The signals that referees give can be confusing but Tony Spreadbury, one of the most experienced referees in the game, provides a guide to 15 of the most important ones. Spreadbury is a former paramedic who refereed his first international in 1990. He retired from international rugby after the recent World Cup but still officiates in the Premiership. “This is my first year in a long time not to be involved in the Six Nations,” he said, “but although it is sad not to be on the pitch, I am looking forward to being able to wear my England shirt and have a pint of lager in my hand when I watch from the stand.”
Try: When the ball is touched down behind the goalline by the attacking team, the referee blows his whistle and sticks his hand straight up to signal a try, worth five points. The scoring team can try to get a further two points by kicking the ball through the goalposts for a conversion.
Penalty: After foul play, the side who is pointed at can kick at goal for three points, take a scrum, a tap-kick to restart play or kick the ball into touch for a lineout throw.
Knock-on: Signalled when the ball is fumbled forwards. A scrum is given to the other side. A scrum is also given for a forward pass, signalled by the referee miming the throw.
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Advantage: The side who the referee is pointing at has been given a scrum or penalty but the referee is allowing play to go on. It is one of the best laws in the book. If you get it right and they score a try you get a nice feeling.
Forming a scrum: Indicates that teams should come together for a scrum after a minor offence. The referee then stretches his arm horizontally towards the team awarded the put-in.
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Free kick: A less formal sanction for a technical offence, such as not putting the ball into the scrum straight. The player generally taps the ball to himself to restart play.
Not releasing the ball: After a tackle, the player has to release the ball but sometimes they hold on to it to stop the opposition getting it. That’s punished with a penalty.
Offside, kick or scrum: If a player kicks the ball and one of his team is offside (ie, in front of him) and picks it up deliberately, the other team get the option of a penalty kick from where he picked it up or a scrum from where the ball was kicked.
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Obstruction in general play: Hard to spot but usually given if an attacker without the ball takes out a defender or reduces his opportunity to tackle the man with the ball.
Collapsing the maul: Given when a maul is brought to ground illegally by a defending player, either by pulling it down or lying at the legs of the maul to trip the players up.
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Yellow card: Given for foul play or a technical offence. Means that the player has to spend ten minutes in the sin-bin to calm down as punishment.
Red card: Means an early bath for the player and is given for serious foul play. You don’t need to have been given a yellow card first to receive a red.
Punching: Punished by a reprimand, a yellow or red card depending on the severity. If the forwards have a handbags session, often no one is hurt and they just need to calm it.
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High tackle: The law has changed: before, a high tackle was given if a player tackled at shoulder level or above. Now, it is a penalty if he starts below shoulder level and ends up high.
Dissent: I’ve never really given a penalty for dissent because I’m quite a chatty referee. I should have been sent off on three or four occasions for giving dissent to the players!