Phil Clarke - Sky Sports Expert

Changing the law

Posted: 03rd September 2008 15:39

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melbourne storm

Melbourne Storm: monotonous charges

The change to the rules had the desired effect but shifted the point of attack to a different strategy. Grubber kicks in-goal became the new Chinese torture of Rugby League.

Phil Clarke
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The sport of rugby league has continued to modify and adapt its rules over the last 100 years. As the first professional rugby code, it quickly recognised the need to provide top quality entertainment to keep the paying public happy.

Some might say that we change the rules too often, and it is hard to disagree when you compare it to football. Rugby union has recently experimented with several law changes which have been met by stiff resistance from many quarters. Nevertheless, there is a growing momentum from the game's administrators and repeated voices that a modification is now necessary.

It is well over ten years since the last significant change when the defending team were forced to retire 10 metres from the play-the-ball instead of just five. In the early 1990s this had a dramatic effect on the speed of the game. Prior to that you had the introduction of the six tackle rule in 1972, which had been preceded at one time by an unlimited number of tackles for the team in possession. This more or less ensured that both teams got almost 50 per cent of possession. Some changes, like the increase from two substitutes to four in 1996 were partly as a result of increases in health and safety of the players, but the vast majority have been designed to make the game better to watch.

Melbourne Storm, the best Australian team for the last few years very rarely pass the ball until they get within 20 metres of their opponents try line. A large part of their game is then taken up by monotonous charges to gain as many metres as possible with little or no chance of passing the ball, making a break or scoring a try. When they get near to their opponents' line, they are a wonderful team to watch but this only takes up a very small part of the 80 minutes in a match.

I have often heard spectators who are critical of the number of tries that we see scored from kicks, and I could argue for and against this point depending on my mood, but some of them are more entertaining to watch than when the player dives over from the play-the-ball when he is just 50cm from the try line.

Just over 20 years ago we made a change to the rules regarding a defensive player catching a high kick in his own in-goal area. It became a re-start to his team on the 20 metres line. This was to discourage the play of repeatedly kicking high and trapping the opposition fullback in-goal. The change to the rules had the desired effect but shifted the point of attack to a different strategy. Grubber kicks in-goal became the new Chinese torture of rugby league.

The time is right for an international review of the laws in terms of their application to the modern game. People watch to see the right balance between attack and defence. They also want to see people take risks. Unfortunately the nature of the current game penalises this too heavily and rewards the low risk game with a patient approach.

Comments

David Morrison says...

Surely rules should be the same in England, Australia and the world cup, Before we change the rules again in this country. Before we know it we might have three codes of rugby.

Posted 21:38 17th November 2008

Trevor Hopper says...

The World Cup games reinforced my concerns about the increasing advantage of physicality and bulk over nimbleness and speed. There seems a drift to backs being giants and away from 'tricky' half backs and fast, elusive but slight wingers, which leads to too much 'battering' play, not least by forwards who have problems going a full 80 minutes. To help redress the balance substitutions except for medically adjudicated injured players should be stopped, fast play the balls maintained (strange how they disappeared in Australia), scrums contested, and fast resumptions of play restored.

Posted 17:36 15th November 2008

Neil Delaney says...

Simon Carmont....you can't really believe that the game in the UK is in good shape purely because the home clubs have won the WCC? The moment the Australian clubs start taking that game seriously, is when the UK teams start losing. A better yardstick to measure the strength of the respective countries is probably to look at our recent record in test matches against Australia. Let's be right, it's not great, is it? They have better players, are fitter, have more athletic ability and are coached better.the old days when they were fit, but we had better ball playing forwards are loooooong gone. We seem to pick the same old faces year after year, while they have a conveyor belt of talent. Players like Greg Inglis, Israel Folau, Jonathan Thurston are still only very young, while on top of that they have just picked about 6 rookies in their test squad. We've gone for Martin Gleson, Keith Senior........etc etc. I'd love to see an England win in the World Cup, but it's as unlikely as someone other than Leeds, Saints, Wigan or Bradford winning the Grand Final.

Posted 04:58 13th October 2008

Philip Iveson says...

when the defending side kick the ball dead behind their own line the clock should be stopped straight away so there no advantage some referees stop the clock and some dont

Posted 10:45 23rd September 2008

Claire Holliday says...

