SANZAR gives nod to referees to reward attacking teams
SANZAR gives nod to referees to reward attacking teams
THE shackles are set to be taken off Super 14 rugby following a directive by SANZAR to its international referees to start rewarding the attacking side.
National referees coach Andrew Cole has told The Australian that SANZAR has advised referees to focus their attention less this season on the attacking side and more on the non-compliance of defenders at the breakdown. It is an edict that has the potential to completely open up the presently kick-dominated code.
The directive can be traced back to the post-season review of the 2009 Super rugby season conducted in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa last August.
At those meetings, representatives of the coaches and referees identified that too many attacking movements were being killed because referees were almost automatically penalising any tackled player isolated from his support, no matter how briefly.
SANZAR's referee manager, New Zealander Lyndon Bray, last month conducted seminars in all three countries with leading coaches at which it was decided that instead of cracking down so hard on the team in possession, the new focus would be on ensuring that defending players roll away from the tackle and then contest the ball only once they have regained their feet.
The experiment was given its first serious test at the Waratahs-Reds pre-season trial match in Lismore on Saturday night, when referee Ian Smith took a hard line against defenders who attempted to illegally slow down the ball. Even players who subtly interfered with the tackled player while getting back to their feet were penalised.
"As far as I could tell, there was not one penalty against the team on attack," said Cole after observing the experiment.
Rival Queensland and NSW coaches Ewen McKenzie and Chris Hickey withheld their opinion of the new approach. And McKenzie warned that SANZAR needed to take care that the contest did not become too heavily weighted in favour of the attacking team, as happened in the closing years of Super 12. But equally he said attacking sides needed to be given more latitude than they were last year.
While it would be reckless to draw too much from a trial match in January, where players generally attempt to impress by keeping the ball in hand, the Lismore game was played at a cracking pace.
Initially it seemed the 2009 pattern was about to reassert itself when the match opened with a box kick from Reds halfback Richard Kingi.
But when it became apparent Smith intended to give the attacking side every opportunity to clear the ball, the imperative to kick for field position eased.
"There was less kicking as teams became more confident they could build phase play," Cole said.
Last season it was a case of kicking triggering even more kicking because the kick-receiver invariably looked up to find himself confronted by a wall of defenders. Rather than risk being isolated behind their own advantage line, fullbacks and wingers tended to take the soft option of putting up a return garryowen.
The result was one Tri-Nations Test in which the Springboks passed the ball only 43 times. Many of those passes were thrown by halfback Fourie du Preez to the designated South African kickers Morne and Francois Steyn.
There will be some good news for defending sides this season, with referees told to be on the alert to ensure players are not obstructed from contesting possession with the ball-winner immediately after he has come back down to earth in the lineout.
The reintroduction of the law forbidding defending sides from collapsing the driving maul has handed attacking teams an advantage. But SANZAR has directed the ball-carrier must be in contact with the defence, at least initially, before the ball can be smuggled to the rear of the rolling maul.
Cole also revealed SANZAR would be targeting scrum collapses this season. "Referees will be looking to cut down on the number of scrum resets in games, without detracting from the scrum contest overall," he said.
"Statistics show that as much as 10 minutes of 80-minute matches can be taken up setting and resetting scrums."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225823043793
Players, refs accept joint responsibility
SANZAR coaches and referees have accepted joint responsibility at the tackle and the scrums in order to produce a faster, more attractive game.....
SANZAR is attempting to correct faults in a transparent way. The two aspects especially under the spotlight at-re the tackle and the scrum. More specifically at the tackle there is the tackler's obligation to release the tackled play - break his contact with him before playing the ball - when he is on his feet.
SANZAR now has a referees' manager - Lyndon Bray of New Zealand, recently a Test and Super rugby referee. He will be in charge of seeing to consistency in application of the law and compliance with it. The first responsibility will rest with the players to comply.
This is not new but an application of law that exists........
Referees who get their application of the law wrong in Super 14 will be told of their problem and the matter could be made public. In fact the buck will stop with the men who select and appoint referees to Super 14 matches - Andrew Cole (Australia), Colin Hawke (New Zealand) and Tappe Henning (South Africa), who is also an IRB referees' selector.
Talking of the tackle, Bray said: "We've agreed philosophically to change what a tackler can and can't do. He's doing too much. In the evolution of the game we've allowed him to remain in contact with the ball and the ball-carrier after he leaves his feet and he stays on the ball and jumps up and rips it away.
"It looks great in a one-on-one scenario, but it's actually against the law. It creates in the game a repetitive scenario where the ball-carrier ends up with no rights because he can't do anything with the ball.
"The tackler inevitably gets the penalty which philosophically goes against what we are trying to achieve. We've agreed the tackler must release everything when he goes to ground and not hold on as he gets to his feet."
Then there is to be emphasis on scrumming within law in an attempt to reduce the resets of scrum which take up to 16% of playing time. SANZAR has appointed three scrum coaches in each of the three countries - Pat Noriega (Australia), Mike Cron (New Zealand) and Balie Swart (South Africa).
If a player in a team is presenting scrum problems, the coach will inform the team. If the problem persists SANZAR has the right and the permission from its teams to go public - let the other teams and the media know.
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