Bob Jewett said:The rule (equipment specification, actually) was written wrong. It should have set a particular maximum hardness. I suppose whoever wrote the specification either was trying to let the phenolic tip people still sell their product or didn't understand what he was doing.
I believe that the IPT did not allow phenolic tips in their tournaments.
If in fact the OP is correct and phenolic tips on break sticks damage the cue ball, it is time to revise the equipment specifications and enforce them.
As for rules being malleable, it is important to distinguish between the rules and the regulations (and the equipment specifications). I think that the particular case of tapped racks is not a real deviation from the rules. The rules/regulations intend that all the balls should be touching in the rack. Tapping is the best way known to ensure that quickly and repeatably.
So far as I know, the nine ball was never racked on the spot in an official championship competition.
I have only seen one tournament that the nine ball was racked on the spot and that was at the US Open 4 years ago when Sardo was the rack sponsor and any player making the nine on the break was givien $100.