Super 14: Hold, engage …

This rugby season may prove a tough one for the optimistic, but ultimately will do the sport no end of good.

I like what I’m seeing with the new laws being trialled in the Super 14, but remember the last time we thought the game looked particularly good (early to mid-nineties), when the IRB for some reason changed the laws in favour of negative rugby.

In this latest case the new experimental laws represent a move towards positive play, and it seems that New Zealand teams in particular are thriving under them … which makes me doubt that they will eventually be ratified. Trialling them in Super 14 may even disadvantage the SANZAR nations when meeting the European teams they usually beat like gongs.

They are, however, hopefully giving us a small taste of rugby’s future.

Rugby appears to be trying to shake off the old image of conservatism … or, perhaps more correctly, an old school and a new school appear to be struggling for the upper hand at present.

I remain optimistic where change is concerned. I certainly still sometimes worry that the old-fashioned tenets of rugby, once lost, might be fondly remembered far too late in a world where almost every other game is tainted with bad sportsmanship at best and outright corruption at worst, surely old-fashioned values are to be treasured.

But I hope the game can change for the better without throwing away the meaningful things that rugby represents.

As for those who oppose change simply because they think rugby already has too many laws, I submit that playing this sport requires greater mental abilities from its participants. We don’t want an inundation of dummies who can’t understand WHY they have to play this way. There’s room for the odd knuckle-dragging brute, of course, but a team full of them goes nowhere.

Soccer, famously, has only a small handful of rules… but then almost every one of history’s great soccer players appears to be some kind of badly-adjusted man-child who neglected school classes in favour of kicking a ball around the streets obsessively while picking up various addictions.

Anyway, the new laws when exploited correctly are producing the kind of spectacle we used to see in the mid-nineties, a furiously paced game that delighted spectators as the new southern professionals took attacking rugby to a new level.

The IRB’s response at that time was to complicate the breakdown laws to a point where slower British teams could manipulate the pace of play. For a whole decade teams of a free-spirited nature struggled to dominate the more oppressive. World Cups were won by those whose typical game plan was to run obstruction, stitch up touchlines and solicit kickable infringements.

The new laws appear to have changed that, with (a) stricter, simpler, more consistent guidelines governing the maul, ruck and tackled ball area, (b) more attacking space mandated, and (c) by the benefit of doubt being given (i.e. freekicks rather than penalties) for anything other than obviously deliberate infringements. At last it seems that space can be made for backlines to play expansively without the strength of the up-front platform being compromised.

Guess who THAT suits. Yes, that’s right … New Zealand teams.

Well, the two smartest ones at least. The Crusaders and Blues are currently streets ahead in their adjustment programs, trusting the officials to let the breakdowns almost police themselves so they can concentrate on attack and counter-attack from virtually anywhere on the pitch … and the crowds love it.

The crowds in Pretoria and Johannesburg didn’t love it so much, mind you, seeing their teams get beaten 54-19 and 55-10 by the Crusaders and Blues respectively.

Fifty-four points, in fact, was the most any defending champion side had shipped in Super Rugby. The Bulls faithful stopped bellowing their guttural, self-aggrandizing hymns by half-time, and by the hour mark were leaving Loftus Versfeld in droves showing open disgust.

Dan Carter and Stephen Brett were carving the title-holders apart like tenderised gemsbok steaks, with Richie McCaw and the Crusaders pack dominating every facet of forward play. McCaw, in fact, concentrated more than half his energy on providing clever support links while the other forwards took care of business in the tight.

The Blues did much the same thing at Ellis Park.

The Lions were full of themselves, superbly confident after their narrow win at Bloemfontein last week, and tried to play the altitude card to their advantage. Matches in Johannesburg in yesteryear were nightmares for visiting teams, with oxygen debt increasing at every stride and the giant local forwards sapping every ounce of strength by slogging up and down the fat man’s track as much as possible.

By half-time a touring side’s lungs would be chafed from straining, and vision would be blurred to the point where the tattoo on your opposing prop’s bicep appeared to be a meat inspection stamp.

