It strikes me that a lot of people would like rugby to involve non-stop possession and teams scoring tries against each other at will. Yet when you have a high scoring game like the Blues/Chiefs game from last season, people rubbish the defence. Well, you’re not going to strike the perfect balance based on the rule book.

However as we all know, changes in rugby never end the way they were intended. What we will see is more infringements at the breakdown increasing the stop-start nature we are currently watching.

Lots of kids spend hours honing that particular skill and if you dont use it you lose it.

It appears to me that union in Australia is doing its utmost to turn into league or god forbid Australian rules football by increasingly speeding up and loosening/changing the rules.

One of the great sights of rugby is watching a kicker line up for a penalty with an entire stadium bearing down on him. My wife has barely any interest in rugby but when I took her to the Bledisloe match in Tokyo, place kicking was one of the things that interested her most. Most Americans are astounded by rugby place kicking compared to American football. Even rugby league has place kicking.

I think you’re barking up the wrong tree here.

Already, the place kick has been removed at the start of a game, after half time and the restart after a converted try has been scored and a drop kick must now be used at these times.

I remember when a conversion attempt had to be held by a player who then dropped it into a prepared hole for the kicker to attempt the conversion. You could charge as soon as the ball touched the ground. People moaned when that was changed but no way you would return to that now.

American football has done away with place kicks and use the old Rugby conversion method. The ball is placed on a tee by a catcher/holder after being snapped back for the kicker to attempt the goal kick. This is used for both field goals and conversions (extra point). Note that gridiron has done away with drop goals and penalty goals.

It not necessary speeding up the game. Well not in my view. Its about achieving consistency from those who officiate our game and moving toward greater continuity of play. Basically less down time involving interpretation of the laws from ref to ref, more ball in play for longer periods of time. Let’s face the facts. Rugby is now in the entertainment industry and must entertain. The contests that identify our game as our game are the reason many enjoy it. Its just I want to see more of it. Not two kicker’s going toe to toe.

Instead of removing place kick the IRB should re-introduce the short arm penalty system seen under the ELV’s for everything other than professional fouls. However, instead of of a aimless kick or scrum they are only given the option of tap and go.

Clarify the advantage. Use the TMO’s access the technology to assist this. By applying the same visual aids used in broadcasting the NFL on TV an automatic advantage line 5m behind the offence, they have 30 seconds to advance the ball pass this point. If it crosses the lines then the TMO indicates to the ref that advantage is played. Once it passes the line regardless if the play goes backwards immediately after the advantage has been played. Apart from the traditional TMO decision this would be the only other judgement they would make. The offside rulings will remain that of the ref. In terms of kicking. Simple, if you kick the ball regardless of the result advantage is immediately played. You must attempt advantage. No intentional knock ons. Short arm reward to defending team if not attempted.

Finally, place a time limit on lineouts. 1 min total from the ball going into touch. Meaning the decision will need to be made in advance and throw in immediately after lineout is set.

Secondly, have you tried to land a drop goal from the sideline?!?

I think OJ had a point the other day. Let’s just play rugby, and stop pfaffing about with the laws all the time. Can we have one season with the same laws and interpretations as the last?!?

Changing from place kicks to drops is hardly the change that is going to save rugby union from the place where it is now.

My first reaction is that you’ve chosen to focus on an area that has attracted the most attention for a variety of reasons but time wasting isn’t one of them. Also I disagree that much of this tumultuos half of a decade has been blamed on the emergence of kicking as the preferred method of scoring. At what level? Tests only, domestic rugby, club rugby, schoolboy rugby? The last two years have certainly seen the number of tries scored reduced but that doesn’t represent half or even most of half a decade.

There are always a number of different ideas floated to increase the speed of the game but is it necessary? The flow of any match will always ebb and that leads to changes in tactics to improve a teams performance to negate the oppositions advantage. When teams play the All Blacks they try to slow down their ball because they know the All Blacks live for the continuity game and feast on quick turnover ball. How does increasing the speed of the game benefit their opposition?

Kicking is a skill, an art even. If rugby introduced the sevens style of kicking for goal then I believe that it would lose another part of it’s identitiy. Drop kicks in sevens rugby is necessary as the games only last for 14 minutes so time is a premium. Rugby is played over 80 minutes and has it’s own identity. We’ve already lost rucking and that’s bad enough for me.

Many, many years ago I read a piece which described beautifully how sport should be paced (the rhythm of it).

Basically, we need the “pauses” in a game to reflect upon & appreciate any brilliant helter-skelter period that has just preceded it. The players also need those pauses to recover their breath & energy.

Removing place kicks is a wrong diagnosis. You can only speed up a game so much before the whole exercise becomes counter-productive.

The rugby fan is looking for more quality passages in his game, not necessarily helter-skelter, continuous action that doesn’t mean much. Basketball is helter-skelter, continuous action, but how many goals would an average fan remember from any basketball game???