The Current State of Rugby
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The reffing issue isn't just on here. It's invariably the topic of conversation when discussing the RWC with people. I've always been wary of any reffing conspiracy theories, but I'm not so sure now...it's damaging the game.
As @gt12 has said, I think it's time it was called out. Hopefully behind closed doors, but if not, then someone will need to go public.
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@canefan said in The Current State of Rugby:
My opinion of these two has lifted as a result.
Rory Best is one of rugby's all-time good guys. BOD is still a fluffybunny.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in The Current State of Rugby:
The reffing issue isn't just on here. It's invariably the topic of conversation when discussing the RWC with people. I've always been wary of any reffing conspiracy theories, but I'm not so sure now...it's damaging the game.
As @gt12 has said, I think it's time it was called out. Hopefully behind closed doors, but if not, then someone will need to go public.
Where's Jason Paris when you need him....
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@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
It’s become a fucking joke of a sport.
the inconsistency and lottery week to week does my head. Played well, the best sport in the world, but there's a reason I've fallen out of love with professional rugby. It's on display tonight. Was on display with Ireland series last year.
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@nzzp said in The Current State of Rugby:
@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
It’s become a fucking joke of a sport.
the inconsistency and lottery week to week does my head. Played well, the best sport in the world, but there's a reason I've fallen out of love with professional rugby. It's on display tonight. Was on display with Ireland series last year.
I am afraid I don’t love it any more.
I’ll be back for the 6 Nations and the Super season, but I have nothing like the enthusiasm for the sport that I once did. I suspect many others feel the same.
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@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
@nzzp said in The Current State of Rugby:
@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
It’s become a fucking joke of a sport.
the inconsistency and lottery week to week does my head. Played well, the best sport in the world, but there's a reason I've fallen out of love with professional rugby. It's on display tonight. Was on display with Ireland series last year.
I am afraid I don’t love it any more.
I’ll be back for the 6 Nations and the Super season, but I have nothing like the enthusiasm for the sport that I once did. I suspect many others feel the same.
Yes,but a lot of that is all about growing up and realising it’s not the be all and end all.
The refereeing certainly does not help though.
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@canefan said in The Current State of Rugby:
Watch that game. Then watch the NRL grand final. It's chalk and cheese, and the Panthers Broncos game was the Camembert
As a spectacle or reffing? Because that was a damn good game of rugby for fans of rugby (maybe not for league fans).
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@Nepia said in The Current State of Rugby:
@canefan said in The Current State of Rugby:
Watch that game. Then watch the NRL grand final. It's chalk and cheese, and the Panthers Broncos game was the Camembert
As a spectacle or reffing? Because that was a damn good game of rugby for fans of rugby (maybe not for league fans).
It was close. But the TMO and ref ruined the game and spoiled the flow. All hopes that Barnes would stop the rest breaks were dashed. It moved so slowly for a long spell of the second half. NRL was just dynamic
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@MN5 said in The Current State of Rugby:
@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
@nzzp said in The Current State of Rugby:
@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
It’s become a fucking joke of a sport.
the inconsistency and lottery week to week does my head. Played well, the best sport in the world, but there's a reason I've fallen out of love with professional rugby. It's on display tonight. Was on display with Ireland series last year.
I am afraid I don’t love it any more.
I’ll be back for the 6 Nations and the Super season, but I have nothing like the enthusiasm for the sport that I once did. I suspect many others feel the same.
Yes,but a lot of that is all about growing up and realising it’s not the be all and end all.
The refereeing certainly does not help though.
I think it comes down to where you are in life as you've pointed out.
Before Wallabies games I could barely eat, and felt nauseous. I'd shout at the TV etc etc
Who has the energy for that any more?
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@NTA said in The Current State of Rugby:
@MN5 said in The Current State of Rugby:
@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
@nzzp said in The Current State of Rugby:
@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
It’s become a fucking joke of a sport.
the inconsistency and lottery week to week does my head. Played well, the best sport in the world, but there's a reason I've fallen out of love with professional rugby. It's on display tonight. Was on display with Ireland series last year.
I am afraid I don’t love it any more.
I’ll be back for the 6 Nations and the Super season, but I have nothing like the enthusiasm for the sport that I once did. I suspect many others feel the same.
Yes,but a lot of that is all about growing up and realising it’s not the be all and end all.
The refereeing certainly does not help though.
I think it comes down to where you are in life as you've pointed out.
Before Wallabies games I could barely eat, and felt nauseous. I'd shout at the TV etc etc
Who has the energy for that any more?
Not the Wallabies!
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@NTA said in The Current State of Rugby:
@MN5 said in The Current State of Rugby:
@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
@nzzp said in The Current State of Rugby:
@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
It’s become a fucking joke of a sport.
the inconsistency and lottery week to week does my head. Played well, the best sport in the world, but there's a reason I've fallen out of love with professional rugby. It's on display tonight. Was on display with Ireland series last year.
