Goal kicking, is this scenario allowed?

Watching the Ospreys V Biarritz game today I saw Dan Biggar taking a shot at goal from the touch line, while one of their players was getting treatment, what I noticed was that no one was covering the area directly in front of the kicker.

So the question is if Dan says he is going for a kick of goal is he allowed to punt the ball forward in front of him and dive on it for a try?
When you tell the ref your kicking at goal are you informing him you are place kicking and MUST aim at the posts or are you allowed to kick it anywhere, because if Dan had simply kicked the ball forward in a straight line he could of fallen on the ball for a try.

Because in theory if you kick the ball and it falls short or if it bounces off a post you can catch it and score a try, so surely you can kick it forward and chase it instead despite saying you intend to go for the posts.

I think you can. I remember Wasps nearly tried it against Munster a few years ago.

It's very interesting because Iv'e seen kickers hold the ball for a long time in their hands and when teams think they are going to go for 3 points they tap it quickly and score a cheeky try in the corner.
But I have never seen anyone deliberatly not aim for the posts and punt it in front of them to dive on for a try.

You have to make an 'obvoius' attempt for the posts. How they could or would determine what an obvious attempt is if it happned god knows

Having said you are going to kick at goal - the ref has to believe that is what you attempted.

Punting the ball from hand would be penalised.
Kicking from the tee to the corner would be penalised.
After that you get into the grey area.

I've always wondered about this, technically I don't see
what's to stop a player placing the ball on the T, then nudging it off and
running with it. Kind of unsporting I guess would be interesting to see a ref's
opinion on the matter.

Used to use this tactic all the time in Rugby 08, penalty on the touchline of
the 22, fluff the kick, pick up the ball and dot down in the corner...

Nudging it like that is against the laws

21.5 SCORING A GOAL FROM A PENALTY KICK
(a) A penalty goal can be scored from a penalty kick.
(b) If the kicker indicates to the referee the intention to kick at goal, the kicker must kick at goal. Once the kicker has made the intention clear, there can be no change of the intention. The referee may enquire of the kicker as to the intention.
(c) If the kicker indicates to the referee the intent to kick at goal, the opposing team must stand still with their hands by their sides from the time the kicker starts to approach to kick until the ball is kicked.
(d) If the kicker has not indicated an intention to kick at goal but takes a drop kick and scores a goal, the goal stands.
(e) If the opposing team infringes while the kick is being taken but the kick at goal is successful, the goal stands. A further penalty is not awarded for the infringement.

GLove39 wrote:Used to use this tactic all the time in Rugby 08, penalty on the touchline of
the 22, fluff the kick, pick up the ball and dot down in the corner...

I can only guess that the ref(s) who allowed this were school teachers with no clue as to the laws of the game.

Unless you were so skillfull that you managed to make it look like you were really trying to kick a goal - but were incompetent. Even so when I reffed I would probably have still penalised you for being useless

Comes down to referees view. If he judges.in intentional then its a no no.

LondonTiger wrote:

GLove39 wrote:Used to use this tactic all the time in Rugby 08, penalty on the touchline of
the 22, fluff the kick, pick up the ball and dot down in the corner...

I can only guess that the ref(s) who allowed this were school teachers with no clue as to the laws of the game.

Unless you were so skillfull that you managed to make it look like you were really trying to kick a goal - but were incompetent. Even so when I reffed I would probably have still penalised you for being useless

He's referring to a computer/console game by Rugby '08.

Basically the ref has to believe that you have made an effort to kick properly at goal. If you scuff the ball you can run after it and pick it up and run it in. But if the ref thinks you did it on purpose he will just ping you on the spot for it.

A more contentious and vague scenario is how to penalise him tell hkm to retake or - scrum or lineout