Ireland U20s Stewart Moore's knowledge of the law leads to a clever try

Ireland U20s Stewart Moore's knowledge of the law leads to a clever try

Ireland backed up their Grand Slam Six Nations with a clear statement of intent as they claimed a bonus point victory over a strong English side.

England will rue the ill-discipline that saw them go down to 14 men on two occasions while replacement Alfie Barbeary was shown a straight red card.

England dominated at times but Ireland were ruthless scoring 4 second-half tries to England's two with Jake Flannery running a tidy shift.

However, one of the best moments of the game was centre Stewart Moore's understanding of the rules to score before the half hour mark.


England had the ball right by their try line and scrumhalf Ollie Fox was lining up a clearance from the base of the ruck.

However, Fox made a crucial error as he moved the ball with his foot and placed it on the try line.


Screenshot from World Rugby's Youtube

Under Law 15.18, the law book states that ”the ruck ends and play continues when the ball leaves the ruck or when the ball in the ruck is on or over the goal line.”

Therefore, we Fox moves the ball onto his tryline, the ruck is over and there is no longer an offside line.

Stewart spots this and stutters his run up at first before sprinting at the ball, while still being onside, and diving down to score.

Screenshot from World Rugby's Youtube

Referee Damon Murphy did refer the decision to the TMO and Stewart was awarded the try.

This rule has become a bit more well known in recent times with Cian Healy almost getting it right in the Six Nations test against  France earlier this year but he failed to actually dot the ball down.

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