How does a lineout actually work when the ball goes into touch?
Hi everyone, new here so be gentle 🙂 I watched a bit of the Bledisloe test with my flatmate and when the ball went over the sideline everyone just sort of wandered into a big huddle and I had no idea what was going on. So how does a lineout actually work when the ball goes into touch? Like who decides where everyone stands, and why do they lift guys up in the air, that part looks wild. Still learning this, don't laugh 😅
4 posts
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✓Ha, don't worry Nick, that "huddle" puzzled all of us once. When the ball goes over the sideline, play restarts with a lineout: the hooker of the team throwing in (whoever didn't touch it last) throws the ball down the middle between two rows of forwards, and the jumpers get hoisted by their teammates to snatch it at the top. It used to be just a jump and a prayer back in my day, but since lifting was legalised in the late 90s the locks go up like they're on a crane. Thrower decides where, jumper decides how high, simple as that 😄Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
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Nick, think of it like this. Watch any Bledisloe test and when Ardie Saveer or whoever taps it over the line, the throw-in goes to the other team, usually the hooker, who flings it down the middle while two lines of forwards square up. The lifters hoist a jumper into the air because the ball is thrown well above head height, so the team that times the jump best gets clean ball. As for who jumps where, teams assign roles in the huddle: some jump at two, some at four, some stay on the ground to lift, and a good chunk of Bunnings NPC games are won or lost just on that call.Numbers > vibes.
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You'll pick it up quicker than you think, Nick. In short: a lineout is the restart after the ball goes into touch, where the hooker of the team that didn't touch it last throws it back in between two lines of forwards, with teammates lifting their jumpers up to catch or steal it. Back in my day nobody got lifted at all, you just jumped and hoped, so don't feel bad about the confusion 😄 watch a few throw-ins closely and the pecking order of who jumps where will make sense pretty quick.Remember when the grass was greener 🌱