Scrums a definitely need sorted in my opinion what the moment when a scrum is called it mights as well go to a tap to whoevers head and feed it is. Hookers should be allowed to strike for the ball and the forwards should be able to push and contest it hence making scrums more effective and more appealing to the watching

Posted 13:50 9th September 2008

Chris Mccormack says...

The most likely reason why Melbourne play that way is because a lot more time is allowed to hold the player down in Australia, so they cannot really play an expansive game because the defensive line is nearly always ready. But in any case, why would you want to force teams to play in a certain 'exciting' way? Most clubs, and certainly national teams, have always played in a 'traditional' style, and I often find that the philosophical battle of which style of play succeeds is a very intriguing one compared to who can score the greatest tries. In fact, some of the best games I've seen over the last few years have been defensively-dominated, like Saints and Leeds in the play-offs last year. That was mainly played with one-out carries and very little attacking play, but I was on the edge of my seat for the whole match. What could be done is actually harmonising the laws and interpretations on both sides of the planet, e.g. tackling in mid-air, whether players have to be lined-up ready at 20m restarts etc. Maybe then we could take an objective assessment of the rules.

Posted 13:26 9th September 2008

Neil Gawthorpe says...

the rules that need to be changed relates to the ref blowing his whistle and stopping the game 30 times a match.Regarding the offside rule who cares if the defender on the left side is offside when the ball is going the other way, just let the match continue we dont want to see the game stopped. Another is the momentum rule, a forward pass is a forward pass no matter what.

Posted 12:24 9th September 2008

Ian Shaw says...

I would like to see the rule changed when the attacking team kicks the ball dead over their opponents line. Tgis now results in a 20 metre tap. Could we not adopt the Union rule where the retart is a scrum to the defending team where the ball was kicked. it oulw rewrd skillful kicks and kep the action going.

Posted 08:21 9th September 2008

James Blandford says...

instead of changing laws or making new ones, why dont we have some consistancy with the rules we have now. if we want fast flowing rugby, then stop all the rubbish at the play of the ball with hands in, holding down,pulling a players arm off so as to get him on his back etc. BUT most importantly, apply these rules to ALL teams, not just those below Saints and Leeds. The game seems to be won or lost by refs inconsistant calls, and not by the teams playing. I understand that a refs job is hard, but some calls seem to ALMOST defy belief, some times for the whole game.

Posted 21:06 8th September 2008

Colin Wilkinson says...

i enjoy this game and there might be sum things that could be made better, but the one that should be used more often is the sin bin. time after time an offence is made and passed on to the judiciary with no benefit to the offending team. this is a cop out on the referees.

Posted 19:21 8th September 2008

Colin Wilkinson says...

i think the game is is good to watch at the moment, the only thing i would change is the 20 restart when the ball is caught in the in goal, that punishes a good kick. the defending team should be made to run it out.and when the scrum is formed quick the ref should not stop time he should keep the same players that packed down and make the defending team pack down quicker. this would stop all the wingers from packing to stop the clock then swap the pack around once time is off.

Posted 19:12 8th September 2008

Richard Ramsden says...

Talking of rule changes, what do you think of expanding the 40-20 rule, to count if the ball goes dead in goal, instead of a tap on the twenty, the team who kicked from inside their own 40 metre line forces the opponents in to goal line drop out.

Posted 19:01 8th September 2008

Stewart Ibbotson says...

I take it mel smith is a comedian. The game in aussie can't/or won't host the World Club Championship( my words) because nobody will turn up and the reason is they are only interested in there domestic comp and the state of origen. Full stop. We on the other hand will try our best to spread the word that Rugby League is the best most exciting game and will do our utmost to give other countries a chance to play our great game in a competitive atmosphere. Game on for Celtic and hopefully in the future Toulouse.

Posted 17:45 8th September 2008

Trevor Fuller says...

Hi Phil, I think that contested scrums should be reintroduced & that that the nos. of substitutes should be urgently increased upto 7 like in Union. The nos of interchanges should maybe be increased also to 16 per team, per game. Looking at SL this season & the amount of injuries suffered & the loss of medium-long-term damage this did to many teams over this season, justifies these steps in my opinion! Something needs to be done, to sometimes slow the game down a little to preserve its most vital assets, namely the Players!

Posted 16:48 8th September 2008

Andrew Grainger says...

