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England's Phil Vickery, center, tries to muscle his way through the Italian defence during the Six Nations rugby union international match at Twickenham stadium in London, Saturday Feb. 7, 2009. AP Photo/PA, David Davies
I’ve heard it all now. The North is bemoaning the Laws of the Game. What audacity, as it was these conservative, blazer wearing buffoons that derailed the Experimental Law Variations project last year.
In the Sunday Times in London last week, Stephen Jones, one of the architects of the ELVs destruction, unbelievable stated, “That the problem with the modern game is the breakdown. It is killing rugby, it is destroying the flow, it is boring the pants off everyone.”
Stephen Jones, shame on you.
If you had not totally ignored the first few years of the ELV project that started in Stellenbosch University – instead of waiting until the ELVs were due for trial at a more senior level in UK territory – you might have understood that the Law Project Group had the primary intention of reviewing the breakdown, rectifying it and then looking at the wider effects on the rest of the game.
The knock-on effect of simplifying the breakdown was to ensure it could be better refereed.
In fact, they went right back to the beginning and played matches at the University with no Laws at the breakdown to understand player behaviour and how the breakdown operated under such conditions.
Naturally, they had to tweak it, as no Laws meant it was all too easy to kill the ball and to go to ground.
The next step was to slowly add in Laws that would see the breakdown operate functionally. This included keeping players on their feet.
This is what transpired and included the trialling of use of hands in the ruck by players on their feet which had its merits.
The next stage was to take the trial out of the University to higher level competitions around the world. So what happened?
When the Project Group asked for permission, an ELV ambush happened. Jones and his fellow media cronies and the union blazers in the Northern Unions choked on their warm beer at the thought of such trials and decried the ELVs as a southern conspiracy.
The continuing ELV program was cherry-picked: no breakdown ELVs were allowed to be trialled and what we ended up with was a watered down bunch of new Laws that have not really solved anything.
And now the north is belly-aching about the breakdown.
The poor old IRB must not know whether they are Arthur or Martha at present. Having seen the ELV breakdown trial derailed so early, they now see Jones blathering such absurdities as: “When is the International Rugby Board going to do something about it? (the breakdown) We have the rampaging inconsistencies and illegalities, the different interpretations by different referees, we have the cheats who go unpenalised. This stemmed from the early years of the Super 12, where continuity of possession went on for hours. It must be said again: the IRB have spent years on the barking law experiments and they have scandalously taken their eyes off the ball when it comes to refereeing and playing the game at the breakdown.”
The only scandal here is the blinkered, conservative, anti-southern hemisphere thinking by Jones and the rest of the north, which was clearly negligent in understanding the original objectives and intentions of the Law Project Group.
Not once apparently did any of the media attend the early trials or deem it appropriate to speak to the members of the Group to understand what the trials were attempting to remedy.
We all know the game has its problems as defence dominates attack, brute force is preferred to skills and players continually breaking the Laws at the breakdown. The IRB had the right intentions must revisit the breakdown ELVs.
And Jones and his cronies should put up or shut up.
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.