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With the Shute Shield wrapping up this weekend, Bill Pulver’s new baby, the National Rugby Championship, is just a week away from commencing.
Billed as ‘ARC mach two’, the Australian rugby union has promised to do things differently this time around. I explored the merits of the competition late last year, but now the new rule variations have been revealed and it’s time to have a look at them.
The most high profile of the new rules is the most interesting. Conversions will now be worth three points and both penalty goals and drop goals worth two. The intentions are very clear, to promote running rugby and to encourage teams to try and score tries instead of winning through penalty goals.
I understand the thinking behind it; it can be far too easy to win by playing boring defensive footy and drawing penalties. Currently, two penalty goals are worth more than an unconverted try, and it is far easier to draw a penalty goal than score a try. But we have to be very careful about encouraging cynical play by softening the punishment of committing a penalty.
This in turn then forces the referee to go to the pocket, giving yellow cards to repeat offenders to prevent this. But it is hard for refs to be consistent about yellow cards and one would argue that 10 minutes in the bin is too big a price to pay.
And who determines how many penalties warrant a yellow card? And how long will it take before the refs are criticised for being trigger happy? I get the thinking behind it and have no qualms with the trial of two-point penalty goals and three-point conversions, but I fear there will be a number of unintentional flow on effects.
In any case, this must be trialled for a number of years and it must be hugely successful before it is implemented in Super Rugby.
Another rule change following the same line of thinking is the four-try bonus point system. By altering the awarding of the bonus point from scoring four tries to scoring three or more tries than your opposition, the ARU is encouraging teams to keep playing right until the 80th minute.
It is very common for teams to switch off in Super Rugby once they know that they have the win and the bonus point locked up. This rule attempts to prevent this from happen, teams can score as many tries as they want, but they aren’t getting a bonus point if the other team gets within three tries.
This is not a rule change, more a change to the awarding of competition points, yet it should still have a very positive effect on the matches played. I’m just waiting for the last round of the competition, with a team desperate to climb to within three tries to prevent their opposition from stealing the last spot in the finals.
There have been a number of very smart lineout amendments introduced for the competition. The leniency awarded to hookers for the straightness of their throw if the throw is not contested is wise and punishes the defence for not contesting the throw.
It also promotes a free flowing game and keeps the ball in play for longer periods of the match.
The second rule is the allowing of teams receiving a penalty to kick for touch once the final siren has sounded. This is a rule that helps to eliminate final minute cynicism, while also providing the team receiving the penalty with all the options they would usually receive upon being awarded a penalty.
The final rule affecting lineouts is one that could be accompanied by some issues. The rule preventing quick lineouts if someone has touched the ball after crossing the sideline has been lifted, as long as the throw in uses the same football.
Additionally, if members of the support staff or reserves touch the ball to prevent a quick throw in, they will be penalised. While this promotes quick play, it is fraught with danger. Yes team officials and subs can’t touch the ball, but what about fans sitting in the front row of the stands.
They can very easily hold onto the ball to prevent a quick throw in or immediately throw it to the home team’s winger to ensure the quick throw in. It is this grey area that the rule was established to prevent in the first place, I fear the outcome of a game will be altered by this rule adjustment, I hope I’m wrong.
Mauls are a very contentious issue in rugby union right now. The rules surrounding mauls are very hazy and very different to the rules surrounding rucks. The ARU has taken some measures to clean up the grey area, but there is still a long way to go.
The ARU has instructed referees to be much stricter on defensive teams collapsing mauls in general play to prevent defensive players from deliberately holding a ball carrier up in order to form a maul and then collapsing. The renewed emphasis on collapsing mauls is certainly a step in the right direction, but the ARU needs to go a step further and remove the rule that encourages players to lie all over the ball and benefit from this by receiving the scrum feed.
In the old days once the maul collapsed it became a ruck, if you could roll away, you rolled away, or else you got rucked. I’m not calling for the reintroduction of rucking, even though it seems to be a greater deterrent than a penalty at times, but I am calling for the reintroduction of a collapsed maul being refereed as a ruck.
That means that the only way to benefit from creating a maul is to hold it up and stop its movement and the ball is kept in play for longer periods of time.
Finally, the ARU has implemented measures to prevent time wasting. There is a 45-second time limit to take a penalty kick, 60 seconds for a conversion and 30 seconds to pack a scrum. \
The scrum time limit is a good idea, and easily enforced, if teams are deliberately time wasting the ref can easily blow time off, award a free kick or even a penalty if teams are repeat offenders. The shots at goal, on the other hand, are a much tougher proposition.
The ARU has not yet revealed what the punishment will be if a player takes too long to take a shot at goal, but the current loosely enforced rules state that the shot at goal will be forfeited. It will take a very brave ref to not allow a player to take a potential match winning shot at goal in the grand final of the NRC.
I fear that the rule will be very inconsistently enforced, but nevertheless, anything that ensures that more rugby is played during a match is a good thing.
The ARU has certainly gone out on a limb with some of their rule changes and new law interpretations. Some of them have much more merit than others and while some seem set to make an appearance in the higher forms of the game, others seem destined for the scrapheap.
Which rules will succeed? Only time will tell. Lastly, Australian rugby is entering a promising new era. Please do everything you can to help rugby in this country flourish once again by supporting this new competition.
Twitter: @fromthesheds
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.