If scrums and mauls are what excite you most about rugby, the good times are set to carry on rolling. The rest of us may suffer
New Zealand and South Africa lock horns in last year's Rugby World Cup final. Photograph: Antonin Thullier/AFP via Getty ImagesSo a few Sundays ago I just had to take a look. Which proved harder than I had anticipated. The game was being played at the bottom of a pool. So I pulled on my goggles, inhaled and stuck my melon under the surface of 2.3m-deep diving pool.
Comrades, while that is a cracking chunk of creative writing, the “compelling storytelling” turns out to mean painfully few and mostly bleeding obvious law changes, mixed in with a truckfull of stalling tactics.To those dedicated, long-suffering administrators at WR who fight for legislative reform and understand that unless our game can change many more laws, with far greater agility, its future is bleak, you have the thanks of the overwhelming majority in our game.
The concept was to reduce the time young frontrowers’ necks were under pressure by speeding up the exit of the ball from the scrum. The attacking number eight and scrumhalf were under less pressure and the ball was removed faster. The statement does say that in November WR will re-examine a number of other laws, including those regarding substitutions and “the impact of fatigue and the number and timing of replacements in the elite game to determine options that might create more space on the field while improving injury rates”.
According to several leading doctors who specialise in brain trauma, the forward-dominated benches with increased numbers of fresh giants entering into the game is of grave concern. Yet this major issue of safety has also been kicked into the long grass of a “specialist working group”. An interim measure that would have solved a majority of the problems was to add a simple sentence to the law to state: “Each reserves bench must contain three specialist backs.
None of that is “compelling storytelling”, nor is it producing “moments that really engage fans”. That is unless torrents of scrums and mauls float their boat.
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