Having recently aired a pet rugby beef of mine – that fans are being seriously shortchanged because of the amount of playing time lost during scrum resets – I’m delighted to see Andrew Slack shares my view.
Far be it for me, of course, to suggest the Brisbane-based former Grand Slam-winning Wallaby captain might have read my Roar rant before tackling the issue in his latest newspaper column.
But, given the rather mixed response it drew in this forum, it was gratifying to have one of the most respected figures in the game echo my appeal for referees to call “time off” for those incessant scrum resets.
“The reality is that too often … the fan is being ripped off by a lack of action,” Slack wrote in Queensland’s Sunday Mail. “Compare the amount of downtime in 80 minutes of rugby against that in the other codes and we win that unwanted trophy hands down.”
To illustrate the point, Slack produced some damning statistics from two recent Super Rugby matches.
In a clash between the Crusaders and the Waratahs, Slack wrote, “the last pass of the match was thrown 74 minutes and seven seconds into the match. The ball did not move between one set of hands to another in the final six minutes.
“In that time, it was a series of scrum reset after scrum reset, and not once was the game clock stopped while the referee and the packs tried to get themselves in synch.”
On the same weekend, Slack wrote, “in the Reds-Rebels match, the clock in the first half read 29 minutes and 26 seconds. The most recent pass had been thrown at the 22 minutes and 32 second mark. You guessed it – a series of scrum resets.”
Like most of us, Slack is “all for ensuring safety and getting scrums right”.
“But why,” he wrote, “can’t rugby be like AFL and when the ball is not in play, stop the clock. The ball is definitely not in play while referees are debating with props whose elbow should be where and when.
“Give the fans 80 minutes of action, not 40.”
30mm tags
Guest
We're with you Justin .
30mm tags
Guest
Agreed also. That's how we used to do scrums. Tracks would engage prior to the ball being put in. There was a penalty awarded if a team were seen as pushing off the mark before the ball,went in. Where and why did it go wrong ?
Peter the wise
Guest
I disagree and we should use to our advantage. When a scrum is set the relevant station can go to an ad generating them more income and therefore making the rights more valuable!! More seriously however why do you think some of the fundamental changes that can make rugby such a better spectacle are not put in place?? The IRB are not going to implement anything that they see while help the Southern Hemisphere in beating the home nations. The SH teams are simply more athletic and anything that makes the slower NH forwards run or play more is not going to suit them. This is one of the key competitive advantages that the AFL and to a lesser extent the NRL have over rugby in this country. If they see some issue arising that is causing some uncompetitive play they simply change or get their umpires/ref's to enforce the rules better. Rugby on the other hand has to go to the IRB to even consider any real change.
Stin
Guest
New rules, and time off, have my complete support. And you know how much that is worth.
Falco
Guest
I agree James. The shove should start as soon as the ball enters the channel And the ball should be required to be put in square so both hookers can strike at it. Hang on, isn't that what used to be the rules? Or was I playing a different game?
stillmatic1
Guest
what is this so called "spirit" of the game though, handles? and has it ever existed? time wasting by any means is still time wasting, it matters not if its at the scrum or the endless pick and go with players sealing off or kicking the ball out 50m downfield. considering the history of refs and their interpretation of the scrums, i find it hard to believe that even a team with complete dominance in this area would hope the ref doesnt get it wrong just that one time when the game is on the line. we often see the supposed dominant scrum get pinged by the ref. it is one of my great fears when watching a team do this to wind down the clock, simply due to the negative mindset that the players would be in and thus be that little bit off mentally when they need to be their most assertive and alert. as many have said, forget the stopping of the clock, go to the source and eliminate the hit and things ought to improve.
Justin2
Guest
Markus the ball is at the back. They have won the ball. The idea of serums is to restart play not milk penalties. If its at the back then play on.
Justin2
Guest
They would only want that to cause a penalty. That's not positive. If its at the back it should always be play on.
AdamS
Roar Guru
Cricket, not much crossover between live coverage. Soccer, all matches kick off at the same time. AFL clear day and night games No one has the challenge of trying to broadcast as many live matches across different competitions in as many time zones as Union.
mitzter
Guest
What if the team still wanted the ball in the scrum??
AdamS
Roar Guru
Think of a broadcaster like Setanta who show only Rugby, and make their big dollars by attracting viewers to live matches. They have to figure out how to cope with a variable game length, not two or three times a day, but all day and night across a handful of Unions and half a dozen time zones. If they allowed 30 or 45 minutes between matches, how do they fill the dead time when matches don't run over? Not with anything profitable or intersting I'm sure. Just with SANZAR matches it would be a boggle, when you have a kiwi game, followed by a east coast game, followed by a Perth match. All wanting to be timed for prime local viewing. Allowing for all their live matches to run over would cost them hours of potential broadcast time. Better to just fix the scrums. Which they are doing. Better this Year than last, better next year than this year.
AdamS
Roar Guru
I always thought it a strange situation when I was first brought to the game, that an opponent can knock on and get a penalty by dint of having a dominant scrum. It seems counter intuitive than you can be rewarded so handsomely for an error, just be being superior in that facet of the game. But this is neglecting that dribbling the ball in the scrum for years or penalties is a very very old tactic and one seen in the north as one of the obvious things to do, while in the south we just want the ball out and to get on with the game.
reality bites
Guest
True, however, if you are overpowered in a scrum, what else can you do? The fundamental question is whether or not having a dominant scrum should be rewarded with 3 points (multiplied by number of scrums per match).
Peter Thomson
Roar Guru
I'm well aware of what he does and where he works. I'm merely suggesting he's probably better placed than most of us on here to recognise potential scheduling problems -- but didn't see any need to make an issue of it.
matthew
Guest
How can you not agree with him? It's a blight on the game; time just leaking away while nothing is happening.
AdamS
Roar Guru
He produces the sport for an affiliate station. Hardly gives him insight.
RAF
Guest
Agreed. I will stand correected but I think I can remember seeing old film clips of a time when the front rows engaged first, then the locks and then loosies ie there was no hit only push.
Peter Thomson
Roar Guru
It's interesting to note, Adam, that Slack himself works in television and, presumably, doesn't see scheduling as an intractable problem here..
Jayvan Collins
Roar Pro
Plenty of sports have this issues. How does league deal with long stoppages with injury? Wet weather extending play in cricket? AFL has variable time off? Soccer injury time? The extra time, with the other changes mooted, will likely only be around 10 minutes. From what I've found the average amount of extra time in soccer is 6-8 minutes... In saying that, even if it was blown out to 20 minutes extra... do you really see that as being a bad thing for broadcasters? A 30 min gap between games seems to be the norm... It would be an exceptional game to get to that degree of extra time in rugby. That means there isn't a problem with the current schedule
BetterRedThanDead
Guest
Couldnt agree more mania, but the faffing around that invariably goes along with scrummaging (which I don't mind either if I'm honest) should be done off the clock. Refs arm up to indicate time on at the 'touch' and blown off again if the scrum goes through 90, collapses etc. Point taken about the problems that the extra time would take for broadcast purposes, but I am sure other codes and the networks have dealt with that, injury time in soccer being a good example.