Sanzar referees and assistant referees will be focusing on freeing up the ball and creating clarity around rulings at the tackle area and at scrum-time in this year’s Super 14 competition.
In addition, players advancing from off-side positions during kicking phases will also be penalised to maintain the counter-attacking options for the receiving team.
Tournament officials in all three countries have been given a clear mandate to deal with these key areas in an effort to create clarity for players, officials and fans, and to enable the kind of rugby that Super Rugby fans have come to expect.
“There is total agreement between all three Sanzar countries that Super 14 rugby needs to return to its roots and deliver excitement and attack on the field and we believe these initiatives can help deliver a better game for everyone,” said Sanzar Referees Manager Lyndon Bray.
Bray said the 2009 season review process brought out four major priorities, which coaches, players and referees have bought into, in order to help create some fundamental change to the game on the field.
“In the past two months, I have attended workshops in all three Sanzar countries with coaches and officials and everyone has responded positively to this approach.”
Referee performances will also be measured against these priorities throughout the Super 14 season which will guide the selectors in the appointment of officials as the Tournament progresses.
Bray outlined the four key areas as:
Tackled Ball:
“The tackler, once hitting the ground in the tackle, must release the ball and the ball carrier. This gives the ball carrier a chance to ‘play the ball’, and will tidy up the tackle-ball area which has previously been weighted towards the tackler. As well, any player involved in helping make a tackle, who is in contact with the ball carrier when he is taken to ground, must then release the ball, before then attempting to contest possession, even if he is on his feet. This ensures that in Super 14, we are truly refereeing the Law at the tackle, and it provides the ball carrier with his rights, having been tackled. After this tackle, any player then on his feet, in a position of strength (his side of the tackle) may then contest possession.”
Scrum engagement:
“The scrum engagement must follow a true sequence, starting with all props required to touch, on the touch call. Props must also have their head and shoulders above their hips, and then hit straight on engagement. This enhances the chance of the scrum being contestable, and to stay up resulting in less resets.”
Players in front of the kicker:
“Players will be forced to comply with standing still or retiring in relation to being in front of the kicker. This will see referees calling for a player to stop advancing – if he continues to advance, he will be penalised and players must retire from within 10m of the receiver of a kick – otherwise an immediate penalty will be given where these players look to contest the kick. The objective is that this will improve the time and space for players to counter attack, when receiving kicks in general play, and reducing some of the aerial ping pong people we have been seeing in rugby.”
Formation of the maul:
“At the time that a maul is formed, players supporting the ball carrier will not be allowed to obstruct the opposition. This is intended to at least make the maul defendable at the set up stage.” Mr Bray said these initiatives are a return to the laws of the game and do not represent any change in law, but are simply limiting room for interpretation and should create clarity and certainty for coaches, players, officials and fans.
Bray and national referee managers in South Africa (Andre Watson) and Australia (Anthony Eddy) are available to brief media on these focus areas and any other law or officiating questions in the lead-up to the start of the 2010 Super 14 competition
SAPA
The more they change the heart and soul of Rugby the more fed-up i get.
Tackled Ball:
“The tackler, once hitting the ground in the tackle, must release the ball and the ball carrier. This gives the ball carrier a chance to ‘play the ball’
Now my question is why do they give no credit to a big crunching tackle, ones that Os du Rand used to deliver. Kicking the ball away will cost the teams a lot. As long as you dont knock on the ball is yours.
PA said
and it makes me think
dont kick the ball away
Sorry PA i copied this,
Firstly the laws never changed, it is simply policed better now.
In the past, the defender had more rights than the attacker, and that now has changed.
The law always stated that;
a) The tackled player must be allowed to place the ball
b) The tackler must release the tackled player
However, the way the laws were blown the tackled player was almost never allowed to place the ball as the tackler never released the player.
This gave a defending team the advantage, whereas in rugby, the attacking team should have the advantage.
Thinking back, I cannot think why this was not done sooner.
I dont believe we have seen the last of fetchers, I just believe they need to adapt.
