Do you think the proposed new rules will help rugby??

Question

No passing back into the 22 to kick into touch etc??

Answer 1

Currently, the new rules are being showcased in the Australian Rugby Championship, a new competition with top Australian players, including the Wallabies.  It is great to watch, far fewer penalties, less stoppage, and a much more flowing game.  It certainly brings the game back to a more traditional rugby game, with forwards committed to the breakdown, leaving more room for the backs to run. Hopefully some of these rules will make it to test level, speed up the game, and reduce the number of penalties.

Answer 2

~ I think a major concern is how the new law changes (including passing back to the 22, collapsing the maul, etc) have all been designed to speed up the game.  You've got to ask ~ is this for the benefit of the player or the audience/consumer?  Are we simply making union a more enjoyable sport to watch?  What sort of groundwork & research is carried out by the powers that be before these laws are proposed/implemented?

I personally feel that for a code that has tried to distinguish itself for so long from league ~ it is becoming more & more like it! ~

Answer 3

Kisback is right...especially as Union is a professional game and thus more in need of customers and their money, those who manage it will be concerned with making sure it is a good spectacle.  

Unfortunately, it means speeding up the game to make it more like basketball with score after score after score.  There are even some serious people calling for an end to the contested scrum.

The one about collapsing the maul is absurd as it effectively removes the maul from the game.  I guess that's because the maul is "boring".  However, removing that ability to suck in (and tire out) opposing forwards will lead to ever more crowded defenses, and one or two players in the tackle and the remainder in a nice defensive line.  I'm sure it won't be too many years off before some genius decides that they need to declutter the field and the best way to do that is to reduce the number of players to 13.

I think that Stellenbosch University in South Africa, which runs its own internal competition with many teams, is the laboratory for new rules.

The sad thing is, so many people buy into it.  I think that too many people consider it a greater insult to say that a team is boring than to say that they aren't very good.  So much of the criticism of England in the 2003 world cup centered around the fact that their forwards could play...well, good old- fashioned forward rugby.

Answer 4

Depends on the team really.

It will harm teams who's strategy is based on kicking for territory.

Teams who play a driving game will benefit from it.

In all honesty, I hadn't heard about this. This is news to me.

Answer 5

Another rule that is being proposed, which I think is disgraceful is that they are making it legal to collapse a maul. This is all aimed at making rugby more 'enjoyable' to watch. It's fine the way it is, a full list of the rule changes is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellenbosc...

The only rule I agree with is the rule about the backs standing 5 metres from the scrum, the rest is a load of c**p.