Paul T has recommended three changes to schoolboy rugby
In every aspect of the game, there are both positives and negatives.
The idea is to test new approaches at schoolboy level, especially during pre-season rugby tournaments.
I live close to a school in the Cape Town area and attend many matches. Hence my suggestions to make schoolboy rugby even more attractive to watch.
Hopefully, these ideas can be carried through from schoolboy rugby to varsity rugby and beyond.
I am not suggesting that all my ideas are foolproof, but your tournament could serve as a springboard for innovative thinking.
Let rugby be the winner.
1. Safer and More Structured Kick-Off Laws
At kick-off from the halfway line, both teams should be behind their 10m lines, except for the kicker. This will help eliminate unnecessary injuries, as the receiving player will not have to deal with both the ball and an opponent at the same time. The receiving player may not kick the ball but may pass it to a teammate, who is then allowed to kick if he wishes. This should promote more attractive rugby.
2. Maintaining Full Teams Despite Cards
Both teams should always have 15 players on the field, especially at schoolboy level, irrespective of a yellow- or red-card offence. The offending player will be substituted immediately. A yellow-carded player may return after 10 minutes, at the coach’s discretion. A red card results in permanent dismissal.
3. Encouraging Continuous Play from Quick Taps
When a team is awarded a penalty and decides to take a quick tap and run, play should continue irrespective of whether the opposition has retreated the required 10m. The decision to tap and run immediately is at the attacking team’s own risk. This should allow the game to flow better and promote more attractive rugby, eliminating stop-start play.
@PietPompies (Comment #15) I agree 100%, and do not watch T20 either…I’m a cricket purist, there is nothing like the battle of a 5 test series…The obsession to speed up games has even infiltrated the MBL where certain rule changes are considered to “speed up” the game. This should never happen in rugby….wat moet ons dikgatte dan speel as almal wil huppel en hol?
@Smallies (Comment #12)
Yeah I can relate to being run over by a 130kg number 4 bus…on my blindside…coming at full speed with a 15m head start. Lesson 1…don’t stand around next to the ruck from a kickoff, lesson 2…grow a pair of eyes at the back of your head, lesson 3… Kaya too soft for Groot manne rugby
@Snelvuur (Comment #17) Dit gebeur selde dat jy square mooi as n pak terug beweeg. Dis jys my punt. Kies 2 losvoorspelers as stutte. Nou kom jy teen die Bere scrum en behalwe dat jy 2xtra losvoorspelers op die veld het kry jy nog penelties vir jou omdat jou scrum swak is!! Ek kan nie se hoeveel close games teen groot teenstanders kon die Bere gewen het sou die reels soos op snr vlak toe gepas geword het nie. Penalties, geel kaarte, ghaos…. Soos bokke teen Ierland.Moerse loop hole wat slim afrigters raak sien. Net n vraag? Pas die skoen?
@Grizzly (Comment #16)
Maar dit is nie ‘n strafskop op seniorvlak as jou skrum net terug beweeg nie. Dit is die grootste euwel dat skeidsregters teen spanne strafskoppe gee net oor hulle skrum terug beweeg – solank jy square bly en terug beweeg sonder om enige ander reëls te verbreek is daar geen fout met terug beweeg in ‘n skrum nie.
Ek sal wil sien op skole vlak dat as die scrum 1,5 m terug beweeg dit n strafskop is vir die ander span, soos op snr vlak. Anders gaan spanne al hoe meer losvoorspelers op stut kies.
@Sisyphus1866 (Comment #8)
100% agree!! All law changes are made to speed up the game. Why? I find a good set-piece or a game dominated by good defence just as interesting or even better than a 60vs55 scoreline. Like you say the hit and giggle rugby where no-one cares to tackle is not interesting to me. That’s also why I don’t watch T20, specifically IPL. Too much luck, too little skill – all in the name of “entertainment” for today’s instant gratification spectators. Then again… I’m probably getting old!!