The point is now simple, if you have the ball, keep it.
WARATAHS skipper Phil Waugh has fired the first barb at rival South African teams ahead of next week’s start of the Super 14 season, labelling their breakdown technique as illegal “man-handling”.
Waugh said SANZAR’s crackdown on breakdown infringements for the new season would bring the top South African sides back to the pack.
”I think maybe South Africa will find it hardest,” the 79-Test veteran said of the new interpretations announced by SANZAR last week. “The South Africans tend to lie around and do a bit of manhandling of the tackled player on the ground, so having to roll away all the time could maybe disadvantage them more so than other sides. I think the decision to make the breakdown more of a contest is great for the game and for the players – it will reward good technique. I think the players who are smart will get an advantage from it.
”I think the South Africans will still adjust but players lying around in that tackle area will be forced to get out of that area, which will certainly advantage teams who are willing to play with the ball.”
George Smith said the new law interpretations would not change his side’s attacking focus, he admitted it would make their task easier.
“It allows the ball-carrier to actually place the ball back, so it gives the attacking team a bit more time to play with the ball, with a bit more security there,” he said. ”It makes you more aware of your technique and more aware of your reaction to get back on your feet and allow the ball-carrier as little time as possible to get the ball away, but at the same time making sure you adhere to the law.
”My game won’t change dramatically, I’ll just be more aware of what the situation at the breakdown.”
Australian rugby’s referees coach, Andrew Cole.
”The referees have been instructed to be particularly hard on any tackler who’s trying to slow down the ball – whether he’s clearing to his feet or simply lying there, he must clearly get away from the ball, release and get to his feet before he plays at the ball,” Cole said. ”If not, it’s a penalty situation.
We wanted to not favour one team or another, but just to shift the focus so it was more even and therefore in doing that reward the attacking team if they were able to hold onto the ball.”
The Sun-Herald’s new rugby columnist, Adam Freier, says the code is moving on from the folly of the ELVs and is still the game they play in heaven.
Attractive rugby. It is a piece of sporting terminology that has been thrown around very loosely in the past year or so.
The argument on whether modern-day rugby is boring could be stretched further to look at whether professional sport has become more about entertainment than the actual contest. Are we buying a ticket to the circus or a rugby match?
Our game has suffered over the past two years not because it is ”boring”, but its inability to settle from the dust the Experimental Law Variations created. We tried to adopt a free-flowing game with less interruption and less kicking. Has it worked? Probably not.
I don’t blame the people who sat together and proposed the ELVs. It was the rugby community who demanded changes that would take our great game to the new heights. Somewhere in the experiment, something has gone a little awry.
It is interesting to look at other sports that have not tinkered with rules despite calls at times that they are boring.
Which brings me back to my sport. Rugby is unique. The game is designed around the contest for the ball, the contest for possession, the contest for physical supremacy.
The laws of the game have been designed so that for 80 minutes, every kick, scrum, lineout, tackle, ruck and maul can be contested by both teams. Every facet of the game is a contest, and the team that takes the greater ascendancy will see the result on the scoreboard and at the full-time whistle. Is there any other sport which has so many players of different shapes and sizes on the field at the same time? Any other sport where the fleet-footed male model winger holds equal billing with the fat, stumpy anchor of the forward pack?
Ek sal maar eers kyk of die nuwe reel toepassing ‘n positiewe invloed op wedstryde gaan he. Twee games wat ek sover gekyk het was daar gans te veel strafskoppe, wat beslis die game baie meer vertraag as skelm losvoorspelers!!
7@ Koningkie – Ek oefen ook eers my swygreg uit oor hierdie toepassing van die reëls….. of sal ek se misbruik van die reëls.
1st Opinie is rugby word nou heeltemal TE TEGNIES geblaas, die ou tradisionele battlefields van die tackle, van die ruck en mauls en van die skrums is nou tegniese landmynhope….
…. Die siel van rugby word skade aangedoen… elke jaar meer en meer.
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