The Current State of Rugby
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Breaking the Code
Something is irrevocably broken in a professional spectator sport when one of your first inquiries ahead of a big game is to check who is on the refereeing panel.
Rugby at the highest levels has become a lottery. Red and yellow cards, often inconsistently applied, are deciding the outcome of matches far too often. Video referees are calling play back multiple phases to check for suspected ‘foul play’. Games are thus stopped for tedious on-field inquisitions that destroy the momentum and leave attention-wandering watchers at home listlessly flicking back to their phones.
Attacking play too often now is disadvantaged by offside rush defences. Playmakers are loathe to chance their arms for fear of being isolated. The game is reduced to aerial ping pong, endless box kicks and rolling mauls, which appear indefensible and which, for most of the public, are like watching cement dry. Players deliberately waste time and seek to milk penalties. The aim is no longer so much to play rugby, but to play the officials.
This is not an uncommon view. Many people would now agree that the flow and beauty of the game of rugby union has been destroyed by whatever-it-takes professionalism and cynical time-wasting tactics, alongside the paranoia from the World Rugby authorities about class actions over the long-term damage created by frequent concussions.
I’ve always been a rugby union tragic, ever eager to defend the code to my Australian friends and colleagues who extol the superior entertainment value of NRL or AFL, but I am now increasingly inclined to agree with them. So many times I have sat down in recent years with excited anticipation to watch an international test, only to end up feeling cheated and disappointed in the product. And this is irrespective of who is playing.
In saying this, I am well aware of the completely understandable and justified need to preserve player welfare. No-one wants to see still young men struggling with premature dementia because of head knocks suffered on the rugby field. But I question whether the current highly legalistic approach to this issue, where every game is turned into an on-field coronial inquest, is the answer.
The onus is on the law-makers to fix this. The rules need to be tweaked so as to return the code to the way it was once played, where there was a reward for flair and risk-taking, where joyful athleticism trumped cynical gamesmanship, where officials were more focused on the spirit of the law than on its letter, and where the opinion of the paying public was given precedence.
Of course, you may well say that this criticism just boils down to a vain wish for a return to the virtues of the amateur over the professional code - in other words, a futile desire to turn the clock back. On the other hand, if money and markets now rule the game (as they are doing in every inch of our lives), the cash registers will soon go silent anyway if this dour, ugly and pointless spectacle is allowed to continue.
Meanwhile, in women’s rugby we see a glimpse of what used to be….
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There's a fundamental issue of trying to sanitise a contact sport. It's not the big head shots that do the damage, but the ongoing repititious head contacts at training and in the game.
The unequivocal statement on that this week in teh US has dire implications for contact sports; NFL Rugby U+L, boxing. Who's going to let kids play, even if adults can understand and accept the risks?
We've got some crazy changes coming I expect. I don't have an answer, but it's going to be confrontational for long term watchers like me.
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@His-Bobness said in The Current State of Rugby:
Meanwhile, in women’s rugby we see a glimpse of what used to be….
They don't have the power to hurt each other.
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@Frank said in The Current State of Rugby:
@His-Bobness said in The Current State of Rugby:
Meanwhile, in women’s rugby we see a glimpse of what used to be….
They don't have the power to hurt each other.
Have you just volunteered as tackle bag at this week’s training?
Isn’t that the point though? A game based and ruled on power over skill has become very boring
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@Frank said in The Current State of Rugby:
@His-Bobness said in The Current State of Rugby:
Meanwhile, in women’s rugby we see a glimpse of what used to be….
They don't have the power to hurt each other.
It"s relative isn't it? Compared to males they may be down on power, but I bet they can still hurt each other.
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@Crucial in the games yesterday, there were 2 incidents that likely would have (1 probably should have, but I was at the game so didnt hear what the mitigation was) resulted in reds in the mens game:
1 was French players contacting an Italian head - for me, this was ruled perfectly; zero sanction
2 the Welsh 13 tipped Tui past horizontal, she landed heavily on her shoulder, zero care for getting her down; YCI am in the camp of less cards, better rules.
Rucks, maybe clearouts can only start from within 1m of the ruck, removing some of these massive charges in, where it becomes so much easier for things to go wrong. If you are closer, slower you need to really pick how you are going to attack the jackler rather than flying in at him. Once the ruck is formed, you can only join by binding first, then moving the body?
