Penalties
THE FREE KICK
A free kick is the generic term for how a play is restarted after one team is whistled for a penalty, although it may not actually result in a kick. The team awarded the free kick has a couple of options, and doesn’t necessarily have to kick the ball at all. Here are the different options;
Line-out
A line-out is when a player from the non-offending team will punt the ball down the field and into touch. It occurs where the ball went into touch, and the hooker from the same team that kicked the ball gets to throw it in.
Penalty goal
If one team is awarded a penalty close to the other team’s in-goal zone, that team can try for a penalty goal. From the spot of the penalty, a player will attempt to placethe ball and kick it through the uprights for three points.
Tap kick
If the penalized team is slow to react, a player from the non-offending team can quickly resume play while the opposing players are slowly retreating the required 10 meters. This happens when a player from the non-offending team taps the ball with his/her foot and immediately charges ahead or passes the ball off to the other team mates.
Scrum
This is the last option the non-offending team has. The scrum half of the non-offending team would put the ball into the scrum, and play would resume as normal after one side or the other won the ball.
ADVANTAGE PLAY
After the referee calls a penalty on one team, sometimes he/she will allow the play to continue if the non-offending team has a chance to make a play on/with the ball- this is called advantage play. In other words, if one team commits a penalty that doesn’t immediately keep the other team from advancing the ball, the referee won’t automatically stop the game. This gives the non-offending team a chance to make a play, which is an advantage over the team that committed the penalty. If it doesent give the other team an advantage then the referee will stop the gme and give the penalty.
