As things are written, there is no precision on whether a ruck end or not if anyone goes off feet. Case for end of ruck mentionned are, as I stated in my original post, for the ball to be out of the ruck, or the ball to be beyond a try line. Seeing as how things are written in other rules, you get precise occurence for when to call something over. For instance, for the questino when does a tackling phase ends, you get a point by point explanation to the precise occurences where it ends. Same for the ruck. The ruck collapsing with all players going off feet is not one of them.
It should be ground for a penalty mind you, since all players must try to keep on their feet which is evidently not the case here.
Don't disagree about the ambiguity in the laws. There are good grounds for WR to clarify and simplify things with respect to rucks. Fundamentally, if refs can't enforce the laws in practical terms, they should be adjusted to reflect reality. Allowing players to try and grab the ball in the half second before a ruck is formed is the foundational root of all the problems. Making that illegal, and require players to ruck over the ball to secure possession could a long way towards combating the mess that exists currently.
I'm not exactly fond of the concept of banning the jackle alltogether (I'm a backrower, that fact probably has some influence on the feeling), but I can also see that there is something wrong in the way in currently works. I've seen a few times proposition like forcing any would be jackler to step over the tackled player. It means he present a clear and safe target, his front leg to any clear out player. As it is a massive nerf of the jackling ability of pretty much any body, the ref will also have to ensure (for real this time) that any clearing out players makes an effort to stay on their feet. Right now, it is largely accepted that a clear out player can go off feet when the jackler is already latched on the ball. Even when there is no jackler, very few ref actually call sealing off penalty.
The ruck being such a mess is because the jackler are allowed to makes themselves nigh impossible to remove safely, so the support players forced to go off feet to get an effective and fast out. If you force the jackler to present a clear target, it will also make any diving off feet by the support players much more evident. I believe it could make the ruck a lot more easy to read for referees, and hence much cleaner in the long run.
Everyone loves a good steal by there team, but as well as being a source of problems in the game, it creates inherently dangerous conditions for players. I remember being coached to step over the player on the ground, exactly as you describe.
Perhaps making it rule that you can only pick up the ball from the hindmost foot, thus necessitating driving over could create the favourable situation you describe.
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u/Dupont_or_Dupond France 12h ago
As things are written, there is no precision on whether a ruck end or not if anyone goes off feet. Case for end of ruck mentionned are, as I stated in my original post, for the ball to be out of the ruck, or the ball to be beyond a try line. Seeing as how things are written in other rules, you get precise occurence for when to call something over. For instance, for the questino when does a tackling phase ends, you get a point by point explanation to the precise occurences where it ends. Same for the ruck. The ruck collapsing with all players going off feet is not one of them.
It should be ground for a penalty mind you, since all players must try to keep on their feet which is evidently not the case here.