Cliff's question

Last Saturday, we were standing on the balcony in pleasant August sunshine with a beer in hand, watching Petersfield's pre-season warm-up match against a Chichester XV, refereed by the excellent Mike Gill.  In the third quarter, Petersfield scored a try close to the near touchline.  The kicker brought the ball back to the 10 metre line to gain the extra two points for the conversion. Cliff asked why they brought the kick so far back, and I agreed - it looked too far.  Indeed the kick missed.

 

 Obviously, the reason that the kicker brings the ball back from the try line is to make the apparent target as big as possible.  The parallax effect means that the goal posts look wider apart as you move back, but at the same time the distance for the kick grows, making the kicker's task more difficult. What's the ideal distance to bring the ball back?  Is there a simple way to work this out in the heat of the match?  Probably every professional kicking coach knows this, and maybe there are doctoral theses on the subject, but here's my take on the question. 

The geometry is simple - the width of the target depends on the distance back from the try line and the distance of the mark made by the referee from the mid-point of the goal posts.  The width of the target can be shown as the angle viewed by the kicker from the point where the ball is placed.  So assuming that the pitch has been marked up properly and is rectangular in shape, the following table shows this angle for various positions (distances in metres, angles in degrees):

Offset from centre line		0	5	10	15	20	25	30	35
Distance from try line	10	31.3	25.5	16.2	10.0	6.5	4.5	3.2	2.4
	15	21.1	19.1	14.8	10.8	7.8	5.7	4.3	3.3
	20	15.9	15.0	12.8	10.3	8.0	6.3	5.0	4.0
	25	12.8	12.3	11.0	9.4	7.8	6.4	5.3	4.3
	30	10.7	10.4	9.6	8.6	7.4	6.3	5.4	4.5
	35	9.1	9.0	8.5	7.7	6.9	6.1	5.3	4.6
	40	8.0	7.9	7.5	7.0	6.4	5.8	5.1	4.5
	45	7.1	7.0	6.8	6.4	6.0	5.4	4.9	4.4
	50	6.4	6.3	6.2	5.9	5.5	5.1	4.7	4.3

The widest angle for each 5 metre distance (wide and back) is highlighted in the table.  With the crossbar at a height of 3 metres, I don't think many people will choose to kick from closer than 10.

So on this basis, it looks as though the widest angle is always given by taking the ball back as far out as the mark is from the centre of the posts.  On a full-sized pitch, this means that a line through the crossing point of the 15 metre dashed lines (20 metres from the centre of the pitch) and the 22 metre line is very close to the best apparent target.  And conversions from the touchline should never be further back than about 5 metres short of the 10 metre line.

The other important factor in deciding whether to kick, and where from, is the distance.  A kick taken too far back will need a huge knock.  Here's the distance table with the same squares highlighted as in the table above:

Offset from centre line		0	5	10	15	20	25	30	35
Distance from try line	10	10.0	11.2	14.1	18.0	22.4	26.9	31.6	36.4
	15	15.0	15.8	18.0	21.2	25.0	29.2	33.5	38.1
	20	20.0	20.6	22.4	25.0	28.3	32.0	36.1	40.3
	25	25.0	25.5	26.9	29.2	32.0	35.4	39.1	43.0
	30	30.0	30.4	31.6	33.5	36.1	39.1	42.4	46.1
	35	35.0	35.4	36.4	38.1	40.3	43.0	46.1	49.5
	40	40.0	40.3	41.2	42.7	44.7	47.2	50.0	53.2
	45	45.0	45.3	46.1	47.4	49.2	51.5	54.1	57.0
	50	50.0	50.2	51.0	52.2	53.9	55.9	58.3	61.0

So you can see that a 10 metre error in the positioning of a touchline conversion will change a 49.5 metre kick to 57 metres, as well as making the angle worse.  On the other hand, taking the same kick from just outside the 22 metre line will worsen the angle by only 0.3 degrees (next to nothing) and make the kick 6.5 metres shorter - could be important for some kickers. 

All of these calculations assume that a kicker can hoof the ball 50-60 metres - easier at altitude - and they ignore weather conditions and pitch slopes that will lead to a more complex decision-making process.  But it does look as though many kickers are making their task more difficult.

Feedback welcome. 

Sky Sports

At last I've done the deed.  I thought about it and blogged about it last year.  The final straw was another price rise and reduction in useful service, which has at last pushed me over the brink to cancel Sky Sports. 

Sky used to be the place to watch Aviva Premiership matches, and cycling through Eurosport.  The rot started when they started failing to provide proper coverage (semi finals on ESPN, for example).   Then they moved Eurosport out of the Sports packages into an Entertainment package, best described as a pile of infantile rubbish costing extra £5 a month.  Eurosport is sport, isn't it?  And then they lost the rights to show Aviva Premiership Rugby to BT, and put the price up at the same time, presumably to provide even more funding for football players to keep their WAGs in the accustomed style. 

In the 2013-14 season, the BT coverage started a little shakily but has gone from strength  to strength.  They have a great team of presenters, a fun format, and can bring a smile to your face in the midweek programme, unlike the tired old Sky show that we used to endure.  Sky Sports is characterised by people sitting around in suits, BT by people enjoying themselves.

Any Sky Rugby coverage that I need to watch is shown at our local pub or at Grayshott Social Club.  £20 a month or thereabouts is a high price to pay for the occasional Championship, Super Rugby or tour match.  What about other sports?  The BBC's  Formula One coverage isn't as good as Sky's, but it's acceptable.  Frankly Sky F1 is overblown, too many hours of blather; the noise to signal ratio is too high.  I rarely watch it live, and delete most of it without watching the recording.   Cricket isn't worth watching at the moment; Test Match Special on BBC Radio 4 LW is enough pain.  And I've said enough about wendyball already.  Better without it. 

Beach Books 2013

1) Snuff, Terry Pratchett 

2) Our Kind of Traitor, John Le Carré 

3) A Universe from Nothing, Lawrence M Krauss 

4) The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson 

5) Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure, Artemis Cooper 

6) The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens

CBSY9 - Quins v Saints

My experience of the new scrum sequence - Crouch, Bind, Set, Yes 9 - has been totally positive.  As a referee, it gives me control over the process, removes the high intensity hit, allows me to see the positioning of the front row players and has the outcome of a tiny number of collapsed scrums, less than one a match.  I've not changed my policy of insisting that the throw-in to the scrum must be made properly along the centre line of the scrum (I referee at the community Rugby level), and so there has been a real contest at the scrum in most matches.

My big worry is that this great improvement - as shown by the firm refereeing of Craig Joubert in the first of this year's NZ v Wallabies matches - could be undermined.  If the professional game is allowed to continue with the bent throw-in to the scrum, then there won't be a contest and hookers won't need to hook. The lawmakers could ditch the contested scrum altogether if the CBSY9 trial fails.  Here are the scrums from Friday night's Aviva Premiership match (13/09/2013), in foul conditions, between Quins and Saints:

1st half

07:54 - Saints scrum 5 - first attempt, both front rows fail to crouch
08:32 - goes down on Quins LH side, Marler underneath TH prop
09:20 - third attempt, ref comes round to far (Quins LH) side; Marler has bound long (on TH shorts?), penalty for 'hingeing': 0-3
13:50 Quins Rob Buchanan on for Joe Gray (hooker)
17:45 Saints scrum, goes down on throw-in side, referee talks to captains
18:05 Scrum reset, Quins penalised for popping up (penalty missed)
24:11 - scuffle, captains warned
24:35 - scrum to Quins, Marler long bind, goes down
25:05 - scrum reset, Care feed ball between LH and hooker's feet - successful scrum
28:00 - Quins given FK for numbers at line out, but opt for scrum...
28:40 - scrum collapses on set, still moving as Care throws in, Saints LH penalised for angle (3-3)
36:20 - diagonal feed by Care, never near middle line - succesful scrum
40:00 - another feed by Care, standing a foot to the right of middle line - successful scrum

2nd half

44:20 - penalty to Quins, taking man in the air (6-3)
48:40 - scrum to Quins went down
49:12 - reset, ref on far side, ball at least visible in tunnel - successful scrum
52:50 - line out penalty to Saints (6-6)
58:20 - Marler subbed by Lambert
62:15 - Great Saints maul, but then turned over. Couldn't see Quins throw in, didn't look good; scrum had gone low on far side, before ref allowed scrum to start - successful scrum but messy result for Quins.  Saints charged down kick at subsequent ruck and scored a try from there, converted by Myler (6-13)
65:10 - Care dropped Ball at LH prop's foot but it rebounded and Saints won scrum against head - successful scrum
66:15 - dubious feed by Dickson, scrum moving but no way Quins hooker could challenge - successful scrum
67:50 - early engage by Saints, FK
70:55 - went down on far side from Quins throw-in, reset
71:30 - Ref starts on far side from Quins throw-in but in a great position; he moved off the middle line, but ball visible in tunnel - successful scrum
74:10 - Nick Easter YC
76:30 - Myler YC

Summary

Six scrum awards in each half.   In the first half, three awards ended successfully: two at first attempt, one after one reset.  Three other awards ended in penalties, one after two resets, one after one reset, and one at the first attempt.  In the second half, five ended successully: three at the first attempt and two after one reset.  The other award ended in a FK to Quins. 

Saints were awarded three of the twelve but managed to finish only one of them successfully, the two others resulting in penalties.  Quins had six successful outcomes, plus one lost against the head, one FK and one PK. The ball was visible in the tunnel in only two of the successful outcomes, and from the viewpoint of television, the opposing hooker would not have been able to reach the ball if he'd bothered striking for it in either case.  

Stoupa 2013

Another wonderful holiday in Stoupa - places we'd recommend include:

• Stoupa Restaurant - we went four times, each better than the preceding.  The last time we were early enough to order the pot-roast goat. Fantastic.  As was the bifteki stuffed with feta.
• Akrogiali -  went three times for dinner and twice for lunch.  The view from the restaurant at night is pretty but in daylight, it's awesome.  Really liked their saganaki prawns, totally delicious with great fresh tomato sauce, and will try and recreate this at home.  Mixed grill, moussaka and bifteki were highlights here too.
• Ta Pende Adelphia (also known as The White Trees) - great for lunch (five times) or dinner (three). Rabbit stifado, calamari, stuffed peppers, excellent souvlakia and moussaka.
• To Steki - lunch and late drinks. Sometimes very late drinks, with a Stekiburger or two to sustain us.
• The Butcher - this seemed to be a more expensive evening than most, but that's probably because we stayed more than two hours after we'd finished our food. The reason: rembetiki music every night, with Andonis Ainitis starring on bouzouki, a girl with a lovely voice who sang and played the guitar, and some really good dancing. A good night out.  

Here's Andonis Ainitis on YouTube: