Hats off to Goneva, the game needs clever plays

ALL power to Niki Goneva, below, for trying his little dummy touchdown for Newcastle against Saracens last week, the game will stagnate if players and coaches aren’t allowed to come up with clever and unusual plays.

To my mind there was absolutely nothing wrong and I have seen a similar ploy allowed in Sevens competition over the years. And, let’s face it, it was executed 110m from the opposition line.

Rugby has become desperately short of innovations and clever plays, witness the dearth of decent clever line-out moves and the death of the old tapped penalty setpiece. Everybody has to conform and it’s getting very boring.

And here’s the thing, the same deception used by Goneva is commonly allowed for attacking teams when the try scorer slides in feet first or sideways and hides the ball from would be tacklers.

On these occasions they either dummy the touchdown, or don’t even attempt to touchdown, and then spring up and run the ball 15 or 20 yards nearer the posts to make the conversion easier. That is allowed and so should Goneva’s clever little trick.

Rugby does get its knickers in a twist over things like this – which add interest to the game – yet remains mute over blatant chronic deceptions like blocking runners illegally causing carnage at just about every setpiece, running ahead of the ball where they are in no position to receive a pass.

Rugby still allows two or three illegalities per ruck with people diving in off their feet, coming in from the side or wiping out players ahead of the ball; it still allows stroppy scrum-halves to push and shove their opposite number before he takes possession of the ball.

Let’s deal with those first before hammering the clever innovators of the game.