Wynne Gray: Uneasy lottery in countdown to Cup

Frank Lampard's shot could have been replayed. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Rugby has a horrendously complex mesh of rules, so too golf where officials are often called to make some decision. Soccer is far less complicated.

However the assistant referee erred at Stamford Bridge at the weekend when he indicated to referee Andre Marriner that Frank Lampard's shot had entirely crossed the Tottenham line. It was a poor decision which a quick replay would have confirmed and eased visiting manager Harry Redknapp's blood pressure.

In the final round of the New Orleans Classic yesterday, Webb Simpson was leading by a shot with three holes left when he called for a ruling in case he had infringed one of the game's arcane laws. Turns out he grounded his putter and his ball moved, even though the two objects were separated by some distance.

Penalty one shot, Simpson lost in an eventual playoff to Bubba Watson. It was ultra harsh and even Watson shook his head when the ruling was made but as one of the commentators remarked, Simpson would be respected by every other pro for his integrity compared with a few others with less honest reputations.

Golf might be self-policed while in rugby you just play to the whistle. Until then or an assistant intervenes, you just plough on.

Which is what Sonny Bill Williams and Corey Flynn did at Perth in the latest round of the Super 15. In the same movement, both players were brought to their knees but neither released the ball. They carried on, Williams squirming forward to set a ruck, then Flynn picking himself up again and ploughing across the tryline to give the Crusaders the lead. The only whistle from Christchurch referee Vinny Munro came for a try. It was perplexing.

In plenty of other matches you see during the Super 15, referees would have penalised Williams and/or Flynn for not releasing the ball when they were tackled. They would have pinged any Force defenders who dived on Williams or Flynn again to halt them.

Just like that scene when a defender hustles back to claim a ball on the ground and lies there for a second or too, knowing he is immune from tacklers until he regains his feet.

The murky tackled ball law is another area of rugby which is too open to interpretation, still an uneasy lottery facing teams as the countdown to the World Cup enters its last six months. We have already seen far too many props penalised for momentary hands on the ground to steady a scrum, too many decisions dished out when teams appear equally at fault.

Plenty of movement may be the choice of tactic in the Super 15 but World Cup sides will work out the percentages, they'll figure their odds of victory will increase if they play down the other end of the track.

Just watch how the Blues beat the Highlanders. A side with the arsenal to beat many rivals, they wanted to avoid breakdowns and phase play in their own half against a voracious rival forward pack. The Blues chose to kick and begin across the other side of halfway. it was a deliberate tactic and one which drew its reward from Luke McAlister's boot. Not pretty but winning rugby.

What goes down best at a World Cup, pragmatic footy or artistic rugby?