Scotlands 2nd Try Question

Just seen the Scotland-France highlights and just need to clarify something. The second Scottish try starts with Barclay stealing the ball from the French side of the ruck after getting back to his feet on that side (behind a bound wall of French forwards who rucked over him).

Now I know a few seasons ago there were rules about the tackler being able to play the ball from anywhere, is this still the case though as I thought they'd been ammended?

It's at 2 mins on the video below.

http://www.rugbydump.com/2012/02/2370/france-leave-murrayfield-victorious-after-scotland-scare

It does seem to stump everyone when he does it, even the Scots and Barclay glance at Barnes who waves them on. So is this allowed? If so it's an incredible bit of skill from the flanker, if not i'm not sure what Barnes was watching...

Sorry if this has been discussed before but I havent seen a post about it.

yappy, tricky to see from that clip. My supposition was that Barclay is clearly the tackler, the "ruck" (if there is one, Malzieu doesn't look bound on the far side, and not sure if #17 joins from behind the back foot, plus there are no Scots in the "ruck") goes over the top of Barclay and Clerc, Barclay releases Clerc and gets back on his feet, and is entitles to play the ball with the "ruck" well past him?

It wasn't a ruck. A ruck is formed when two opposing supporting players bind over the tackle area. As this did not happen there was no ruck and crucially no offside line. Barclay was free to play the ball.

Ah I get you, that's sort of what I thought, real good awareness by him to grab it and get the ball away.

Plus Parra's face was a picture, gets more entertaining to watch every time

It is entertaining to watch.

Its actually surpising how many times this happens at both test and club level and everybody assumes it is a ruck.