What rugby needs to do to get back to its roots and entertain customers.

[Hawko]

The biggest problem the game has today is the pace it has been deliberately slowed to. This has led to the rise of the rugby behemoths, where rugby players in all but one position must be at least 1.8 metres tall and be somewhere between 100 and 130 kgs of muscle. Park rugby might be played by people of normal dimensions but professional rugby is very different. Games are nominally of 80 minutes duration, but most only consist of 30-35 minutes of actual play. The rest of the time is consumed by stoppages - contrived injury stoppages or patterns of play set-up that take a ridiculous amount of time. Preparation for penalty kicks, preparation for lineouts, setting of scrums, stoppages for minor injuries (real or imagined) all serve to use up valuable playing time.

The solution to that I believe is very simple. You have make an 80 minute game contain at least 60 minutes of play. Then fatigue comes into play and skilled players and fit players can take advantage of that. You need to change some rules to make play more continuous (probably not the ones you are thinking of):

So I propose the following:

1. All penalties must be taken and be complete within 30 seconds of the referee making the mark. The TMO does the calc and immediately notifies the ref that time has expired. Failure to complete in time is a free kick to the other team.
2. Lineouts must be taken as soon as the referee arrives at the spot in line with the AR. Failure to take the throw immediately is a free kick to the defending team. Mucking around by either team is a full arm penalty to the other.
3. Unless the injury is catastrophic - head or neck injury or broken bone - play will continue while the player is treated. An immediate substitution is allowed if the player injured is critical to play ie a front rower. That player has 20 seconds to get to his position while the other player is being attended to. Officials will not be allowed to interfere with this process to slow it down unless a team is clearly cheating. The substitution can be reversed within five minutes without penalty if the injured player recovers. Otherwise it is a normal substitution.
4. As soon as the ball is available for the halfback, the referee shall call "balls out" and defenders are free to advance beyond the offside line. The current caterpillar ruck is banned.

The attrition rate for the first few matches would be interesting but it would soon settle down into 60 minutes actually played in every game and the spectators would rejoice.

 

[eastman]

Completely agree however you know with England and Ireland winning, World Rugby will be even less inclined to make any changes and heads will remain in the sand.

They need to speed up the game, bring fatigue into so that proper footballers can take advantage.

I honestly can’t watch a game live anymore- I start watching 15 mins after kick-off so I can fast forward through all the downtime.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

I'm at the point where I'm more inclined to watch T2 games than T1 Tests as there tends to be a good deal less of the current BS. Which makes for a more enjoyable experience.

 

[Drew]

That whole conference before a lineout and being told by the official to get in there is a blight.

 

[jason08]

Get rid of drinks breaks too

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Get rid of drinks breaks too

Where has that bullshit come from?

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Shot clocks - no more than 30 seconds to form a scrum. No more than 60 for it have have been set and the ball fed in.

For lineouts. 30s from time the ball goes out to the ball is thrown in if out of bounds. So no penalty kicks. For penalty 30s from the time the mark is set.

Immediate use when called to 'use it' by the ref. Who have to make the call as soon as they see it at the back of a ruck or maul.

Change to the way quick taps are officiated. As long as it isn't ahead of where the penalty occurred being sat within 1m of the mark if a quick tap is taken then play on.

As with the Hawko's first post. Injured players do not stop play unless in the way. If a 'injured' playeranages to put themselves in the way immediate short arm penalty. Player can be removed and replaced for a period of up to 15 minutes.

 

[Lightblue]

The biggest problem the game has today is the pace it has been deliberately slowed to. This has led to the rise of the rugby behemoths, where rugby players in all but one position must be at least 1.8 metres tall and be somewhere between 100 and 130 kgs of muscle. Park rugby might be played by people of normal dimensions but professional rugby is very different. Games are nominally of 80 minutes duration, but most only consist of 30-35 minutes of actual play. The rest of the time is consumed by stoppages - contrived injury stoppages or patterns of play set-up that take a ridiculous amount of time. Preparation for penalty kicks, preparation for lineouts, setting of scrums, stoppages for minor injuries (real or imagined) all serve to use up valuable playing time.

The solution to that I believe is very simple. You have make an 80 minute game contain at least 60 minutes of play. Then fatigue comes into play and skilled players and fit players can take advantage of that. You need to change some rules to make play more continuous (probably not the ones you are thinking of):

So I propose the following:

1. All penalties must be taken and be complete within 30 seconds of the referee making the mark. The TMO does the calc and immediately notifies the ref that time has expired. Failure to complete in time is a free kick to the other team.
2. Lineouts must be taken as soon as the referee arrives at the spot in line with the AR. Failure to take the throw immediately is a free kick to the defending team. Mucking around by either team is a full arm penalty to the other.
3. Unless the injury is catastrophic - head or neck injury or broken bone - play will continue while the player is treated. An immediate substitution is allowed if the player injured is critical to play ie a front rower. That player has 20 seconds to get to his position while the other player is being attended to. Officials will not be allowed to interfere with this process to slow it down unless a team is clearly cheating. The substitution can be reversed within five minutes without penalty if the injured player recovers. Otherwise it is a normal substitution.
4. As soon as the ball is available for the halfback, the referee shall call "balls out" and defenders are free to advance beyond the offside line. The current caterpillar ruck is banned.

The attrition rate for the first few matches would be interesting but it would soon settle down into 60 minutes actually played in every game and the spectators would rejoice.

Agree with all points, especially when ball is at lock’s feet…..no penalty for some 50/50 scrum collapse call..just pass the ball and play on.

