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South Africa's Bulls captain Victor Matfield gestures to the fans after winning the semi-final of the Super 14 rugby match against New Zealand Crusaders at the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria, South Africa, Saturday May 23, 2009. The Bulls defeated the Crusaders 36-23. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe
Modern rugby is hampered by confused, disjointed and misguided opinion of how to ‘fix the problem’ in the structure of the rules and horrifically inconsistent refereeing as a result of widespread confusion.
The biggest problem with rugby is that the IRB’s many attempts at amending the rules are killing the core principles of the game that it’s trying to supposedly save.
Rugby’s biggest issue in the last 10 years has been the ease with which players get away with killing the ball in their defensive red zone, not how much opportunity teams have to score tries.
Richie McCaw and co get away with murder when opposing teams storm their line and the defensive players are happy with risking giving away 3 points, as it is obviously better than 7.
If we are wanting to see more tries, then the points system for penalties needs to be amended. Players must be aptly punished for negative play. It is a core value of the sport across the board but it is not being upheld effectively, which has led to the stagnant defense and kicking-based games that plague our fields, stadiums and screens today.
Rugby has lost its appeal because it’s ridden with negative, cheating play, and more recently, as a result of the changed rules, scrappy, soft, directionless slop.
The current Super 14 rule changes, or ‘re-interpretations’, have destroyed the physicality and raw challenge at the breakdown, and we’re not necessarily seeing better rugby as a result.
Top teams end up in defensive stalemates because they don’t commit at the breakdown so as to fill their defensive line. And we’re either seeing teams have a decent balance and hold out, or not pay enough attention to one or the other and end up leaking tries from the speedy recycling through the middle, as in the case of the Lions.
Breakdown prowess is no longer a priority and referees also seem to appear to have forgotten the one very positive rule that was introduced last year, where a defensive player arriving at the tackled ball first on his feet (provided he enters from the back, and if he is the tackler, releases and retires first) has full rights to hang onto it until bashed off the ball or his feet.
Should that not happen, the defensive team receives a penalty for holding.
Where has this rule gone?
I don’t know how many times in this year’s Super 14 I’ve lamented the apparent ignorance of referees to this rule as quality turnovers are wrongfully punished. It’s near impossible to turnover ball, apart from simply waiting for an opposition mistake.
It’s not better to give the attacking team the advantage because it does exactly that! It creates an unfair advantage and the current stronger interpretations just make rucking and mauling a thing of the past because defenses acknowledge that they’re disadvantaged and just re-form.
Why don’t we all just go and watch the NRL? It’s boring, pointless and frustrating as the key aspects of specialist forward play have been completely eliminated.
If we want to see an improvement in rugby, go back to how we played it in 2007, bar the few new rules that have had a positive effect (first player at ball has rights and 22 pass back, for example), but punish negative play and the farce that is penalty kicks from any further than 40m out and give teams a limit for how long they can keep the ball at the last feet of their ruck.
Let’s hope they sort out the current mess and get back to good hard rugby that encourages positive play within the rules that are set out and apt punishment which encourages teams to defend properly, not to cheat.
And to attack, not to kick, and to ruck and maul, not to fan out your defensive line.
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.