LessThanSte wrote:Or turn the clock off until the front rows come together. Baggy shirts, also, for props!
I remember reading an article by Gianluca Vialli a few years ago, where he had measured the length of football matches where there was actual play taking place. If i recall correctly, it was in the vicinity of 60 minutes. I suspect you'd barely make 40 for some rugby matches these days.
I agree with baggy shirts for props, also with McGeechan's suggestion, anything which prevents the endless resets and arbitrary penalties, whilst still preserving the essence of a RU competitive scrum gets my vote!
On a different but related topic, is anybody else fed up with the constant "mothers meetings" that go on before every line out these days?
The forwards should all know the calls, why the time wasting? Tigers are as guilty as all the rest!!
I believe that if a rugby game is over 50 minutes 'in play' that is exceptional. I think normally its mid 40s.
The article Healy wrote was about injuries. Basically he said if you could get the ball in play for a significantly longer period then players would become significantly lighter.
Injuries have changed the face of the game as we know it, to the point that rarely do club or international teams have their strongest teams out. Of course not to mention some of the very serious injuries that are sustained to players.
If you could get rugby to the point that the ball was in play for 60 minutes the game would be all the better for it.
tigerburnie wrote:But there isn't a "hit" any more...................
What games do you watch? There's still a hit, it's just now from a regulated and set distance. You still try and lead with your tight head, you still want to start to weaken the bind from loose head to hooker.
jgriffin wrote:
I think the existing laws allow for a return to proper scrummaging.
Technically I agree, but in the length of time they absorb, I think there is room for change. Ideally a solution that requires the scrum to be formed and the ball to be fed within a certain time of the scrum being awarded (20 seconds? 30 seconds?), with the scrum then taking its course. Same with resets. Too much time is spent faffing in the set up.
Sadly my plans fall down; all that would happen is that as soon as a scrum was awarded, a prop or hooker from each side would suddenly need attention, or the change a contact lens etc...
At the end of the day, the actual scrums tend not to be dull, but their formation, and re-formation do and use up far too much of the 80 minutes.
Most of the time wasting is organised or deliberate. The sports science is at a level to balance the estimated playing time to the weight, power, strength etc of the players. i have no idea why the IRB doesn't address this issue for the welfare of the players.
Allow foot up - make it mandatory for both hookers so that the defending hooker can't really push until the ball has been hooked. More chance of the ball getting hooked cleanly.
Flankers to remain bound behind their second rows.
mol2 wrote:Clock resets until their is a completed scrum.
Trouble is it could end up like American football with a game taking hours to complete, sure someone in the PRL would love to be able to sell more advertising whilst the clocks stopped......................no thanks.If some one is time wasting, send them to the sin bin.
"If you want entertainment, go to the theatre," says Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill. "Rugby players play the game to win.15/1/21.
Push up and down the pitch, put in straight as soon as the ref says so, props wear baggy, cotton shirts, or better shirts with special binding panels sewn in.
We just need the refs to make use of the refs assistants, and to yellow card props who turn in or bind on the arm, and back rows who march sideways, it is so simple even Austin should be able to follow it.
Personally 40 minutes of scrums is quite OK as long as it is a fair contest, my main bugbear is the Sale type sideways two step at every scrum.
BengalTiger wrote:Push up and down the pitch, put in straight as soon as the ref says so, props wear baggy, cotton shirts, or better shirts with special binding panels sewn in.
We just need the refs to make use of the refs assistants, and to yellow card props who turn in or bind on the arm, and back rows who march sideways, it is so simple even Austin should be able to follow it.
Personally 40 minutes of scrums is quite OK as long as it is a fair contest, my main bugbear is the Sale type sideways two step at every scrum.
Glad we don't still have Castro then, he almost always had his bind on his oppos arm.
"If you want entertainment, go to the theatre," says Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill. "Rugby players play the game to win.15/1/21.
