Erasmus’ three-point plan to save rugby
South African director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has revealed a three-point plan aimed around refereeing and time-wasting he believes can help save the game.
Erasmus found himself in hot water for a video criticising referee during last year’s series between the Springboks and British & Irish Lions.
But the World Cup-winning coach has been a lot more constructive with his latest appraisal of the game and how match officials can help make the sport more spectator-friendly. There is still some irony given the slow approach of the Springboks at times but there is plenty of merit in his ideas.
His key thoughts include: using two referees to help police the troublesome breakdown areas; having specialist scrum referees involved; and making sure there is tighter control over the time goalkickers are allowed for their shots at goal as well as a tougher stance on general timewasting tactics.
‘‘The idea of two referees sounds radical and it has been tried, but it can work if done correctly. If it’s efficient and nonintrusive, it could make a massive difference around the tackle/ breakdown area,’’ Erasmus wrote in his latest column for the Daily Mail.
He also believes specialist refereeing could help the murky area of the scrums which continue to be a massive time-waster for the game with frequent resets.
‘‘For international rugby, why not form a group of world-class scrummaging experts – former players or coaches – to serve as specialist scrummaging referees?’’ asked Erasmus.
He felt the ‘‘scrum experts’’ could roam the sidelines and enter the field to officiate scrums.
‘‘Get them in the gym so they are on and off the pitch quickly. It would be their only job, so they would have no impact on the rest of the game,’’ Erasmus wrote. ‘‘There are about 20 scrums a match so you could even put a microphone on them and link them up to the TV commentary team so the viewers understand what’s going on.’’
Erasmus is keen to see a crackdown on the ‘‘shot clock’’ on goal kickers who currently get 60 seconds for penalties and 90 seconds for conversions, but often run overtime.
‘‘We are regularly involved in matches where the kicker goes 20 seconds over the allowance,’’ Erasmus noted.
‘‘If there are six kicks at goal in a match, that could waste two minutes of ball-in-play time. Put a countdown clock on the big screens and if the time runs out then they lose the kick.’’
He felt the game needed to be much tighter around time-wasting in general.