Wallabies fans might have enjoyed a chuckle during the week when Richie McCaw gave his thoughts on what changes he’d like to see made to rugby’s rules.
The All Blacks and Crusaders legend bent and twisted the game’s laws. Sir Richie played right on the edge of the rules, and if you’re an Australian who endured such a long period of Bledisloe heartache while he was Kiwi captain, you would argue he pulled the wool over the eyes of a few refs along the way.
That should never detract from the tough and brilliant No.7 that McCaw was, and even the most one-eyed Wallabies fan would concede this.
(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
So what did the retired Richie have to say when asked by World Rugby what he’d like to see changed in the rules?
“One of the things I get a bit frustrated by is the way a scrum can eat up a lot of time in the game,” he said.
“If I was going to change something it would be to stop the clock when awarding a scrum and it starts again when the ball comes in. You’d get quite a bit more rugby.”
Bang on Richie.
It’s not revolutionary in its thinking. The angst with time-sucking scrums in rugby has been bubbling away for a while. Fans are over the packing and re-racking of scrums that often strip away three and even close to four minutes of precious game time.
Some will cry out that the scrum needs to remain a contest. Agreed. The different body shapes and strengths that rugby demands has been one of its great appeals and remains crucial to its future. What needs to be addressed is the drag on game time that scrums have become.
And the solution is simple: just stop the clock from when the whistle is blown for a scrum and time goes back on when the referee calls ‘crouch’ before the engagement of the two forward packs.
Leading into the World Cup final last month, Fox Sports replayed the 1991 decider between England and Australia at Twickenham.
One thing that stood out was the speed at which both sides packed scrums. When Welsh referee Derek Bevan blew his whistle for a scrum, there wasn’t much mucking around. Brian Moore, Mickey Skinner, Paul Ackford, Wade Dooley, Peter Winterbottom and the rest of the English pack were quick to form and pack down against Tony Daly, Phil Kearns, Ewen McKenzie, Rod McCall, John Eales, Willie Ofahengaue, Simon Poidevin and Troy Coker.
(Photo by Phil O’Brien/EMPICS via Getty Images)
Not that ball-in-play time was optimal at the 1991 tournament. Statistics have shown that on average, the ball was in play for 24 minutes and 48 seconds during matches, or 31 per cent of the 80-minute match. That number rose at subsequent World Cups until 2011 when it was at 35 minutes and 25 seconds, or 44 per cent.
There was a drop in 2015 and this year’s tournament – while the figures aren’t definitive – showed a gain in ball-in-play time back to around the 35-minute mark.
Nonetheless, scrums are out of hand. Speedy scrum sets are unlikely to be enforced so why not just stop the clock? What would be the consequence?
It would mean a much longer match, which fans wouldn’t mind if they’re getting more ball in play and more bang for their buck. Broadcasters are on board if viewers are engaged. The average AFL game goes for close to two-and-a-half hours, which is similar to the duration of an NFL game, and they are two decent examples of thriving sports.
Even cricket’s BBL – an abbreviated version of the sport but a behemoth over the Australian summer – still runs for about three hours. Viewers will stick with a contest if it’s compelling.
Forwards would either be forced to improve their stamina or coaches would need to be smarter with their substitutions. There might even be an argument to extend the size of the bench to include say a game-day squad of 26.
There’s room for more rule reform too. What about a limit to the time it takes teams to form a lineout? Say from a penalty, a 45-second time limit applies from the moment the whistle is blown for the infringement until the ball is thrown into the lineout?
And a time limit for penalty kicks at goal? This is another part of the game that has precipitated irritating time-wasting. Give teams a one-minute time limit.
Can you go too far with limits to prevent the scourge of time-wasting, which leads to too much hands-on-hips and not enough hands on ball? Yep.
Maybe it’s too heavy to enforce strict time limits or stop the clock for areas such as conversion attempts, restarts at the 22m line and free kicks. You can largely rely on referees to keep the game flowing in these areas.
It took Japan at the recent World Cup to remind us of how good rugby can be to watch with their speed, ball movement and variation from prop to fullback and it’s a decent reason why World Rugby should be aiming for more ball-in-play time.
There’s been no improvement from the 35 minutes of ball in play achieved in 2007 and now is the time for rugby’s time-wasting to be reeled in.
World Rugby – listen to Sir Richie!
Kidjustakid1
Guest
If anything the bench should be reduced whilst taking steps to keep ball in play longer. That will cause teams to rethink the makeup of their squad as lighter more mobile players can create mismatches late in games. That means more chance of upsets late in games which has to be exciting for fans.
piru
Roar Rookie
Just to nitpick – NFL quarters are 15 minutes, so the game is technically an hour. NCAA rules are 12 minute quarters, so 48mins
MG
Roar Rookie
Consequence.... have a look at NFL... who wants to open that can of worms, put us on that slippery slope? A 48minute game lasts over 3hrs!!! Hell no.
