France have a scrum in England territory on their right. They heel the ball and have a move organised. For the move it requires No.8 Julien Bonnaire to pick and give flank Sébastien Chabal who is on the right and will come from the right to take the short pass.

Now it is a matter of timing.

Chabal must stay bound till the scrum is over, that means attached from shoulder to hand to lock Jérôme Thion. The ball comes to Bonnaire and he releases his binding, that is neither shoulder-arm is attached to Fabien Pelous or Jérôme Thion in front of him. Then the scrum is over. Then Chabal is entitled to release his binding and sweep round to take Bonnaire’s pass.

Bonnaire certainly pulled his head out when the ball was at his feet and certainly had only the palms of his hands on the locks in front of him, thus ending the scrum,

If Chabal was no longer bound before Bonnaire came unbound, Chabal was subject to penalty.If Chabal became unbound after Bonnaire came unbound, Chabal could play on.

Tough.

4. Off the forehead

Lewis Moody bashes bravely. The ball comes back to Harry Ellis who passes to his right, to Charlie Hodgson. Hands ready Olly Barkley moves towards Hodgson who fires a sharp ball at Barkley which strikes him on the forehead and bounces a long way forward. Play goes on.

OK?

Oh yes.

A knock-on happens when the player knocks the ball forward with his hands or arms or when the player loses possession of the ball and it goes forward. Neither case applies to Barkley and his forehead.

Then what about the IRB ruling about bouncing the ball off the knee? But we shall discuss that another day.

5. Whose ball, sir?

Jason Robinson kicks high and scurries after the ball. Yann Delaigue catches the ball and Robinson catches Delaigue. They stay on their feet and Julien Bonnaire attaches himself to Delaigue.

England’s Danny Grewcock, Steve Thompson and Phil Vickery attach themselves to the group. The group falls to ground and the ball is unplayable.

Whose ball?

When Bonnaire attached himself to Delaigue, a maul was formed.

Law 17. DEFINITIONA maul occurs when a player carrying the ball is held by one or more opponents, and one or more of the ball-carrier’s team-mates bind on the ballcarrier. A maul therefore consists of at least three players, all on their feet the ball-carrier and one player from each team. All the players involved are on their feet and moving towards a goal-line. Open play has ended.

Delaigue is ball-carrier. Robinson is opponent. Bonnaire is team-mate.

The ball did not come out. In other words it was unplayable. Law 17.6 deals with this. It says, amongst other things, the following: