Clear out flankers to improve flow of game
THE CALLS for law changes come primarily from the southern hemisphere countries and, to be fair, they are the doyen of the open and ‘complete’ game.
Personally, I think the wouldbe law changers are all missing the point. I watched quite a few RWC and Rugby Championship games in the company of experienced local referees and even they often couldn’t tell me, even after interminable replays, what the heck was going on in the ruck and maul. So for goodness sake let us not have even more of the same.
I believe that Rugby Union would be a far better game if the number of players on the field was reduced. Since the advent of professional rugby, most players are bigger, fitter and faster – even the props – but the size of the pitch itself seems to have shrunk.
There would be no need to tinker with the laws, nor allow ‘free-for-alls’, if Rugby Union was a game played by 13-a-side.
The game would be more open. Referees could see at a glance what was going on at the breakdown, because those masters of the ‘dark arts’, the flankers, just wouldn’t be there. The game would flow more easily or the currently over-tolerant referees would pounce and those talented ‘three quarters’, you know, the ones with the currently underused, even redundant gifts and skills, would bedazzle us.
Rugby Union is exciting, as darts, snooker et al can be, but it should be, indeed must be, even better. So leave every law in place
I say, especially those by-now balletic lineouts.
Indeed, because the game would of course be faster, the scrums could revert to those genuine contests of yesteryear. We would probably see the re-emergence of that almost extinct breed, the old fashioned, classical hooker, with arms like an orangutan and the strike of a cobra. There would be no need for further efforts to speed the game up and no need to indulge those embarrassingly crooked feeds at the scrum.
Of course, the redundant flankers will complain. You know the ‘who me ref ?’, innocent looking protesters. But they will soon realise there will be even more need for speedy all rounders racing to the breakdown. They could even be creative. Heaven forbid!
Team squads would still be good sized, but some players could be released to bolster often neglected grassroots rugby. Top division clubs could still employ, and pay exorbitantly for class players – there would just be fewer of them.
Would the so called ‘Blazers’ admit that Rugby League got it just about right, numerically speaking, although the rest of League is decidedly inferior? I jest! League is just a very different game, with a similar name and overlapping skills.
Vive la difference.