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Law variations are the real killer of the NRC

Roar Guru
24th August, 2014
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Who are you supporting in the NRC?
Roar Guru
24th August, 2014
280
3467 Reads

Following the 20-51 Bledisloe Cup thrashing, the Aussie natives will undoubtedly be restless, nay angry. All sorts of reasons will be aired for the defeat on personnel and tactics.

Music please, swap chairs on the Titanic.

I have another concern, not of the present but of the future. If the Wallabies are bad now, displaying at times appalling basic skills and understanding of Test rugby, then it will only get worse.

My opposition to the creation of some National Rugby Championship teams is already well known. These teams will struggle to engage with their communities.

However, I now see an ever bigger problem – the law variations of the NRC. Whatever the law variations are teaching our future Wallabies, it’s not the way that Test rugby is presently played.

Are there eight-point tries in Test rugby? No. Are there two-point penalty goals and drop goals in Super Rugby? No.

People tell us that the NRC is our version of the ITM and Currie cups. No, it’s not. Future All Blacks in the ITM Cup and future Boks in the Currie Cup are exposed to the same playing conditions as they can expect to find in Super and Test rugby.

In South Africa, there are law variations in the Varsity Cup but not the Currie Cup.

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If our leading Wallabies are struggling to understand the nuances of Test rugby right now, our future Wallabies will understand them less after being exposed to law variations in the NRC.

To give you a cricket analogy, it’s like expecting Test cricketers to develop their skills playing T20 cricket. It doesn’t work and it won’t work.

Test cricketers require first class cricket to develop their Test skills, not T20.

Bill Pulver and the ARU are attempting to turn the NRC into a kind of gimmicky BBL. But this is counter to the desire to develop another pathway for aspirational Wallabies.

The guys playing NRC will know how to throw the ball around like a hot potato, but will struggle to develop the skills necessary to graft towards victory.

How the Kiwis and Saffies must laugh at our collective stupidity.

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