Rules that need to be ruled out

Rugby has changed a bit from David Campese’s day.

But the former Wallabies great certainly has a point when he labels the modern game ‘‘a joke’’, ‘‘a farce’’ and ‘‘sad’’.

While his take on referees feeling they are the most important people on the field overlooks the real issue that they are just ruling to how they are directed to by World Rugby, there are several areas where fans could be feeling shortchanged by the sport.

So, Stuff takes a look at five problem areas of the game, and some solutions to them:

NUMBER OF RESERVES

The problem: Currently, teams carry eight players on the bench, with all able to be injected into the game. That’s more than half a starting lineup. In the modern day of fresh legs and sports science, coaches nearly always empty their bench – this leads to a heap of second-half stoppages.

The solution: One is to only allow tactical substitutions at certain junctures in the game – for example at the 60-minute mark, or at a conversion kick. A better one would be to keep eight players on the bench but only allow a certain number, perhaps five, to be used.

INTERCEPT KNOCK DOWNS

The problem: A sweeping attack comes out wide, you are on a hiding to nothing as the last line of defence, but so brilliant is your anticipation and skill that you manage to get a hand to the ball and almost pull off an intercept. Well done, mate, you saved a certain try. Hang on, you’ve now been yellow carded and the opposition have been awarded a penalty try.

The solution: Instead of referees having to rule on whether they thought a player was a realistic chance of catching the intercept, whether it was a good attacking opportunity to warrant a sin bin, and whether there was a covering defender to avoid it being ‘‘The referees think they are the most important person on the field. They think it’s about them, but it’s not. It’s about the game. It’s about the players and the supporters.

‘‘People don’t pay their money to watch a referee blow his whistle. They go to watch a game of football. They want to see tries, not penalty goals. It’s

a penalty try, just take it out of the game altogether by allowing defenders to slap balls down. You see it in rugby league all the time. Attackers have to be more accurate with their work.

ROLLING MAUL

The problem: Hookers are scoring more tries than wingers. OK, that’s a little harsh on those nuggety No 2s, but that’s not what they made for. Why are they scoring so many? Because they throw the ball into lineouts close to the tryline, then latch onto the back of a rumbling rolling maul which is so hard to legally defend against. At the end of the day, a maul is essentially just legalised obstruction, anyway.

The solution: One is to make tries from mauls worth fewer points, perhaps three? Then see if teams still find it so attractive. Otherwise, simply allow defending teams to be able to collapse the maul. Let’s be real, promoting a game of rugby is tough work when those watching don’t even know where the ball is.

SCRUM RESETS/PENALTIES

The problem: Without wanting to make too many enemies with the front-row club, no-one is going through the turnstiles or switching on the TV to see the big boppers pack down. A scrum is a means of restarting play, after all. Yes, it’s an important part of the game, but let’s stop it from having such an impact. Resetting scrums can chew through minutes of game time. Added to this, it’s such a niche area of the game that referees are often forced into an educated guess as to sad. The way things are now, it’s a joke.

‘‘I know I talk about the good old days, but it’s hard not to. I’m an old fart, I admit that, but I’ve always been outspoken, and I can’t say things are good if they are not.

‘‘The TMO [Television Match Official] and referees are ruining the game.’’

which side is at fault when they blow a penalty

The solution: Multiple layers. It’s not in law but is essentially refereed this way anyway – make a maximum number of resets allowed per scrum before something (a penalty) gives. Or have the game clock stopped from the time the scrum packs till it successfully ends. Yes, this could stretch games to past two hours, but maybe fans deserve much more ball in play action? Also, make penalties from scrums all freekicks instead.

HEAD CONTACT

The problem: In their attempt to tackle the big issue of concussion (and more big lawsuits), World Rugby has gone too far in its scrutiny of head contact. So much so that we now have the absurd situations where some accidental head-on-head collisions result in red cards and suspensions – think All Blacks prop Angus Ta’avao on Ireland’s Garry Ringrose against Ireland in Dunedin in July.

The solution: World Rugby’s head-contact process is a solid, descriptive framework designed to illustrate how officials should rule on every high contact. The trouble is, we just need some more common sense to be able to be applied. Then there is the time that gets eaten up when referees, in conjunction with TMOs, have to watch replays of the incidents over and over on the big screens and work out the sanction. A better way could be to follow rugby league’s ‘on-report’ system and let the judiciary deal with it afterwards.