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Has anyone in rugby noticed how long their scrums go for? Surely in this modern age of stopwatches, something can be done?
Let’s highlight two incidents, one in each half.
Will Genea knocked on in the third minute. It took 1 minute 59 seconds for the scrum to pack. Let’s call it two minutes.
Two minutes of inactivity. Of practising scrummaging.
Maybe this is part of the theatre of it all. Maybe two minutes of scrums and talking about them is what the people want? I’m not sure – I don’t know a lot about rugby.
Then in the 70th minute, there was an Australian knock on. After a time off for subs and packing a few scrums, New Zealand received a match-winning penalty. Two minutes again wasted.
By the time Dan Carter – a superb goal-kicker who doesn’t mind staring at the ball and the posts for a long time before he actually puts boot to leather – actually kicked it, 3 minutes 40 seconds had vanished.
Finally, by the time Australia restarted, four minutes were gone, with a penalty goal the only piece of action.
Surely, with the brilliant innovation of the stopwatch, more can be done to prevent nothing at all happening in a match?
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.