Rugby union is clearly at a crossroads, both globally and most pressingly, here in Australia.
The pressures of sustaining growth and competing with unprecedented choice for sports fans has seen the game drop down the charts in the last five years.
A lot of ‘rugby people’, those in the game that love the sport and just want others to love it too, would probably change very little.
But what about a shot-clock for all stoppages so teams cannot use breaks in play to fill their lungs?
That would mean once a scrum was called, teams would have 30 seconds to enter the forming phase. From here, scrums can’t be rushed for safety. If anyone wants to go back to props running at each other from 20 metres away and binding up on the move like the 80s, it’s just not going to happen.
Also, if we raise heights of scrums, we won’t have a fraction of the resets and play can continue easily.
Anyway, to the title of this article.
We obsess over scrums, 22m dropouts and other things that slow the game down, but there are more rucks and ruck stoppages than anything else in the game.
This really could be union’s answer to the ‘six again’ rule from rugby league. This is not fully fleshed out. Indeed, contribution in the comments here would be ideal. But it goes something like this.
Duane Vermeulen (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)
The back ten rule
The main principle, is replacing some/most ruck penalties with a ‘back 10’ rule, similar to a free kick.
These include all offensive penalties inside the attacking teams half. So if the defending team forces a penalty inside your half, it’s not a penalty, it’s a turnover and you must now retreat 10 metres.
Similarly, if you are defending anywhere outside of your 22m, any and all first time, non-professional fouls will be penalised with a back 10. Repeat infringing in that same-phase will trigger another back 10 plus a 2-minute sin bin which happens in game rather than stopping the flow.
Further repeat infringements will result in full arm penalties, with sanctions if deemed professional. Now, you have cut out at least two stoppages and encouraged team to attack with extra space to operate.
Clear intention to slow the ball down will result in a full arm penalty. So if you get caught in a ruck, that’s a Back 10. If you kill the ball deliberately, that’s a penalty.
There is obvious room for interpretation there, but that exists already.
Inside the 22m, full arm penalties can be given.
Like a scrum free-kick can turn to a full arm, repeat infringements of a specific kind throughout a game, like hands in the ruck, can produce full arm penalties anywhere on the field.
That’s the core idea. So here’s a scenario where the rule could work.
Your attacking from your own 10-metre line, and one of their players is off their feet contesting the ball.
What happens now is either a penalty, or he is given several seconds to get away. In this new scenario, this infringement causes slow ball, a back 10 is called and play resumes with the attack having quick ball and space.
Let’s talk about it in the comments. Thoughts and concerns. Additions and subtractions. This idea would bring significantly more flow to games and give attacking players space to move and operate, a must for rugby to compete in the current sporting landscape.
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