Buzz is a total drunken f@ckwit, and probably through hazy vision and hate of all things Souths, he saw it as a forward pass. As always this numbnut, and journo's like him, write and say shit based on their own opinion and not fact.
Maybe Buzz could read this, or at lest attempt to follow it via braille.
Direction of Pass 1. The direction of a pass is relative to the player making it and not to the actual path relative to the ground. A player running towards his opponents’ goal line may throw the ball towards a colleague who is behind him but because of the thrower’s own momentum the ball travels forward relative to the ground. This is not a forward pass as the thrower has not passed the ball forward in relation to themselves. This is particularly noticeable when a running player makes a high, lobbed pass.