Law explained as hookers appear to creep closer and closer to the lineout

The 2023 Rugby World Cup in France put the game under the spotlight like never before, as new fans from around the globe tuned in for the game’s showpiece event that attracted record crowds and millions in television audiences.

With all that attention comes a lot of scrutiny, as fans had a lot of questions about various aspects of decision making by the officials, especially when the TMO appeared to be more involved than ever.

After the tournament, which included the first ever red card in a final, referee Wayne Barnes got a lot of heat for some of the decisions he and his assistants (TMO included) made. He has since announced his retirement.

One aspect of play that fans picked up on throughout the tournament was at lineout time, when it appeared that hookers were standing well in-field when throwing the ball in. It's not something new, but with all the eyeballs on the sport, questions were asked as it was quite prevalent at times.

In some cases, as with Australia’s Dave Porecki against Fiji, it looked blatantly illegal and for some reason, wasn't even pointed out, let alone penalised.

But at other times, it may have simply appeared as though they were in-field, due in part to the interpretation of the law.

“You’ve just got to be on the ‘paint’ (the white outline),” explained former Blues and All Blacks hooker James Parsons on the latest Aotearoa Rugby Pod.

“A lot of hookers will put their heels on the paint and their feet will be in the field. I was one that always stood behind the line just because that was my range, that’s how I grew up throwing.

“A lot of the people that try to, I suppose, creep forward a couple [of feet] are normally hookers that struggle for distance in their throw, whereas people that have probably had too many Weetabix, they will stand a little bit further back, to control the distance. So you can normally tell where a hooker’s mindset is.

England hooker … ended in try pic.twitter.com/00Ph2D4H5L

— Mat.Ipi ♻️®️ (@matias_ipi) September 17, 2023

“I always think, you’re a little bit hesitant if you creep forward. That was always my mentality in my own head, so I always prided myself on being well behind that line.”

World Rugby Law 18.22 states “the player throwing in the ball stands on the mark of touch with both feet outside the field of play.”

The touchline is considered outside the field of play, so just touching a blade of white paint puts you "out" and in this case, makes it legal, even if some players actually end up releasing the ball while on their toes and not actually touching anything.

While it looks wrong to the viewer, Parsons says that it’s just the way it is these days, as officials clearly don’t seem to police it and the law has not yet been changed to bring them back to on, or behind, the line.

Heels on the line is all that's needed to be legal

“A lot of the younger hookers coming through, they’ve got their heels on the paint. I think it’s just a different coaching.. Maybe they’ve just been taught through that pathway system, I’m not too sure, but I mean when I started it was one foot in front of the other, it wasn’t even square feet, so, it was definitely well behind the line then.

Like it or not, "you’ve just got to be on the line," says Parsons.