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In the most spectacular moment of Saturday’s Super Rugby Pacific Final, Damian McKenzie sprinted in to take the ball on the full from a lineout, weaved at pace between two defenders and passed to his winger, who scored in the corner.
Following this scintillating play, at 25-15, and possibly 27-15, the Chiefs were almost certain to win the final.
But replays showed that McKenzie was only eight metres back from the lineout, instead of the required ten metres, when he began his run. The try was correctly ruled out and the Crusaders got a penalty on halfway.
They kicked to the corner and following some minutes of pressure, scored a decidedly unspectacular try from a maul which won them the game.
Damian McKenzie of the Chiefs charges forward during the dying stages of the Super Rugby Pacific Final. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
Once again, rugby shoots itself in the foot.
A spectacular way of scoring a try is shown to be almost impossible to achieve within the laws, while a tedious method of scoring which involves numerous players obstructing in front of the ball carrier is deemed to be so clearly within the laws that it is almost impossible to stop.
Contrary to what the commentators said at the time, McKenzie did not need to wait until the ball has crossed the 15 metre line before he started his run. He can move forward as soon as the ball is thrown. He then has to retire if it doesn’t travel 15 metres. But it is still difficult for players to make this play work under the laws.
The thrown ball moves at about 50 kilometres per hour and has to travel about 20 metres. The player therefore has to travel 10 metres at a speed of at least 25 kilometres per hour. These speeds and distances only just match. The timing has to be absolutely perfect for the player to reach the ball at the precise moment.
On Saturday, McKenzie caught the ball on his chest after sprinting eight metres. Had he travelled the two extra metres the ball may have fallen just outside his outstretched fingertips.
But having caught it, he is still just a ball runner who can be tackled and because of the speed with which this move takes place, he is potentially isolated and vulnerable to a breakdown turnover.
It is unfortunate that the precision, timing and vulnerability required to achieve this spectacular moment are totally absent from the way that the Crusaders then won the game.
The maul try requires cohesion and force projected in the right areas but it is completely against the ethos of the game in that the ball carrier is protected from the opposition tacklers by his teammates. Pushing against the maul is largely ineffective, as in order to stop it pivoting, the defenders have to spread themselves widely and therefore cannot mass their force against the attackers’ more direct shove.
Pulling the maul down is outlawed because of ridiculous notions about how dangerous this would be. Detaching and driving back into the maul is fraught with danger as you are then open to the referee’s interpretation of what is the front and what is the side, as Samisoni Taukei’aho found on Saturday night.
Even though he missed the main part of the maul entirely and drove on Brodie Retallick who was detached from the maul by his force, he was deemed to have entered from the side and penalised. This is symptomatic of the way that mauls are refereed. Once the maul has begun, the referee is effectively only refereeing the defending team. In no other phase of the game are the balance of the laws and the interpretation of them, so blatantly on the side of the attackers.
The notion that collapsing a maul is dangerous, has been completely discredited by the complete lack of serious injuries from maul collapses in the last ten years. It is beyond time that pulling down the maul was legalised. Blockers ahead of the ball carrier should not be protected and should be able to be pulled out of the way. If blocking in front of the ball carrier is legal then it should also be legal for those blockers to be tackled to the ground.
Until pulling down a maul is legalised, rugby will be hamstrung by its obsession with rewarding the staid and mundane over the creative and spectacular. The most creative, and arguably the best, team on Saturday night was denied the win due to the laws favouring the least inspiring way of scoring. This will continue to be the case until someone has the courage to say that the maul is against the spirit of the game and must be pulled down.
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.