I am afraid I don’t love it any more.
I’ll be back for the 6 Nations and the Super season, but I have nothing like the enthusiasm for the sport that I once did. I suspect many others feel the same.
Yes,but a lot of that is all about growing up and realising it’s not the be all and end all.
The refereeing certainly does not help though.
I think it comes down to where you are in life as you've pointed out.
**Before Wallabies games I could barely eat, and felt nauseous. I'd shout at the TV etc etc
Who has the energy for that any more?**
Not you cos it sounds like you won’t have eaten for awhile
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The game at the top level is a contest, but it’s not prioritising entertainment enough. The games are slow and too dominated by debates between the officials.
In Europe and the UK soccer dominates. In Australasia and the Pacific it’s NRL and in the USA it’s NFL and NBA.
Rugby with its slow games and baffling decisions is getting less and less of a look in.
It’s only really South Africa and Ireland where the game seems to be growing.
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World Rugby won't grow the game by chucking money and token games at tier twos, it will grow by making a better product. Professional sport is entertainment, sucking all Joie de vivre out of the game to engineer a result is only going to keep only a certain sect of diehards happy.
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There should be a big conversation about head shots among other things. The reffing of head shots has been inconsistent all tournament and world rugby got the perfect storm in the final, two head shots reffed differently resulting in losing a player for 60 odd minutes and one for 10.
Before the tournament both would have been red, in the first week, both would have been red, then the interpretation became more desperate to keep players on the field. As far as the latter stages go, I wasn’t surprised by either decision. It’s a really horrible problem to solve, as they have to stop head shots, but unless they fundamentally change the tackle height law these things are going to happen.
On the style of the game itself, someone mentioned in the game thread that we will be turning new spectators off, well, my dad who’s watched rugby for 80 odd years and played a high standard can’t really be fucked with it anymore. So many technical interpretations, so much reward for up and unders, and so much risk in holding onto the ball and being tackled behind the gain line, so many opportunities for teams to maintain a defensive intensity through slowing the game down and swapping out players around the ruck. Need to have a look at the sub laws, there are too many and too much gaming of them. Bongi did not go off for a tactical sub, how on earth could that decision be allowed. Also, too much reward for having a better scrum, you don’t get a penalty awarded against you anywhere else for not being as good at a technical skill, trouble is, if you remove the jeopardy then you encourage an extra three loose forwards on the pitch further reducing the space for attacking play. Again, reducing subs feels like a better option than solely changing the punishment.
The TMO is a weird problem, once you involve tech, then accepting bad decisions becomes harder and harder, as a result you have TMOs going back to intervene in phases leading up to tries etc - if you don’t though, you have huge complaints afterwards that the wrong decision was made in the build up.
I don’t know how to solve most of these, but rugby is risking eating itself and losing fans left right and centre.
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@Dodge said in The Current State of Rugby:
There should be a big conversation about head shots among other things. The reffing of head shots has been inconsistent all tournament and world rugby got the perfect storm in the final, two head shots reffed differently resulting in losing a player for 60 odd minutes and one for 10.
Before the tournament both would have been red, in the first week, both would have been red, then the interpretation became more desperate to keep players on the field. As far as the latter stages go, I wasn’t surprised by either decision. It’s a really horrible problem to solve, as they have to stop head shots, but unless they fundamentally change the tackle height law these things are going to happen.
On the style of the game itself, someone mentioned in the game thread that we will be turning new spectators off, well, my dad who’s watched rugby for 80 odd years and played a high standard can’t really be fucked with it anymore. So many technical interpretations, so much reward for up and unders, and so much risk in holding onto the ball and being tackled behind the gain line, so many opportunities for teams to maintain a defensive intensity through slowing the game down and swapping out players around the ruck. Need to have a look at the sub laws, there are too many and too much gaming of them. Bongi did not go off for a tactical sub, how on earth could that decision be allowed. Also, too much reward for having a better scrum, you don’t get a penalty awarded against you anywhere else for not being as good at a technical skill, trouble is, if you remove the jeopardy then you encourage an extra three loose forwards on the pitch further reducing the space for attacking play. Again, reducing subs feels like a better option than solely changing the punishment.
The TMO is a weird problem, once you involve tech, then accepting bad decisions becomes harder and harder, as a result you have TMOs going back to intervene in phases leading up to tries etc - if you don’t though, you have huge complaints afterwards that the wrong decision was made in the build up.
I don’t know how to solve most of these, but rugby is risking eating itself and losing fans left right and centre.
I have posted this elsewhere, but 2 weeks ago Etzebeth ran in and gave Atonio a flying headbutt but only got a yellow card. This week, and Cane gets a red for something less dangerous. Were the rules applied equally from week-to-week, Cane would have been on the sidelines for 10 mins or Etzebeth would not have been playing in that match. In either case, you can accept it because at least everyone knows where they stand from week-to-week. But the current situation is farcical.
