5/17/2009 NERFU D4 Championship Final: Assistant Referee

I had the pleasure of being an assistant referee for the NERFU D4 Championship final between the Central Maine Stripers and Monadanock RFC.

From an AR's perspective in this game I was shown the real value the positioning and judgement of kicks at goal. On two occasions during this game, if it werent for correct AR positioning, some successful kicks may have been called wrong. On one occasion, straight in front of the posts, the AR's lined up with the posts. Now the kick curved well to one side, almost to the point where it might have hit the post had it been higher....and the other AR AND referee could not tell if the kick was successful or not, requiring my confirmation. It is important to be on the spot to judge if the ball would have hit the post or not, in the event the provided goal posts are too short.

Now one thing I am not sure about in the AR role, when marking the 5 meter offside line on scrums......should one go to the attacking side, the other to the defending? or should both just mark the defending. It is important to check the attacking side in the event of a turnover at scrum, many teams have a bad habit of advancing well before the ball is out of the scrum taken against the head.

Overall a good AR experience.
There was no foul play to respond to as an AR this game.