- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Having recently aired a pet rugby beef of mine – that fans are being seriously shortchanged because of the amount of playing time lost during scrum resets – I’m delighted to see Andrew Slack shares my view.
Far be it for me, of course, to suggest the Brisbane-based former Grand Slam-winning Wallaby captain might have read my Roar rant before tackling the issue in his latest newspaper column.
But, given the rather mixed response it drew in this forum, it was gratifying to have one of the most respected figures in the game echo my appeal for referees to call “time off” for those incessant scrum resets.
“The reality is that too often … the fan is being ripped off by a lack of action,” Slack wrote in Queensland’s Sunday Mail. “Compare the amount of downtime in 80 minutes of rugby against that in the other codes and we win that unwanted trophy hands down.”
To illustrate the point, Slack produced some damning statistics from two recent Super Rugby matches.
In a clash between the Crusaders and the Waratahs, Slack wrote, “the last pass of the match was thrown 74 minutes and seven seconds into the match. The ball did not move between one set of hands to another in the final six minutes.
“In that time, it was a series of scrum reset after scrum reset, and not once was the game clock stopped while the referee and the packs tried to get themselves in synch.”
On the same weekend, Slack wrote, “in the Reds-Rebels match, the clock in the first half read 29 minutes and 26 seconds. The most recent pass had been thrown at the 22 minutes and 32 second mark. You guessed it – a series of scrum resets.”
Like most of us, Slack is “all for ensuring safety and getting scrums right”.
“But why,” he wrote, “can’t rugby be like AFL and when the ball is not in play, stop the clock. The ball is definitely not in play while referees are debating with props whose elbow should be where and when.
“Give the fans 80 minutes of action, not 40.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.