What makes this game unbearable at points to watch. I'm not talking about just at the top level. I've watched rugby my whole life, never played the game and it contains so many silly parts which don't exist in other sports. The Advantage Rule - Seriously i hate this rule in its current form for two reasons a) If you kick the ball and it goes into open territory it's advantage over BUT if you kick the ball and it goes into touch on the full or into opponents hands you go back for the free kick. IMO the advantage is having the opportunity to kick the ball NOT the result of the kick, it's very much double dipping because if the penalty is awarded straight away you don't have the opportunity to kick it therefore your advantage is the kick itself not where it ends up. If you do a poor kick that is your fault. b) If you crab halfway across the field and make no inroads it comes back for the scrum. Once again the advantage is the ability to move the ball, if you choose to go sideways that is your fault. This should be cleared up to be once you go past the point the incident occurred, 3 passes have been made or a ruck has formed. Nothing worse then seeing play continue only to come back for a penalty because you didn't gain x amounts of meters, Try going forward...... Lineouts Obviously Not Being Straight What is the point in them if in soooo many instances it gets thrown straight above your own players head instead of down the middle. I suggest tighter policing of this area and make it a mastered skill for Hookers rather then something they should be good at. If it isn't straight award a free kick instead of a penalty this would mean it wouldn't have as big of an impact. Scrums If the ball is able to be put in, get the fucking thing in. These guys aren't going to be able to hold each other up for ever. So instead of waiting for it to collapse.... If the ball is in and able to come out don't reset the scrum. It's either a penalty or play on. Less Penalties at scrum time. The ball getting into the scrum should be the main priority imo not the actual scrum itself. STOP THE BLOODY CLOCK If you are going to reset scrums all the time, stop the clock till it gets to the number 8s feet. Also when the ref talks to captains and during conversion/penalty attempts. You'd probably get around 8-12 minutes more playing time per game
Agree with some of that, especially the line-out throws. Terrible watching them sometimes. It should be a contest and the touch-judge is there for that very purpose. A not straight throw isn't a penalty though. It already is only a free kick... isn't it? Also agreed with stopping the clock. Perhaps allow one scrum attempt, and then stop the clock if necessary but the amount of wasted time is ridiculous. I don't have a huge problem with the advantage rule. I'm guessing your concern is for advantage played under minor infringements (knock on, forward pass etc.) rather than advantage played under penalty. However, the length of advantage played under penalty is far too erratic for my liking.
The straight throw part I disagreed with is more to do with the fact every hooker can throw straight.
Should we give a "seconds" amount to advantage? And should it be different for infringements and penalties?
Worded it poorly but my problem with the advantage rule in the OP a) is w.r.t to all advantage b) w.r.t knockons/ forward passes. I can live with teams getting a significant advantage if they keep the ball in hand for penalties
Possibly, or maybe a number of phases allowed before advantage is over. Not the biggest problem to my mind though. Scrums are definitely an issue in respect of penalties. I get the feeling that some props struggle to read how the referee is calling the game, and that's a thing that shouldn't happen. Not sure if it's more of a southern hemisphere issue though.
I find it boring because of the whole goalathon it's become, however I think that is a sympton of my biggest gripe, which is the inconsistencies in the refereeing. It tends to be through no real fault of the on field referee as he can't be two places at once, but given that so many games are decided by goals kicked from ruck penalties, I've often wondered if the game would be improved by having a second on field pocket ref like they do now in league, who's main concern would be the 1st referees blind side of the ruck. As the referee is in the defensive line, he's going to pick up a lot more of the defences errors and miss the attacking sides mistakes, meaning teams just grind away waiting for the penalty to be blown, making for a very boring and predictable spectacle. I think a pocket ref would eliminate some of that and keep the attacking side more honest.
If it takes around a 40-60 seconds per conversion/penalty and you have say 8-10 a game thats 320 seconds to 600 seconds If the ref takes 30 seconds to talk to the captain 3-5 times per game (clock may already be stopped on this) 90-150 seconds Scrum resets 5-10 per game at 10-15 seconds each. 50-150 seconds per game That's just 3 instances I can think of which I want the clock stopped
An incorrect lineout throw gives the other team a scrum/lineout option. Hardly ever see the lineout taken though. I actually enjoy most parts of rugby. The scrum is only a concern to me when the thing endlessly collapses and takes up a lot of time. I don't mind lots of scrum penalties - a penalty there is generally due to a dominant forward pack. I agree that the referee does play too large a role in the outcome of the game and adapting to a referee's differing interpretations can be a struggle. Aside from that I don't actually mind penalty goals as they are generally given as the result of territorial advantage.
This is the problem though. The scrum penalties should reward a dominant pack, and I've certainly seen games where that hasn't been the case. Particularly when the loosehead has been owned, yet the referee calls up against the dominant tighthead. Consistency is the key, and I'm not sure that we're getting it at the moment.
Witness the 2003 WC final... England absolutely beasted the Wobblies up front, but the limp-wristed Aussie reluctance to take a square hit was rewarded with at least two very dodgy penalties. My biggest gripe is feeding of the scrum. It never gets called. One of the many reasons I love Brian Moore is his utter apoplexy at this. One of the things that separates union from league is contested possession. This should mean both sides have a reasonable chance of regaining it. Tom Youngs (the Lions' starting hooker for the first two tests of the 2013 tour) recently admitted he'd been called up to English colours without ever once having to hook the ball. O tempora, o mores...
The line out thing is definitely a SH issue. I've never watched a premeirship or 6n game and thought it was being unenforced. For me it's driving mauls. Like Brumby says, possession is supposed to be contestable, except not when you have 6 players blocking the ball carrier apparently.
I disagree vehemently that you should stop the clock for scrums/scrum resets. we will be there all day to finish the game and when I attend the game live I am ready to go home towards the end of the game. In fact if you wanted to make it more spectator friendly you would find ways to make it shorter. I don't like North American sports where the clock stops at various points. That said apart from throwing stones at Jabba's enterprising suggestions I can't contribute anything better. The scrum penalties are an absolute lottery - I don't always think the home team gets the advantage (though often they do) however I have noticed that the first scrum of the night is everything. IF you are dominant in that scrum the ref will nit pick on the other team all night long and the other team can basically infringe anyway that they like. Don't mind either way about Jabba's suggestions about the advantage rule. Jabba's ideas are how it works in soccer essentially. The advantage is an instantaneous decision without recourse.
