This ain't 'touch rugby'

This ain't 'touch rugby'
Monday, 28 January 2008
This ain't 'touch rugby' - New Zealand's source for sport, rugby, cricket & league news on Stuff.co.nz


Crusaders and Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is enthusiastic about rugby's rule changes, but says they weren't entirely responsible for the high scoring rate in the Crusaders' 55-33 win over the Hurricanes on Friday.

"We played 100 minutes, so there was another 25 per cent of game time and we played extended squads. . . so that blew the score out as well," Deans told Radio Sport.

Pre-season matches were typically messy and unstructured, but much of Friday night's game in Motueka was reasonably ordered with the experimental law variations (ELVs) in play, Deans said.

Main changes include free kicks rather than penalties for offences other than offside and foul play, and requiring each backline to stand 5m from the hindmost foot at the scrum.

Also, if the ball is passed or taken back inside the defender's 22m line, then kicked out on the full, the lineout is in line with where the ball was kicked.

The ELVs are being trialled in this year's Super 14 which starts in three weeks.

Deans said he had no doubt they would make for better rugby.

"It does not change the ability of the referee to control and to penalise where they believe a penalty is warranted. Anything is clear or obvious or cynical they have the same sanctions. . . but what they have as an added tool is what we refer to as a broken arm penalty, or a free kick."

He said that allowed referees to use a step before a penalty or using the yellow card if they believed there was doubt at breakdown infringements.

"It gives the ability to be harder around the contact area, to be hard on the people who they want to move, for example the tackler rolling away.

"If you get that message across with a free kick early and consistently it will clean the game up. If they don't get the response from the player they go to the sanctions that are greater."

The changes could be both good and bad for a player like Crusaders captain Richie McCaw, who is involved so much at the breakdown, said Deans.

"It may be harder for a player for Richie McCaw to actually claim good position and to take advantage of that because the attack has the forward momentum so he has to drop back and because they are going forward they are more likely to get support and have a greater ability to remove him."

He said the free kicks awarded on Friday night had not resulted in a "fest of touch rugby".

Three days' work with a professional referee last week had helped relieve the Crusaders' anxieties about the rule changes, Deans said.

"They are not major changes. . . they aren't radical," he said.