Praise be! UK critic commends NZ rugby
Rugby readers prepare for a shock: Arch British critic Stephen Jones has praised – repeat praised – New Zealand’s ‘‘great’’ new law interpretation aimed at cleaning up the breakdown – ‘‘the bastard child of the game’’.
Jones, writing in The Times, hailed Super Rugby Aotearoa’s edict to referees to enforce the rear-feet offside line and insist defenders remain offside.
The crackdown led to a slew of penalties in the Highlanders’ 28-27 win over the Chiefs in Dunedin on Saturday night, but Jones called it a ‘‘great law’’.
‘‘Last night, the referee Paul Williams applied it, and there was space to play.
‘‘That same interpretation needs to be exported by New Zealand immediately, along with kiwifruit and taste-free beer’’.
Jones praised officials for thrashing out ‘‘what looks like a highly promising new interpretation at the breakdown, the bastard child of the game’’.
It meant the tackled player had to place or play the ball immediately or risk being penalised.
The defending team would have ‘‘more leeway’’, but tacklers must roll away from the opposition, towards the sideline or get pinged.
Jones said if Williams ‘‘had the guts to apply the new structures – which he did – then it was always going to be a penalty-fest and the count was in the high 20s.
‘‘There were umpteen breakdown penalties as the players tried to tune in to the new interpretations – significantly, no-one whinged, they simply tried to learn.
‘‘There is a long way to go. It is so easy to see referees gradually retreating, finding the task of reshaping the game beyond them. If they do, they should be removed from panels. These changes are important.’’
Jones also said he liked Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium and it was refreshing to see rugby ‘‘watched by a real crowd rather than canned roaring and cardboard cutouts’’.
‘‘Rugby had to restart sometime and somewhere. Dunedin was as good as anywhere.’’
He quipped that New Zealanders ‘‘never miss a chance to feel pleased with themselves, and you could imagine the happy Dunedin fans, as ever a mass of students among them, walking back up the main street to the centre of this remote but welcoming city in great heart’’.