Re: Why the new rules will make rugby shallow

On Mar 3, 8:42 pm, Lodi <l...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:35:54 -0500, William A. T. Clark wrote:





In article
<4e36349f-3775-4038-ab1c-39eb24dd9...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
 JD <_antipode...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mar 4, 12:00 am, simon s-b <baitt...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mar 3, 12:40 pm, Ferdi <NoS...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

1. It fucks with the structure of the game. Spesifically the choice
between tap free kick or scrum. It sounds innocent but the
structure of rugby is the reff telling all this will now be a
scrum, here. Building a choice into the rules, weakens the
structure in fact as well as in perception.
2. The "Jonah Lomu" rule that requires effectivly 10 yards running
space for the side getting the ball from set pieces. Get a big,
fast midfielder. Flip the ball to him on speed and scrore a try. He
does not have to have the blinding 2 paces of accelaration that
O'Driscoll has or the wicked step that Phill Bennett had. He merely
has to be big and bulky and to be moving at speed.

How to counter him? Get an equal big and bulky dude to stand in his
way, I guess. And wait for the collision. That will make the whole
thing superficial.

I want to see O'Driscoll at his best step and slip through the
narrowest of openeings. I want to see Phill Bennett step like
nobody else could.

I found Jonah Lomu boring, actually.

I must admit the overriding feeling I have had when watching S14 is
that it's not rugby. I'll wait for the first comedian from the SH to
say 'that's what we think when watching the GP'. I think it's simply
too much of a step away from the traditional game. Think back to some
of the previous rule changes, and one of the major ones was releasing
the ball in the tackle. At the time, it was hard to get used to, but
it didn't really change what a game of Rugby fundamentally looked
like. These laws do, and I can't say I like it.

Stop watching South African sides.

The problem with rugby is professionalism. Ferdi is quite discerning
bringing up Lomu, but I suspect for reasons which escape him. Two
predominant issues arose following professionalism - the players became
fitter, faster and stronger, and defences became immeasurably better
which have made the pitch smaller.

The current ELVs in the S14 permit room to defeat defences.

So did the old laws, if they were properly applied at the tackle so that
both packs of forwards had to commit to winning/retaining possession.
That meant there were no fatties plugging up the midfield. Again, watch
"The Match" form 1973, and you will be amazed at the lack of loafers in
midfield fouling up back play.

The scrum
is a weapon - it's a platform to attack from now rather than just a
restart.

It was always that, until a) referees stopped making scrum halves put
the ball in at least approximately straight, and b) weak scrummaging
sides like Australia were allowed to get away with all kinds of
neutralizing shennigans to cover up their inability to compete there. If
even the recent (not ELV) laws were rigorously applied, it would still
be that way. Penalties for collapsing the scrum will soon put a stop to
the nonsense.

Referees are now vastly less forgiving of the attacking team
being isolated which has brought an element of contest for possession
back into the game. There is more tactical kicking, greater emphasis on
territory by the best exponents of the current laws. If you want to see
how rugby should be played, watch the Blues and Crusaders.

So it is all in the eye of the official? Who the hell decided that they
should only enforce certain of the Laws, anyway? That is where the game
got screwed up. We have seen numerous examples in the HC, GP, and ML of
well contested, wide open, running Rugby under the present Laws, without
the further drift towards RL that the ELVs introduce.

William Clark

If the S14 really upsets you guys that much then DON'T WATCH IT!!!!

Stop posting about it. Stop whinging about it.

6N doesn't interest me so I don't watch it and I don't post about it.

HC/GP/ML doesn't interest me so I don't watch it and I don't post about
it.

NRL doesn't interest me so I don't watch it....etc etc etc

Stop wasting my bandwidth. I need it for downloading pictures of
unobtainable women in various stages of dishabillement.

Lodi- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It interests me so I watch it. Does my location forbid me from
commenting on it in your eyes then?
.

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