The tackle is slightly harder to deal with because you go low, you offer up off-loads, go high you run the risk of slipping up. Maybe no pop passes off the deck, once on the deck you place it, no popping.
Mauls are a shambles...I mean as a defender, you are making your way through the middle, opposition players can impede you, essentially grapple you, hold your arms, pull you back, despite you not having the ball...there is a massive imbalance between the attacker and defender at maul time, with attackers having the right to do almost anything, defender almost nothing.
full arm binding needs to be a thing, rucks, mauls, scrums.
As above, less cards is better for me, and I dislike the YC for attempted intercepts...i mean if you get your hand to the ball, then you have a chance at an intercept, sure there are occasion where the hand movement is down, therefore 0 chance, in these cases, maybe a YC, but when the hand is going up, you touch the ball, you are trying to intercept it.
Just my random Sunday thoughts.
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Thought this was an interesting suggestion.
A more head-friendly compromise to allowing hands in the rucks.
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@Rapido they've been teaching that for years, so not a new idea
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@taniwharugby said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Rapido they've been teaching that for years, so not a new idea
I was thinking making that the only legal way of jackaling/'rucking'. Only have rights to put hands on ball in ruck/tackle if you have moved past the ball (even just, or preferably, one foot)
Therefore only rump or side exposed.
Also benefit of being shiftable by a clean out. Not beneficial to the jackaller at that moment, but beneficial to the sport.
I'd guess also harder to fake jackal for the penalty milker.
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@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
Big problem for me is how slow the game has become. Too many breaks and stoppages. Too much emphasis on power, not enough on fitness and agility.
Yeah this. Rugby should be a fluid game but it's far from it. It should be for every shape and size but it's not.
You could fix it with a revolution. But that ain't happening.
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@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
Big problem for me is how slow the game has become. Too many breaks and stoppages. Too much emphasis on power, not enough on fitness and agility.
Except the ball in play time has gone up considerably. It's not too many breaks, it is how long they take. There used to be many more set pieces, but each one would be sorted fast. Now there are much less, but each one takes ages. Makes it feel like it's slower, when it's not. I guess you can say that clock stopped time has increased a lot, too
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@Machpants and that's the stat I would love to see. Not per 80 mins. But siren to siren. Game takes for fucking ever.
Thr Japanese tighthead was "injured" twice just as we were getting on top. But neither injury slowed him down when the whistle went
Player welfare is being exploited for team gain and no one really cares
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@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Machpants and that's the stat I would love to see. Not per 80 mins. But siren to siren. Game takes for fucking ever.
Thr Japanese tighthead was "injured" twice just as we were getting on top. But neither injury slowed him down when the whistle went
Player welfare is being exploited for team gain and no one really cares
Could borrow the rule from soccer and say if a trainer comes onto the field for a player that player has to come off until the next stoppage (next stoppage might be a bit tough, but that could be tinkered with).
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It's a scrum
We need that guy
I'm on the lineout spot. But if you move me it will injure me further
No chance a ref can police
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@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
Isn’t that the point though? A game based and ruled on power over skill has become very boring
You only have to trawl these boards for discussion on the 12 slot to see a pretty standard view that "Big and Powerful" trumps skill every time - and I think it's fair to say the average Fern contributor is probably more knowledgeable about the game than most.
"Be careful what you wish for as you might actually get it"
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Generally agree with much on this thread and agree there's a fair bit wrong which needs to be fixed, but here's a positive thought:
There were 65,000 mainly Japanese supporters to watch the Japan-AB game yesterday providing an atmosphere which was uniquely polite while still being passionate. The All Blacks didn't play well, but that was a pretty damn good game to watch with plenty of skills and tense rugby on display and a great advert for the game.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in The Current State of Rugby:
Generally agree with much on this thread and agree there's a fair bit wrong which needs to be fixed, but here's a positive thought:
There were 65,000 mainly Japanese supporters to watch the Japan-AB game yesterday providing an atmosphere which was uniquely polite while still being passionate. The All Blacks didn't play well, but that was a pretty damn good game to watch with plenty of skills and tense rugby on display and a great advert for the game.
This
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Said it before but these athletes ar bigger, faster and stronger and consequently the field has become compressed. That's why there is less space and the game is a grind. Is probably why support play and chancing the off load is so popular because fractions of seconds could be an opportunity. Maybe 13 players is the option or a bigger field.