MG
Roar Rookie
I don't see a problem with the scrum here but rather the officiating of the scrum, from the point it is awarded to the point it is complete. Work smarter, not harder. When time wasting is obvious, reverse the 'penalty' call, punish it. That simple. This is a case of careful what you wish for. We the need the game to allow for different strategies and approaches, application of the mind, not just the body. Using scrums and lineouts to whittle away time is a very valid part of the game, adds great tension. But, at the same time, teams shouldn't be allowed to go crazy on how far they push it. Before we get on the 'stop the clock' bandwagon, please go have a look at NFL. Its horrible. You do not want to open that can of worms. A 48minute game takes over 3hours!!! Rugby union is reaching a point where the ball is in play for almost 50% of the game. That's a heck of a lot and is way up from the bygone years. Be careful what you wish for... Just cause you don't like certain options, doesn't mean those options are bad, if we did that for every option everybody doesn't like, we'd be left with no game at all. Its that the game has so many ways to approach it that makes it so good. Apply things smarter, not harder.... and seriously, carefull what you wish for.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
And there I was thinking i was not paying attention. That is funny, although it would be much better if they had figured it out. Great article on scrums by Oxzile this week. Solving the 8v7 in favour of the tighthead scrum is the key.
James
Guest
Does anyone think it's funny that the photo for this article features Richie making what would now be considered yellow card high tackle.
ClarkeG
Roar Guru
Pretty sure he read the first few sentences. He was simply responding to the initial tone of the article...to be fair.
piru
Roar Rookie
And this is the crux of it. It needs to be the ref's discretion. he's down there and understands the context of the game and why they may be trying to delay. Let him give them a single 'hurry up' warning and then go straight to a FK if he's not satisfied with the response.
piru
Roar Rookie
Irony being that the time between plays in American Football is strictly timed and enforced if exceeded. I'd wager time between plays in a game of AF is consistently shorter than time between scrum resets in pro rugby
Muzzo
Roar Rookie
Interesting read Will, but can we at least get the fact right that Richie. the Oamaru born legend, actually refused the Pom title of 'Sir', in favour of Aotearoa's highest award, the ' Order of NZ. & rightly so. So it was World Rugby who asked for Richie for his opinion on scrummaging & being the legend he is & coming from the experience he's had in the game, at the highest level, his knowledge would be second to none. Like a player, that won three IRB player of the year titles. is something that has only one other player has done. His fellow Sader mate Dan Carter.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Goood idea. I would take the opportunity to jump on a particular hobby horse - no penalty kicks for goal outside the 22 except for yellow card/professional foul type infringements. The main reason is that they allow a lot of points to be earned too easily from often technical and sometimes disputable infringements in scrums, ducks and lineouts, rather than creating sustained pressure to get in the end zone. But fewer penalty kicks at goal, which entail as much dead time as scrum resets, would be a big plus. That’s why you get a lot of cheers from the crowd when teams kick for the corner anyway.
Purdo
Roar Rookie
soapit: Yeah, I know
gatesy
Roar Guru
My son played American football this year. They are absolute masters of time outs, stoppages and hand on hips. A better solution to stopping the clock would be a shot clock for both scrums and lineouts, with a bent arm awarded to the non offending team and a quick restart. That ought to force scrum coaches to get the basics right more often than not. Tight fives are not going to like the idea of having to pull out of a scrum and re-align to open field running.
cinque
Guest
Make scrums six on six, no late joiners, half backs on side. Will get a stable contest - not league, less wheeling and boring in, fewer injuries. Hoops & Dempsey can pretend it's a short lineout and loll about in the backline, which is where they want to be. Reduce the bench to six, stacked with front-rowers if you wish. While we're at it, all kicks should be drops. I have a train to catch.
RAF
Guest
League only use scrums for a re-start. Officials would love to take them out of the game but tradition stops them
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
Long before that even. Have a listen to this: https://soundcloud.com/user-523674328/58-argentina-why-soccer-defeated-rugby
Brendon
Roar Rookie
yeah! Lets get rid of line-outs and reduce the amount of players to 13 and had a 6 tackle counter to the game.
Mick Jeffrey
Roar Rookie
Then much like the AFL complainers do they'll moan about how long a game takes knowing it's 40 minutes game time per half, and they'll want to reduce a half to 30 minutes, which cues another round of complaining.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
He didn’t need to. His rant was pre-set ready to fire.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
The thing with this ‘simplicity’ MZ is that dozens of laws can be broken simultaneously in any scrum. McQueen said as much years ago.