Bridging?

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by bellnier

Okay, there's no specific definition of "bridging" in the law book. There are many instances where a player in the ruck is in a low stance, balanced on his/her feet, with hands on a tackled player. Some referees will always call this bridging, but others use the criteria that if his hands were lifted and the player does not fall over then he/she is NOT bridging. I suppose we could say that the player is preventing the tackled player from rolling away, but that might be a stretch too. Opinions?

Is the idea to determine whether the player is on his feet? In that case, we know that a player can be supported in part by a hand or hands and still be considered on his feet.

How did this player enter the ruck? Who did he first make contact with? Could an opponent on his own feet make contact with him at the shoulders and shove him off the ball, or would such contact just drive him down onto or over the ball or another player?