@beet (Comment #9) Mea culpa! Under Point 3 it is said that: “This should allow the game to flow better and promote more attractive rugby, eliminating stop-start play.” I viewed this as a call for “speeding up the game”, probably because I am a tad prejudiced. I mean I played the game when we were coached to “trap hom” aimed at those guys lying on the wrong side of the ruck and playing the ball on the ground. (I played from 1972 to 1986) If they did not ban “rucking”, Richie McGaw would today be better known for flying gliders…
@Smallies (Comment #12) Games gone soft
Ek is nou nie n top klas afrigter nie ,ek is ook nie n pundit van die game nie ,ek sal myself ook glad nie uitgee as n kenner van die game nie ….ek het wel 30jaar lank klub rugby gespeel en so n bietjie op provinsiale vlak….al wat ek wil se is hoe meer shit jy wegvat van skole rugby af in terme van kontak en veiligheid van die seuns hoe moeiliker gaan daardie seuns aan pas by senior rugby…hy was nou gewoond aan die lekker 20m spasie tydens afskop op skole vlak en sy eerste senior game ry n 130kg nr 4 bus hom raak ,hy gaan sy gat sien…
Don’t agree with any of these proposals. I actually think the laws in schoolboy rugby are pretty much perfect (at least better than at pro level since held up gives you a 5m scrum instead of a drop-out). The only changes I would think about are:
1. Tighter control on subs – subs for each team except the last team must have played at least a half for the team below them and teams are only allowed 8 subs (not however many they currently have). A player can only be subbed on once (you cannot roll the subs e.g. in the front row as HJS did to great effect last year).
2. Tighter enforcement of laws to ensure a contest at set pieces – scrumhalves are expected to feed the ball straight in the scrum and lineout jumpers are expected to remain on the ground until the ball has left the hooker’s hands (these aren’t rule changes, but merely proper enforcement of existing laws that never get enforced).
Proposal 1 addresses a non-existent problem. Proposal 3 will slow down play, as the offending team will not try and retreat 10m. Proposal 2 is debatable.
@Sisyphus1866 (Comment #8)
I agree with what you are saying but these specific changes tabled make no mention of speeding up the game.
I do think what you are saying is a valid discussion topic all on its own
TOUCH RUGBY ALREADY EXISTS
@Kantman (Comment #4)
1. I watch quite a bit of NFL and must say that altho I appreciate the new kickoff law that was introduced to improve safety, it has taken a bit of spectator excitement out of the game but it works. The funny thing is it has devalued the shorter range field goal to an extent because head coaches realise their opponents will get the ball back with healthy yards from the ensuing kickoff. So I think there is a delicate balance to be achieved with the kickoff. Safety is always key but the game should not lose its identity.
2. From watching soccer, I’ve always felt that the red card should be to punish the individual and not the game. The FIFA WC will introduce us to plenty of Hollywood actors and drama queens not to mention cheaters. The card system should be used to ensure those characters get lengthy bans after the final whistle.
3. Must say I never really liked the quick tap advantage of 10m but agree with Kantako about negative play here. There will be zero incentive for a team to retreat 10m after a pen/free kick. It does not happen so often nowadays but remember the time when wings etc would stand inside the 5m line to prevent an opponent from taking a quick throw in. Refs never got the brief to punish that act with a penalty so it was a negative play that persisted.
Another part of the game that is unsafe for me is high kicks.
I would like to see the player standing still under the ball to be protected against the attacker jumping in at full speed.
Player standing should have full right to jump. Player running in must ensure safety of his chase.
When both running in, fair contest.
@agter_die_pale_pa (Comment #3)
Agree – part of the game and attacking player could still select to not pass. Free kick is fair – yellow card is silly.
@kantako (Comment #2)
1. The team that scores gets some benefit for their effort. The kicker can still kick short and chasers can get there – fewer deep kicks and more benefit for the team that scored a try.
2. School refs can give out cards easier and the game will be safer. You still get a penalty for the infringement.
3. Quick taps are silly when the advantaged team have the ball in hand already. Penalties are milked and no ref can estimate 10m accurately. Make it 5 meters then for quick taps.
I like #3 and have said it for years. If an attacking team chooses to take the quick tap, they forfit a 10m advantage. As long as the defending team makes reasonable effort to retreat immediately.
The one rule I would like to see change is for a deliberate knockdown to only be a scrum and not a penalty/card. If the attacking player chooses to take the risk to get too close when trying to draw the defender, thats his mistake. I feel it is good defending to disrup the momentum by forcing a scrum and resetting your defenses.
My opinion is that all 3 suggestions are silly and not needed.
The kick off is THE MOST important aspect of the game. Without a kick off, there is no game. It is a set piece and should be a contest, I think it has become a very important part of the game and it is very well drilled. Rugby is a game for all shape, sizes and skill levels. At kick off you need
A good kicker
A good chase
A good aerial skill
Keeping 15 on 15 will allow players to deliberately infringe without consequenses, especially to stop a try. When there is a player less, there is more space which should create more continuity and fatique, which then again brings in the importance of substitites and set pieces.
Allowing play to continue after a tap kick will encourage negative coaching, and if my team conceded a penalty I will send a shooter to run up and stand right infront of the penalty mark, deliberately taking away the tap option and forcing teams to kick to touch or goal.
I thought these suggestions would be impractical – but I ended up liking them. Great suggestions.