Every year or so, the IRB releases some new modification of the existing laws. Remember when passing back into the 22 was acceptable for a clearance kick to touch? And "Crouch, Touch, Pause... Engage?" Even this year, we had "Yes nine," come and go, replaced by a "non-verbal communication." If you think it's confusing for the players and spectators, spar a moment for the poor official in the middle. It's incredibly easy for coaches and players and pundits to say "oh well, the ref got it wrong." No, sorry, that isn't an excuse. Well, ok, in some cases, it is, but you don't say it, thus opening the floodgates for the fans and news to constantly have a go at officials.
This is the first law I would introduce. There's a running joke and observation made by players and officials in their societies: "Law 1: the referee is the sole arbiter of fact." Let's stop the appealing for penalties and cards from the players. It's incredibly annoying to see, especially in the professional era, and I would be tempted to take the player and captain to one side and say "look, if that happens again, he will get what he wants: a yellow card." Rugby purists like to say "we aren't like football, we don't appeal and moan." But it's creeping into the game and we need to stop it, and stop it now.
Along the same vein, I'd like to see a fine system for post match interviews. If a player or a coach says something defamatory about a referee in a public capacity, the RFU should be allowed to do something about it. There is a review system in place for referees and coaches can make inquiries for decisions, and if there truly is something that needs a referral, don't throw it out into the world to discuss publicly. Don't get me wrong, we love controversy. Many a pub conversation and car journey home has been spent in fury over a decision or two that didn't go the right way, but that's the way it should happen. A private discussion between mates over a drink that is then forgotten two days later. If you have to vent your frustration, the internet is fantastic for it, use Twitter or Facebook by all means, but that's then your opinion. If you do it as a player or coach, you're a representative of the club and therefore are producing a club opinion, which I think should be kept from public eyes.
Now, to the actual playing side. There are a few things I would like to see come in. For a start, this complete rubbish about momentum in forward passes. I actually stopped writing to get my copy of the law book for this, so pedantic that I am. Law 12, "Knock-on or Throw Forward," (page 78 of the 2013 law book, if you're interested, or even if you're not, since I've said it anyway.) and I quote: "Definition: Throw Forward. A throw forward occurs when a player throws or passes the ball forward. 'Forward' means towards the opposing team's dead ball line." That is the law. It's one of the fundamental laws we teach children when they first pick up a ball.
Whilst I'm on the ball going in the right direction, what happened to the feed to the scrum being policed? That came back for about six weeks, then suddenly it stopped being watched and got dramatically worse. I quote again from the law book: Law 20: Scrum. "The purpose of the scrum is to restart play quickly, safely and fairly, after a minor infringement or a stoppage." Now I'll admit there's work to be done on the "quickly" part of the scrum, and in terms of safety, it's much better than it was. So now we need a fair contest. "A scrum half must throw the ball straight along the middle line?" Someone said to me "can you yellow card a scrum half for persistent crooked feeding?" Technically, yes you can. Persistent infringements can, and often do, result in yellow cards for players for team offences.
My last one is an introduction of a law. Something I've thought will speed up the game, if a penalty is awarded in the oppositions 5m line within the 15m channel from the touch lines, the captain should have the option to just take the lineout. No kicker worth his salt will miss a kick to touch within the 15m channel, and kicking the ball into touch wastes about thirty seconds or so to retrieve the ball, twenty seconds to set the lineout. Almost a minute wasted, each time, and I've seen games where three or four penalties are given in that area, which usually results in a yellow card incidentally, but it wastes up to five minutes to actually do anything in the game.
What law would you like to see in the game? Post a comment or tweet me, and we can discuss the ideas in a few weeks. The Australians posed a similar question, as it happens and they plan to test some with their third tier league. I can't promise anything but who knows?
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