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With the inaugural National Rugby Championship finals finished I have had some time to reflect, and for mine, the competition has been an excellent experiment for Australian rugby.
With the ARU confirming the third tier competition, or NRC, I was unsure on how they were going to pull together all the necessary parts to make this competition successful before 21st August for Round 1.
But within just five months the administration was able to create a competition that could compete with the likes of the ITM Cup in New Zealand and the Currie Cup in South Africa.
For mind, the most successful facet of the competition was the change of the rules.
Training all year with the Waratahs, and playing in the Shute Shield for Manly every weekend, I felt confident that I would be able to keep pace in the new competition, but from the first whistle it was a blur of bodies diving into rucks, players breaking defensive lines and dominating tackles.
Of all the small changes in rules, increasing converted tries to eight points made a huge difference.
As a result, all teams were willing to play front foot rugby from anywhere on the field. To put it in perspective the games felt about 25 per cent quicker than any Shute Shield game.
With those two factors and the calibre of players in the competition, we saw huge scorelines with plenty of tries, and more penalties being kicked into touch instead of at the posts from a tee.
From my view it wasn’t just the players that struggled with the pace of the game, but also the referees.
Credit should be given to all the match officials during the NRC – they saw how the adaptations to the rules changed the speed of the game and let it flow better then I had seen before. Most of the time, anyway.
Of course, every so often there is a mistake or decision that every referee wishes he didn’t make. My top three from the competition that changed the game were the two that occurred in the dying minutes of our game versus the Canberra Vikings, and the infamous ‘own try’ against the Sydney Stars.
In the Vikings game, we were denied an opportunity to score and win the game when a Vikings player reached through the ruck and knocked the ball from our halfback’s hand. This resulted in a ‘knock on’ leading to the Vikings working down the field and into position for a penalty kick.
When watching this penalty kick from behind the kicker I was positive that it went over and the Vikings had won the game.
Instead, it apparently didn’t and both teams received a very unsatisfying draw after an entertaining game of rugby. For the infamous ‘own try’ scored by Mitch Lewis, I think this is unforgivable.
Now if the Rays uniform was similar to the Sydney Stars, then maybe you could give them the benefit of the doubt. But one team looks like a UNO card while the other resembles a bumblebee. If that try was not awarded it would have changed the momentum of the game completely. However, it is probably best not to dwell on these sort of things, as we know they don’t mean to make these mistakes.
For myself and from what I have heard from immediate family and friends the NRC was a success.
I believe it has so much more potential, but with only one game being televised it limits the exposure of so many great players out there.
Fox Sports commentator Sean Maloney brings his ‘big’ personality and enthusiasm to game which makes it much more enjoyable to watch.
Hopefully in the coming years, Fox Sports could take a gamble and televise two, maybe three games a week to show the world that Australia is a breeding ground for fun and fast footy.
This could, in turn, bring players of similar calibre from New Zealand and South Africa to play in our domestic competition instead of the other way around.
One thing I think could help the competition, and rugby generally, would be allowing assistant referees to use their authority more during the game.
The days have changed from when the touchie was only there to mark where the ball went out or address foul play.
The on-field referee has to register so much in the modern game that it can be hard to pick up on everything outside his immediate field of vision. Accordingly, if the assistant referees see a blatant penalty that the on-field referee had missed, he should speak up and use the microphone he has on him to inform the referee.
The IRB gave them the power and respect when they changed their title from ‘touch judge’ to ‘assistant referee’.
I believe this will make the game better and punish both teams and players that want to push the envelope of what the referee will and won’t call. Not only that, but it will allow teams to play on the edge in a positive manner.
In the end, I believe the NRC was a step in the right direction into making Australia a breeding ground of rugby that it once was.
Without the work at the ARU and the major sponsors of the competition, Buildcorp, Fox Sports, Asics, Allianz, Hahn SuperDry, Gilbert, IHG and Qantas, this competition would have not gone ahead, so thank you to all those parties.
Also to the sponsors of each individual teams, thank you for backing the up-and-coming talent within the game and giving them the chance to make the next step.
Greg Peterson is a former Australian schools representative. He is currently playing lock for the Manly Marlins, is captain of the North Harbour Rays in the NRC and an incumbent squad-member of the NSW Waratahs.
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.