Forward pass should have wiped Le Roux try

THERE are two elements of the modern game that I would like to see refereed out of it with a vengeance. The first, and most topical, is the forward pass, and the second the crooked scrum feed.

The focus here is the forward pass, and a glaring misjudgement by the match officials in ignoring it when Willie le Roux touched down early in the second-half of the controversial First Test between the Lions and South Africa.

Le Roux’s grounding should have been wiped off the slate instantly, rather than eventually. This is because the Springbok full-back being in front of Lukhanyo Am’s hindmost foot, as opposed to his kicking foot – which was about three feet further forward – was the second infringement.

The first infringement was that Damian de Allende’s pass to Am in the passage of play that immediately preceded it was clearly forward.

Not only was Am half a stride in front when he received the ball, it was also clear that De Allende’s hands were on a forward diagonal as he let go of his push-pass.

While the match officials babbled about “nothing clear and obvious” you wondered whether they were getting the same pictures as the rest of us.

Another issue is that some commentators – usually international backs – appear to be a lot more tolerant of forward passes than the rest of us. So excited are they by the prospect of a try that sometimes you get the impression they would wave through a Tom Brady pass.

It’s time to get it straight. A legitimate pass is either backwards, or flat, but not forward – even by a couple of inches – and the best default position for referees is that if it looks forward, albeit by a small margin, then

they should call it.