Paul Rees rugby
The Italy coach Brad Johnstone was less than impressed with the quality of the rugby in last season’s Six Nations Championship. It was the former New Zealand prop’s first experience of the tournament and he was distinctly underwhelmed, not just because Italy ended up with the wooden spoon but because he felt the quality of the matches was low.
”It was all hustle and bustle,” he said. ”Too much hurly-burly with the consequent mistakes and scrappy play. Teams were not allowed to play rugby and it was an opportunity lost, considering what the tournament has to offer in terms of stadia and crowds.”
The International Rugby Board is so concerned that the game has become predictable, not so much in terms of results but in the dominance of defence over attacking play, that it has instructed referees to apply the laws of the game, especially in the set pieces and the tackle area.
It is not the first time the board has pronounced that it fears union is becoming like league, with defences fanning out in a single line and a minimum of forwards committing themselves to the breakdown area. Virtually every side now has a defence coach and space is at a premium in games between evenly matched sides.
By encouraging referees to insist on a contest for possession at scrums, lineouts, rucks and mauls by applying the laws relating to put-ins, throw-ins and players staying on their feet, the board hopes that openings will be created behind.
”What you have to remember is that rugby union changed from 20 players a side to 15 way back in 1877,” said Clive Norling, the Welsh Rugby Union’s director of referees. ”A lot has changed since then: players are bigger, fitter, faster and more powerful than ever before.
”It has become very hard to unlock defences and the board is looking to referees to create a contest for possession to make it less predictable for defending teams. At the moment, with scrum, lineout and ruck-and-maul ball virtually assured, tacklers fan out and the game often resembles rugby league.
”There are radical options, such as reducing the number of players in a team to 14 or 13 or extending the period of play from 40 minutes each half. There is no chance of pitch sizes being increased because that would mean the reconstruction of most grounds.”
The board will stage a conference on the game in London in March. It held one in Sydney last year and, again, it will not be a forum for blazers but coaches, referees and managers. Even players, perhaps.
”A lot of good came out of Sydney,” said Norling. ”Changes were recommended and accepted by the board with alacrity. There are a number of proposals on the table already, from modifying the use-it-or-lose-it rule, which applies to the maul in order to get more forwards committed to it and free up space behind, to making a tackled player place the ball back with his hand and it is then open house for players who are on their feet.
”The aim is to make the game more like rugby union again and stop it becoming a poor man’s rugby league. Videos have been sent out by the board to referees and national coaches emphasising the laws which it is concerned are not being applied properly.
”I do not foresee an outbreak of whistling in the championship because there is enough time for everyone to adapt. I have attended the past two training sessions of the Wales squad and emphasised to everyone what the board is looking for.”
Norling does not foresee complaints from the southern hemisphere, where in the past attempts by the board to enforce the rules have led to protests that over-zealous refereeing drives away crowds. ”Where were the crowds during last year’s Tri-Nations?” he retorted.
”They were turned off by the predictable nature of the matches, which saw teams in possession holding on to the ball until they made a mistake. You may as well introduce a sixth-tackle law.”
With many referees now full-time, and with the board appointing them for internationals, anyone who flouts the new edict will find himself out of the Test arena. That applies to referees in both hemispheres.