person waiting to catch the ball until the defender has been put onside either by the actions of his own team or the actions of the person receiving the ball.

Holding the ball after being tackled – If you don’t release the ball within three seconds it’s a penalty for the other team.

Intentionally lying on top of the ball – Same as above

Blocking or obstructing an opponent – I have to take the rules on face value for this one; it looks to me like they’re obstructing each other all the time!

Dangerous tackling methods – You must make a grasp at the person you are trying to bring down, and may not tackle at the shoulders or head.  No strong arm blocks or tackles allowed.

A minor violation such as a forward pass or a knock-on (forward fumble) cause the referee to call for a scrummage.  This means that the front line boys (the big guys) hug each others’ shoulders and the front line of the opposition, heads down and together, to form a sort of circular tribal dance posture.  Then the scrum-half throws the ball in at their feet, and the “hook” from each team tries to reach in and get the ball out with his feet, to someone standing near but outside of the huddle (er, sorry, scrum), usually the scrum-half who passes it back to a back and then play begins and the scrum breaks up.  Believe it or not, there are actually technical rules about what the members of the scrum can do when the ball is inserted, and what the hook can do, so sometimes in these high school games they have to do the scrum over again, because someone did something they shouldn’t have.