A very warm welcome to all the G&GRs out there, and isn’t it great for “real” rugby to finally start this weekend. It’s that time when we are still fill of hope and thinking about how this year will be our year. I must admit even with the huge injury list of my Canes I’m still pretty optimistic about their potential and why this year they’ll win the competition. I guess like you all.
Referee Corner
Nothing major and no new law changes for Super Rugby this year. However, there are some global law trials that World Rugby have dictated must be used even in SR. So here are the changes and a bit about what they mean
Timings reduced. With an aim to waste even less time and to give people a bit of a kick to stop mucking around there are two additional reduction in timings that are to be applied. The first one, and in line with what is mandated for scrums, a lineout must be formed within 30 seconds of a mark being made. While this sort of makes sense, I can see it being a bit of a problem at times. Firstly, is it the referee or AR who “makes” the mark? If it’s the AR then they’ll have to change things as now most just raise their flag and wander left and right depending on where the hooker stands. If it’s the referee then does he/she have to come to the line and make the mark each time? Also, what about the ball kicked well out of play? How are they factoring in that and will they still allow a quick throw in after a mark has been made? Currently unless there are two players from the opposition you can play quickly, but it’s not clear about how they manage this with the “30 sec from when a mark is made” statement. I guess this is one we’ll find out and no doubt find confusing as the season goes on. The second one relating to time is giving a kicker even less time after a try is scored. The kicker now has 60 seconds not 90 to kick a ball after a try has been awarded and even if the ball falls over. I’m not unhappy about this and I think it’s good as it’ll stop the endless drinks, hair combing, socks pulling up and other stuff kickers do before they kick. The good thing is it’s from when the try is awarded, not from when the kicker receives the tee as some used to stuff around drinking and all the rest of it before they took the tee to give themselves more time.
The next law is one to provide even more protection to the halfback (which I struggle with a bit, probably because I played at 7). Essentially if you are, or were, part of a ruck or maul then you cannot play an opponent within 1m of the maul or ruck who is attempting to play the ball away. The idea behind this is to ensure that the ball gets away from the ruck or maul quicker and we see more open play. I think there may be issues when it’s a forward picking the ball up and driving forward and referees will need to balance the new law with allowing this person to be tackled, especially if it’s close to the try line. No doubt there’ll be mistakes made and let’s just hope it’s not our team that cops it when they happen.
The next one is one I welcome a lot. If a ball is not straight at a lineout and the defending team doesn’t contest it then play continues. To be fair I, and a lot of my fellow referees, have always adjudicated this way by applying the laws in a tactical manner with the non straight throw not having a material effect on the outcome. However, now it’s in the laws, so we are less likely to have a losing coach cry in our ear about the decision costing his team a game – as I had once.
The last two, which actually came in earlier but were not played in Super Rugby last year are firstly the one around blocking a kick chaser. In the “old” laws as long as you didn’t move, or change your line you were able to offer protection to the receiver by blocking any chasers. Now you have to actually move out of the way of any chasers and allow them to contest the kick. This is one that will take a bit to get players and referees coordinated on how it is applied and I think we’ll see a fair bit of inconsistency in the initial games. Lastly, the blockers at a ruck or maul are now not allowed to be within 1m of the ruck or maul. This gives a player hoping to charge a 9 kicking the ball a lot better chance of actually making the block – as we saw in some of the RC games last year – and I like it. Now if you get a 9 mucking around trying to move the ball so it’s just right before kicking they are likely to have a big lock or flanker charging at them and blocking their kick – and even smashing into the 9 which is always great to see.
TMO protocols. World Rugby have listened to us all and have put in place some clearly defined protocols that limit what the TMO can do. There are a lot of them and if you want to read them they can be located here. Essentially they are pushing the decision making back on to the referee and ARs with only clear and obvious issues going to the TMO. They also have limited the times he/she can get involved. I personally think this is a good thing and I hope we continue to see less of the TMO intervention that just seemed to spoil things over the last few years.
New Zealand Warm Ups
I know most here don’t care too much about the NZ teams, except that you always want to beat them – and one day might do it more consistently. But here are some of the results of the pre-season warm ups in NZ. Now I personally don’t take a lot of notice of these. With players pushing the envelope to be noticed so they get selected, coaches trialling people and tactics to see how they go and giving stars the bare minimum to protect them from injury, for me the games and results have no bearing on form for the competition, or in any way reflect how teams might play. Still here we go.
Hurricanes beat the Blues 31 – 19 in Wainuiomata (my home town) last weekend while the Chiefs beat Moana Pasifika 31 – 19 and the Highlanders beat the Crusaders 29 – 24.
Previously. Blues beat the Crusaders 35 – 19. Chiefs beat the Canes 43 – 40 and the Highlanders beat Moana Pasifika 26 – 21.
The worst part of the pre-season for NZ are the injuries that all the sides have suffered. The list is very long but a few do stick out. The Blues will be without the breakout lock Sam Darry for the season, The Crusaders lose Codie Taylor, Brydon Ennor and Johnny McNichole for the start of the season, The Chiefs have Sititi out for most of the season – not in a prep-season game, The Highlanders have Umaga – Jensen out for the first 4 rounds, The Canes have Rueben Love out for the start of the season have lost Cameron for the season and both Lomax and Aumua are going to miss the first 3 to 4 games. This is going to certainly test the depth of these sides and the only good part is that none of their replacements have to come from club rugby.
That’s me for the start of the season. Good luck to you all and all your teams and let’s hope for a season of pulsating games and some good rugby. And remember while you may not won’t always agree with the referee calls, they only call on what they see and are doing their best, just like the players.