Although I think that Rugby league is a pretty good product and that most rule changes over the past few years have been largely positive in effect, I would agree Phil that it is time for some things to be looked at. Indeed, the rules do favour caution too much and that, combined with easy metres to be made with the 10m rule, scrummage rules being ignored so that there is less variation in possesion pattern and no reward for good attacking touchfinders if not 40-20s can sometimes make for predicatble tactics and patterns of play. In addition, I am not a fan of the way dummy runners are used at times. Whilst there is not always a definite physical obstruction, dummy runners put themselves in what is basically an offside postion, blocking the view of defenders who are left with no chance of seeing and therfore reading which way the ball will go. It makes it too easy to break the line at times. I would favour tightening up the rules on this to make dummy running an offence if the runner comes between a defender and the direction that the passing movement is going, irrespective of whether the defender could have got to the tackle. Teams play on the brink of obstruction far too much for my liking.

Posted 16:26 8th September 2008

Paul Greensmith says...

I think that scrums have to go back to the point of being contested. The ball put down the middle with hookers actually having to hook for the ball. The 40/20 rule is a good one but without having an even chance of getting the ball back then it may as well be a play the ball to the kicking side. Scrums are an important part of rugby league (regardless of what stevo may think), they give the attacking side a chance with the ball against 6 defenders and in theory should be a scoring opportunity.

Posted 15:34 8th September 2008

Mel Smith says...

Melbourne is boring, you have to be kidding. The score some of the most exciting trys which England could only hope to see, Billy Slater, Greg Inglis running the length of the field. Bomb kicks with the same players jumping over the top of players to catch and score. By the when is the last time an English team came to Oz for the word club challenge, from my memory last years game nearly bored me to sleep, Leeds didn't exactly play exciting rugby league.

Posted 13:32 8th September 2008

Danny Oggy says...

I think that this is the best super league season we have had yet and I think it can only get better. The salary cap is starting to work well and should promote the bringing in of youth via second teams and academy sides. Teams like Saints and Leeds have always had cash to solve problems with getting players. Now they simply can¿t just go and buy the best player in the world and I am sure you will see more and more home grown talent. I do think that the scrums need to be sorted out so that a fair restart to the game can be gained. I also think that there should be other rules introduced like the 40-20 rule where by if your pinned down there should be a way of gaining an attacking or tactical advantage as opposed to running down a set of six and hoping for a good kick at the end. This would naturally change the style of defence also!

Posted 11:52 8th September 2008

Michael Smith says...

I feel the problem with the game today is that all the changes to the rules/set-up of the game over the past few decades have benifited the already richer,better,faster,fitter,clubs. which has caused the gulf between top and bottom to widen. examples - subs, then more subs,interchanges etc. the better club often has better players on the bench than their opponents can field at kick off. Bringing in scrums further from toutchline - more attacking space and options, more benifit to the better team. Separate players further at play the ball - more space etc.......see above. Speed up play the ball - benefit better, fitter team etc Summer rugby = firmer ground - benefit faster fitter team etc. Uncontested scrum - element of surprise lost,most likely benefit better team. End of transfer system - A lowley team can no longer unearth a "gem" and sell on to make a few quid. Home club keeps all of home "gate" - no more handy pay days for poor clubs. In no way do I advocate a return to the "old" days totally, but in my opinion these are some of the reasons why we will never see a Featherstone or a Hunslet at Wembley again (with respect to those clubs)

Posted 18:20 7th September 2008

Ash Samuels says...

I feel that we should either have video referees at every game or none at all. You could have a try disallowed by the video ref one week and the exact same sort of try given in a game with no video help. Thus it either aids or hinders teams. A decision could be down to winning or losing a game or more importantly, finishing first or second. We must have a level playing field for all. With the amount of money in super league via sky, i think it will be a drop in the water to install a screen at every ground and employ more cameramen etc. It would even mean we would need an influx of referees as they are badly needed. Another reason for this is simple, the ref has to make an on the spot decision with no video help, where he can have the luxury of checking with the replay. A minute or so will not matter to the fans as the video replay has become part of the game. We are the one of the only sports that actually shows everyone the replays that the video ref sees. Keep it up Sky. PS, Another rule change i would employ is one at Sky Sports its self. You have the same pundits on and dont seem to want to include all the managers from the superleague. Play fair now and invite them all.

Posted 20:42 5th September 2008

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