Let's see some balance at the breakdown

Before Rugby was defiled by corporate interests and imperatives the tackled played had to release the ball before making contact with the ground-no rolling over and placing it. The attacking side will always have an advantage because they have the ball in hand but the defence should not be impeded in trying to steal the ball or in counter driving. The administrators are trying to make a spectacle but all we have is a repetitive predictable boring debacle-something akin to 50 over cricket and look what is happening to it.

G'day Sam, agree we need accurate application to both sides, however, the playing the ball off your feet in a positive manner is fine. Often there's quite a tangle and white has clearly won the ball. A white player, tied up in the mess moves the ball to the back with his hands to make it available. This to me is positive play. Whilst it's easy to argue it's against the law, as a referee you need to reward positive play and penalise negative play. This to me would be positive play. Rememeber rules are for the blind obedience of fools and for the guidance of wise men!

Agree with your article and post comments CraigB. The law needs to be applied accurately to both sides oherwise we'll return to the old days of uncontested rucks because the attacking side is sealing off the ball to quickly recycle possession. I'd also like to see referees be more vigilant to players off their feet in the ruck and playing the ball back to the halfback using their hands. The law is clear, if you're off your feet then you're out of the game.

hi guys, I'll try and tackle all questions and thoughts into the one reply. When I speak of 'leeway', I guess I 'm talking about the tackling player being allowed to play at the ball once the ruck is formed. And likewise, by 'happy medium' I'm meaning that the SH refs in the 6Ns we're being told will be "gradually" introducing these new interpretations into the NH over the season, rather than just bang, straight in like in the S14. I think what we'll end up with is something that allows counter-rucking and such, but also gives the tackler a chance to compete at the initial tackle. We don't want a repeat of the ELV fiasco, but the IRB seem to be wanting to clean the ruck are up - but without allowing rucking again. So I think we're all saying the same thing, we just want universal application of the ruling/law/interpretation.

brett, we will get nowhere if we settle for a happy medium. we need to be clear about what is illegal and then enforce it. how are supporters supposed to be able to know from the sidelines when there is an infringement if they are only getting blown when its crossed a ill defined line. it's supposed to be a professional sport and we don;t even have clear rules that govern play.

Brett - am interested in your comment. Do you see the new interpretations being applied currently in the 6N, or are you talking about the balance being struck after they are over? There have sufficient references by players, coaches, refs and commentators in NH that there is definitely some change in interpretation occurring now in 6N. And a number of SH refs reffed the games this weekend. Lawrenson reffed the Ireland/England game. Ireland stole the ball from England on a number of occasions from an initial tackle and subsequent rucking. I would hope that these kind of turnover contests are still allowed to continue. I didn't see any of the S14 games last weekend, so I can't make a judgement on whether it is decreasing in Super rugby substantially. The first two weeks had too many scoring idiosyncrasies to make a call on it.

My wife often says to me us mere mortal males can only concentrate on one chore at a time, unlike women, who can multi-task. Maybe she's right! Perhaps the answer is to have the women referee the games, then they might be able to apply the breakdown law equally to both the attacking & defending sides. Unlike it seems, male refs..... !

Craig, MikeG and I touched on this following on from my column yesterday, and the conclusion we came to was that the global breakdown ruling will me somewhere between what we're currently seeing, and what the 6Ns are still playing: "...as the interpretations are gradually introduced into the NH as we’re told will be the case, there will be some kind of happy medium that exists globally, whereby the defening side will get a little more leeway than what we’re curently seeing in the S14, but not as much as in the 6Ns currently. That’s fair enough I think, and if everyone agrees that the rugby is better for it on the whole, then the interpretations have achieved their desired goal."

It is 3 rounds in. They have started balancing it up. Clearly they set out to use the first 2 rounds to establish to everyone how the relase of the tackler would work. As that has sunk in, now they can work on the balance. I am reminded of a Canterbury Bulldogs supporter I once heard of that, upon seeing theirfirst tackle of the first game of the season go badly, exclaimed "Well there goes the season!!!".

absolutely it needs to be applied to both sides. Tackler release, ball released and everyone from both side arriving and staying on their feet. That means shoulders above waist and legs underneath you taking your weight!