The sad reality that is dawning on the majority of thinking rugby people in New Zealand, is that the NZRFU are making some… if not bias… then certainly dumb decisions, and will there be more coming after the competition has finished. Surely Mr Tew learnt his lesson last year, remember the Northland / Tasman embarrassment mid season. What grass roots rugby people are looking for is a level playing field.

This article is written by Derek Ward. If you would like to submit a quality rugby article for consideration to this site feel free to contact me. ]]> http://rugbycoaching.net/opinion/lets-be-fair-nzrfu/feed/ 0 http://rugbycoaching.net/opinion/lions-tour-2009-south-africa/ http://rugbycoaching.net/opinion/lions-tour-2009-south-africa/#comments Thu, 28 May 2009 08:09:53 +0000 admin http://rugbycoaching.net/?p=138 ]]>

Itinerary

2009 British and Irish Lions Squad

The Lions squad is dominated by Irish players, more so than ever before with 4 players from the Champion Leinster club. The Lions Tour 2009 will be a chance for revenge for the World Champion South African team who lost to the Lions in their last visit. The tour will be an interesting one for sure. I will be watching, will you?

Growing up in rural North Auckland in the 60’s and 70’s and totally devoted to the Going Morgan rugby philosophy of play the game hard and purely for the love of the game, it is hard to reconcile the excitement and passion one felt in those long gone years with the week in week out bland product provided by the current Super 14 competition. Make no mistake the love of the game still burns strongly in this not so young heart. The All Blacks are still the real deal, notwithstanding our 4 yearly cycle of heartbreak/ depression provided by the Rugby World Cup, the AB’s can still stand up the hair up on the back of one’s neck.

The Air New Zealand Cup has to be retained as a viable competition, a breeding ground for our developing talent and as a competition the rugby loving public can relate to through their local players. One only had to live through the dark, depressing days last winter when the Tanawha were threatened with eternal rugby wilderness to appreciate the passion that is still burning strong within rugby people throughout the country.

It is the Super 14 then that is the problem. The professional era has delivered us a mix and match of teams where loyalty to one’s region is long gone. Players are now making a living out of the game and that’s fine but surely the governing body can provide a more attractive spectacle to ignite public excitement than the current format in Super 14.

Sky Television is offering free instillation for Super 14. Notwithstanding the current economic climate, there is still a reasonable level of public spending on leisure pursuits and it would follow that if the current format was working Sky would be busy with new instillations as they were in the first year of the competition. Free instillation for Super 14 offers an insight into what the wider rugby public feel about the competition, they are over it.

This article is written by Derek Ward. If you would like to submit a quality rugby article for consideration to this site feel free to contact me.

The truth of the matter is that Rugby is a game strongly influenced by specifics and interpretations of the rules, and the rules of the game keep changing. Will we even like this new game they are trying to create?

Lets compare Rugby with a pure game like Football (soccer). The rules of football are simple, you must kick the ball into the opposition goal. You need to stay onside, and you shouldn’t foul opposing players. That’s about it. The game is simple, yet it is easy to follow and understand, and because of this it is the most popular game in the world today.

Rugby is not simple. Ask someone who has been watching the game for 20 years to explain the technicalities of the tackle ball and break down? Or how a scrum penalty is awarded? Most simply won’t have a straight answer.

There is a real problem with the state of the game we love. The people that pull the stings time and time again show that they are more interested in turning Rugby Union into an elitist game with ridiculous technical rules.

Lets look at some examples. Many people would consider Richie McCaw to be one of the best players in modern rugby. Yet some openly consider him to be a cheat, who plays right on the edge of the rules. What sort of game can create such interpretive and varying opinions.

Refs make mistakes, often. But is it their fault that the game’s rules are so technical and open to interpretation that a game between the two same teams can be so different with a different official running the game. Look at the three instances this year – 2008 where New Zealand have played Australia in the Tri Nations. In the first game South African ref Joubert penalised New Zealand heavily, which removed New Zealand’s dominance around the scrum and tackle ball. Australia won. In the second game South African ref Lawrence didn’t penalise New Zealand so heavily and allowed them to dominate the break down, scrum and line out, and New Zealand won comfortably. In the third game, South African ref Kaplan, over refereed the technicalities of the game for both teams awarding a ridiculous amount of infringements against both teams. The game was close, but New Zealand just won. Same teams, different refs, completely different games.

Rugby rules rule rugby? What are your thoughts?