Also, not sure who Gaffney is but the quote under your comment…

Alan Gaffney: "put the ball in front, accelerate through the ball, put pace on the game".

Surprised how often professional players get the ball flat footed…..

 

[Hawko]

Agree with all points, especially when ball is at lock’s feet…..no penalty for some 50/50 scrum collapse call..just pass the ball and play on.

Also, not sure who Gaffney is but the quote under your comment…

Alan Gaffney: "put the ball in front, accelerate through the ball, put pace on the game".

Surprised how often professional players get the ball flat footed…..

Whatever you do, don't ever reveal your real name and address. Randwick and Australian fans will be after you in their thousands! (Joking)

Google his history, he is one of the all time coaching greats.

 

[PhilClinton]

What about when a knock on or forward pass occurs, the team receiving the ball are given the option to pack a scrum or a free kick that must go at least 10m (to avoid players doing the little tap kick).

Scrums are an important part of our game, but something like this would mean the ball in play longer and essentially the same net result for teams looking to clear the ball from their half anyway.

I feel like it would give greater importance to scrums again, as they’d be less frequent.

 

[Adam84]

What about when a knock on or forward pass occurs, the team receiving the ball are given the option to pack a scrum or a free kick that must go at least 10m (to avoid players doing the little tap kick).

Scrums are an important part of our game, but something like this would mean the ball in play longer and essentially the same net result for teams looking to clear the ball from their half anyway.

I feel like it would give greater importance to scrums again, as they’d be less frequent.

Yeah 100%, knock on should be given the option for a quick tap if taken within a certain time. Just like a quick throw at line-out.

And if scrum option is taken, then clock should stop until halfback feeds the ball.

 

[Derpus]

Get rid of drinks breaks too

The fucking drinks breaks do my head in.

That said we'd all be loving rugby if the Wallabies wern't a steamy pile.

 

[Drew]

Sure it was amateur days, but watched a replay of the mid-late 80s French tests against the wallabies a few years back. Obviously a massively different game to today’s. But the the lack of puffed out chests and ceremony prior to a set piece was refreshing. Ball went in, ball came out. tight head won? get on with it. not some massive, jeering, backslapping huddle. We need to maintain the importance of the set piece, but a team shouldn’t get 3 points because an opposition prop loses a bind. Long armed, differential? I’m sure there are holes, but if points are a direct result of scrum penalties, teams will focus on drawing those penalties

 

[Rob42]

The fucking drinks breaks do my head in.

That said we'd all be loving rugby if the Wallabies wern't a steamy pile.

Well, the drinks breaks are actually an attempt to speed the game up, ironically. The last few seasons have seen drinks run on at every stoppage, slowing things down, crowned by Rassie's coaching drinks breaks in the Lions series last year. So, World Rugby decided no drinks on the field except during two designated drinks breaks. But of course, now all we notice are the drinks stoppages.

 

[Derpus]

Well, the drinks breaks are actually an attempt to speed the game up, ironically. The last few seasons have seen drinks run on at every stoppage, slowing things down, crowned by Rassie's coaching drinks breaks in the Lions series last year. So, World Rugby decided no drinks on the field except during two designated drinks breaks. But of course, now all we notice are the drinks stoppages.

Why are there drinks breaks at all? Is it a health and safety thing or something.. Didnt see any drinks breaks in the state of origin.

 

[PhilClinton]

Why are there drinks breaks at all? Is it a health and safety thing or something.. Didnt see any drinks breaks in the state of origin.

Leaguies literally have a trainer with bottles on the field behind the attacking team nearly at all times - some blokes probably drink so much water during a game they have to piss at halftime

 

[Silverado]

Leaguies literally have a trainer with bottles on the field behind the attacking team nearly at all times - some blokes probably drink so much water during a game they have to piss at halftime

Leaguies trainers water bottles are empty though, they're just directing play

 

[RugbyReg]

Why are there drinks breaks at all? Is it a health and safety thing or something.. Didnt see any drinks breaks in the state of origin.

We’re losing the fatigue factor too. Perhaps we should be considering no strategic replacements? Just injury ones as determined by the sideline doc. I guess it’s easily manipulated in reality.

 

[PhilClinton]

We’re losing the fatigue factor too. Perhaps we should be considering no strategic replacements? Just injury ones as determined by the sideline doc. I guess it’s easily manipulated in reality.

A poster on here suggested a while back that we move to only 4 subs, still have 8 reserves but coach can only make 4 changes. I don’t mind that idea.

 

[Braveheart81]

A big chunk of this was in the recent Paul Cully article, particularly around fatigue.

Rugby is kidding itself if it is still looking down at the NRL

Sporting contests should be decided by three main factors: players, coaches, officials. The Origin result was decided in that order, but as for the 15-man game...

www.smh.com.au

I think the 4 replacements in a professional game but still having 8 reserves is a good one. More fatigue would be ideal. At the professional level, participation isn't important so having less players get on the park isn't an issue.

League has achieved this a lot with the set restarts although it was abused a lot in the first season and also leads to a lot more blowouts because it increases the gap between good and bad teams.

I struggle with trying to speed up scrums with potentially injured players or just scrums in general because of the danger issue with how powerful they are. Scrums have got far more powerful but have become safer because of the care shown around them. We do need to work out how to reduce scrum resets and penalties though.

I would advocate more for stopping the clock after a certain point on shots at goal and scrum resets rather than significantly reducing the time allowed to take it. Making the attempts lower quality because they are rushed doesn't improve the spectacle. Goal kicking has always been an important part of the game.

We want less time where the clock is running and nothing is happening and for fatigue to become a factor in far more games.