Make rugby a better game to watch and the rest will follow

 
The Crowd Roar Pro

By SF, 27 Oct 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Pro

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Kurtley Beale of NSW (left) is tackled by Queensland's James Horwill during the Super 14 match between the Queensland Reds v New South Wales Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Saturday May 17, 2008. AAP Image/Dave Hunt

Kurtley Beale of NSW (left) is tackled by Queensland's James Horwill during the Super 14 match between the Queensland Reds v New South Wales Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Saturday May 17, 2008. AAP Image/Dave Hunt

There have been a lot of “solutions” put forward on the Roar to solve rugby’s current dilemmas in Australia: the Wallabies winning more, a national domestic comp, getting rugby on FTA TV, more junior development, and so on.

While not wanting to detract from the importance of the discussion surrounding these topics, surely one of the key issues that needs to be brought up more often is rugby as an actual product.

There is much to commend rugby.

I am still of the opinion that rugby (out of all the codes) can be one of the most exhilarating and dynamic sports to watch.

The problem for rugby (in the general public’s eye) is that these moments can be too few and far between the bland periods. People want to know that they are going to get their entertainment fix if they are going to commit to watching something each week.

Any law changes need to help rugby to be more consistent at delivering this as a product. The simple fact is, a football code in Australia, needs to be consistently entertaining to thrive in the professional era.

While rugby is booming in many countries around the world, someone might assume that the desire to adjust the laws of rugby is just something unique to Australia so that rugby can compete on an entertainment level with the other football codes in their country.

However, the IRB’s trial of the ELV’s shows that this isn’t the whole story.

In any case, the ELV’s showed the IRB is at least open to experimenting (however poorly this was done) with new laws.

Here are some future suggestions:

Make rugby more about ball retention and less about field position. In other words, more running and less kicking. Running rugby is an attitude, but this attitude needs to be nurtured, rewarded, and supported by the laws:

1. If the attacking team kicks from outside their own 22, and the ball is caught on the full by the opposition anywhere on the field, it can be taken as a mark. This discourages players from starting a game of aerial ping-pong, unless their team is willing to take the risk in the hope of regaining the ball themselves.

2. If the ball is kicked out (not on the full) behind the oppositions 22, the kick is treated as being kicked out on the full in general play, and a line-out is given to the opposition from where the ball was kicked. This encourages the attacking team to hold on to the ball, rather than simply kicking it out in the opposition’s corner, hoping to put pressure on the opposition’s line-out.

3. A penalty goal can only be taken when the penalty is awarded within the oppositions 22. Let’s see some more kicking for touch (and attacking line-outs) instead.

4. Reduce the value for a penalty goal and a field goal to 2 points each. Tries should (usually) determine who wins the game. Even when a team is awarded a penalty within the opposition’s 22, they may see more benefit in kicking for touch and going for an attacking line-out instead.

At this point I use to think that the ref should make more use of the yellow card if the defending team then decided to purposely prevent the ball from coming out more often at the breakdown – in the hope of preventing a try when it was looking likely.

After all, if a penalty goal was only worth two points then why wouldn’t you purposely infringe more often?

Therefore, one warning and your off!

However, I have since (tentatively) changed my opinion on this.

If a defending team can legitimately slow the ball down, or even win the ruck, then this is all well and good. If it’s a fair contest then we can’t complain. But the problem is when the defending team illegally use their hands in the ruck to do this. Not only is this an infringement, but it also gives the defending team an unfair advantage in the ruck, and hence the frustration for the attacking team (and their fans) when they are on a roll close the opposition’s try-line.

However, what if this was no longer an infringement and the unfair advantage was taken away? See below.

5. Allow hands in the ruck for any player on their feet. Nobody wants to hear the referee’s whistle except for offside, foul play and playing the ball off your feet. In other words, the rucks need to be cleaned up and the laws simplified. Infringements at the breakdown have become too technical and too subjective.

If the TV commentators don’t even understand why a penalty was given, it makes a mockery out of rugby as a professional sport. With rucking no longer allowed, this law helps the players to once again determine the outcome of a ruck rather than the referee.

No longer will the defending team enjoy a frustrating advantage by using their hands in the ruck to slow the ball down and prevent it from coming out when the attacking team is close to their try line.

Now the attacking team can also use their hands in the ruck to secure the ball too.

Once again it’s a fair contest, with the attacking team having the slight advantage as they do in legitimately contested rucks ATM.

6. If the ball doesn’t come out, the team going forward gets the ball. This should usually be the attacking team. However, all well and good for a defending team if they can win the ruck as well.

This gets forwards to drive over as a priority. Driving over is actually the best way to win a ruck anyway.

Here are two more radical changes (for the more progressive rugby followers), designed to speed the game up and reward running rugby:

7. Reduce the amount of players (i.e. forwards) per team by 1 or 2. No, this won’t make rugby look more like league or sevens! But it will encourage teams to run the ball more if they know that tries are slightly easier to come by with 1 or 2 less defenders on the field.

A couple more tries per game would be good for the spectators too! 1 or 2 less forwards also keeps the breakdown from being too cluttered.

8. Replace scrums with a five-meter tap. There, I’ve said it!

I know rugby scrums are what help rugby fans sleep at night when they compare them to league scrums. But while there’s a real effort to push in union scrums, as opposed to league scrums, do they really achieve much more. It’s hard to argue that they are much of a real contest for the ball.

And although they display forward domination, so would an arm wrestle! I know it’s a sacred cow in rugby, but believe it or not, they weren’t part of the origins of the game.

The general public are finding it frustratingly hard to watch a scrum being packed after it has collapsed three times already. And not even the referee really knows whose fault it is!

They have to keep scrums in league to get the forwards out of the backline.

But in union, with a 5 meter tap, the forwards would naturally be committed to the breakdown and out of the backline anyway. Imagine seeing more big collisions or crafty play with more 5 meter taps.

OK, so 7 and 8 may be a little too progressive for the near future. And obviously, not all these suggestions need to be taken together.

But hey, why not at least see what they look like before a decision is made?

It may be what rugby in Australia needs to take it from survival mode to a thriving national sport! And if the laws can be trialled at some level, then it may bring the best out of rugby rather than ruin it.

And maybe others will be convinced once they see it working in action. What does rugby have to lose?

In any case, if the rugby product itself becomes absolutely compelling, then surely, the other issues I mentioned above would fall naturally into place.

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