Positioning at kick-offs

ost referees position themselves at midfield at the opening kick-off and after a try or field-goal is scored. It's a good place to bring focus to re-starting the game, but it's bad for the referee's field vision and availability.

Law 13 - Kick-off and Re-start Kicks: The kick-off occurs at the start of the match and the re-start of the match after half-time. Re-start kicks occur after a score or a touch down.

Let's weigh the pros and cons:

• The usual ref position is to stand next to the kicker at midfield, ensuring that all attacking players are not jumping off-side ahead of the kicker. Meanwhile, one of the touch judges is positioned on the 10-meter line to ensure the defending team is behind that line.
• The ref would then have to sprint more than 10 meters to the point where the ball is fielded by the defending team. I don't think there's a referee fast enough to run with the ball.

The kick may be a long one all the way to the defending team's 22-meter line, or it may even travel in and out of the in-goal area. That's more than 50 yards the ref has to cover in sprinting speed.

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