Not any more, for the well-prepared attacking side at least. The overweight side now has the harder time of it, with more total yards to cover. Altitude is still a beastly hurdle, and South Africa is no picnic at the best of times… conditions are hellish for sitting around drinking, let alone all-in wrestling with the natives. But teams playing positive rugby can dictate terms, finding space to exploit any advantage in aerobic fitness, with the assurance of knowing any pain in their unacclimatised lungs is worth the effort if they accurately maintain possession.

So it was with the Blues. Nick Evans is a lethal attacker even with two flankers and two midfielders breathing down his neck… with five extra yards of space and a swag of front foot ball, he is an assassin.

When he wasn’t carving the defence apart himself he was handing sure ball to Benson Stanley on his outside, Isaia Toeava cutting back from centre or Isa Nacewa slicing through from fullback. His kicking was as long and accurate as his passing, and the Blues backline enjoyed their armchair ride.

Lock Kurtis Haiu, unwanted by any New Zealand franchise in 2007 (and worth watching even more closely now because it wasn’t too long ago that people were worried about where Ali Williams’ replacement in the Blues would come from), scored two tries in a great game.

Big number eight Nick Williams was devastating both on attack and defence, ably assisted by blindside Jerome Kaino, prop John Afoa, hooker Keven Mealamu and captain Troy Flavell, all thirsty for work when it came to separating man from ball or stomping over the gain line.

Their lineout still needs work. It may be too early to predict that their lack of aerial grace will cost them the title, but at the moment seeing as it’s clearly looking like a two-way race between them and the Crusaders, the transfer south of Ali Williams looms as a significant factor.

A clever young associate believes that at Super 14 level, under the new laws, a lack of lineout skill will be less significant than the added mobility and greater ball skills of the modern second rower. Time will tell, he’s something of a soothsayer. I tend to think the old set piece skills will retain their importance for a while yet.

The other New Zealand teams produced a mixed bag. The Hurricanes were difficult to watch even in beating the Reds 23-18 in Wellington. Far too many errors are still marring their flow. They appear to be attempting the same thing that is working for the Blues and Crusaders, but the passes just aren’t sticking … so while they haven’t yet found their usual flair with the ball in hand they will take some stopping when they do.

The Chiefs beat the Waratahs 20-17 in Hamilton, perhaps lucky that a try to Sitiveni Sivivatu was not referred upstairs to the TMO and definitely lucky that a last minute goal to Stephen Donald redeemed several earlier misses, not to mention a dropped ball over the tryline.

To their credit, they had obviously spent the week pounding the tackle bags after their drubbing by the Blues on Eden Park. Several monstrous hits left New South Welsh teeth rattling, and the purpose with which they threw themselves into contact was inspiring. The next step for them will be finding a bit of finesse to go with their gritty attitude.

The Highlanders came even closer than last week, but were still on the end of a heartbreaking 22-20 loss to the Brumbies in Canberra. Another South African referee manufactured a yellow card for them out of nothing, but perceived injustices or otherwise, an easily kickable penalty was missed that should have given them the win.

The new laws appear to reward positive play so long as the level of execution matches the intent. I may be looking at it sunny side up, but I believe (sooner or later) that the new experimental variations will finally deliver the sort of rugby we all crave… forwards being forwards and backs being backs, with points as just reward for positive effort. More power to those who seek to enhance the spectacle.

The modern game will demand it. Northern critics who extol the virtues of muddy low-scoring kick-fests, reasoning that the drama is enhanced by the lowness and therefore closeness of the score, have almost had their day.

If, come November, the new laws are not ratified and the optimistic few million in the south who enjoyed the revamped spectacle have to witness a temporary return to the old mashed potato style made famous by the English in an immediately bygone era, it will not be the death of Rugby.

It will merely be a footnote in its long and illustrious history, written one bright day in the near future, saying that the inevitable changes experienced some administrative growing pains while the power base of rugby shifted.

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