The Laws of Rugby are rather complex. In most set pieces, there are numerous offences (many technical in nature not affecting the "vibe" of the game) that Sir could blow his whistle for if they really wanted to demonstrate their vastly superior and pedantic knowledge of the Laws. This is not always in the best interest of the game, however many spectators and observers of the game have a rather jaundiced view of what sort of opposition transgressions Sir should be watching for as opposed to those he happens to pick up for the team they support.
The advantage law is supposed to give Sir some discretion as to keeping the vibe of the game going in a safe and compliant manner.
Some referees are better at applying the advantage law and keeping the ball in play for long periods. Many are not.
While fitness standards of players nowdays are light years ahead of those in my day, I am wondering if players could actually keep going for really long periods if referees were more liberal with the advantage law and ran allowed phases to run for 5 or 10 minutes and more. There is usually a trail of bodies strewn across the field when the phase count gets up to 20 or more in many of the televised games.
There are different measures about when a "ball is in play", but there are claims of a "ball being in play" for only about 1/3 or less of game time. ie in a 60 minute game (maths is easier using a 60 minute game as oppossed to an 80 minute game) the ball is not available for contest for 40 minutes. Either the ball is out of play (after Sir has whistled for something - in touch, PK, FK, or scrum) and yet to be contested again (fed into the scrum or lineout, tapped by a player doing a quick tap after a FK/PK, etc).
After this rather long winded preamble, which is not unusual for me, my question is two fold:
a. what percentage of game time is the ball actually available for contest? Has anyone actually timed this and added it all up on a statistically significant basis?
b. Would players be able to sustain game play if referees were even more liberal with their application of the advantage law? What is the longest period of play you have observed between Sir tooting the Acme Thunderer for an offence against the Laws of the Game?