Wallaby thinks league days will help with new S14 rules

Wallaby thinks league days will help with new S14 rules
By PHIL LUTTON - Brisbane Times | Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Wallaby thinks league days will help with new S14 rules - Rugby news & coverage - Stuff.co.nz


Boom Queensland Reds fly-half Berrick Barnes says his rugby league background could give him the jumpstart on rivals when it comes adapting to the Super 14's amended rules.

Barnes has a strong pedigree in the 15-man game, being schooled at well-regarded rugby nursery Ipswich Grammar, but has a decorated CV in league which includes being signed by the Brisbane Broncos as a 19-year-old.

The Super 14 competition will operate under a series of Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) this season, designed to supercharge the speed of the game, encourage more running play and as Barnes puts it, eradicate the "boring rugby" that has seen fans deserting stadiums.

While all sides will be doing their utmost in the pre-season to devise strategies to exploit the rule changes, Barnes said the bulk of the learning would have to be done on the field and would require a constant "reinvention" of his playing repertoire.

He also said playmakers would need to keep some aces up their sleeve if they are to prove effective in the new-look competition.

"It's so hard to analyse what's going to happen. It's going to be learning on the run. I think that will be a big part of it. It will probably suit a lot of the Kiwi teams with their fast feet," the 21-year-old said.

"Everyone watches videos and tapes these days and knows pretty much inside-out what people are going to do. So if you can keep a few things up your sleeve it's always good.

"It's just going to be interesting to see how it pans out, who's going to be the good teams and who's going well."

Barnes says the kicking game will play an even more crucial role following the introduction of the ELVs. Booming kicks down the field in search of territory may be complimented by crafty short kicks, says Barnes, in a bid to catch unwary defences napping.

It's a skill Barnes has in his arsenal thanks to his league days and one sure to be utilised by Reds coach Phil Mooney, who believes many teams have lost the art of the short kick amid the technical focus of the modern game.

"The kicking game is still going to play a big part. There's going to be a lot of kicking but it's going to be more where you place it and not so much just kicking it out for field position. So I think it will be pretty tactical," Barnes said.

"The short kicking game, it's a bit of a change-up, keep defences on their toes. I has been a part of league. It's something you'll try to implement but you want to keep a few things up your sleeve."

After coming of age on the international scene with a stand-out showing in Australia's World Cup campaign, Barnes knows he will be a marked man this season.

He says he is ready for the added attention likely to be accorded by opposition defences and Mooney has faith the youngster can handle the added burden on and off the field.

"He's pretty level-headed bloke. He certainly has a greater scrutiny on him now. But he had a lot of pressure on him growing up. He was a bit of child prodigy," Mooney said of Barnes, who is also a gifted cricketer.

"He's also got pressure from within our squad from guys like Quade Cooper. He's got to keep working hard and he'll see the benefits of that."

Barnes will be rested for Saturday's opening trial against the Waratahs but is likely to see action when the Reds host the Blues at Ballymore on January 31.

I can't see how a move that is going to reduce the reliance on the long kick will open up gaps for the short kick. Surely as the long kick is used less and less, opposition fullbacks will stand closer to the line in order to provide more instant coverage for the line breaks, as well as cover the short kick (which they can do now since the long kick isn't used as much)

I personally don't think the teams that rely on the long kicking game will reduce their reliance on it so much as adjust their play to make it achieve what they want.

It's pretty simple really, teams who use the long kick are interested in getting lineouts in the opposition half and don't care too much who throws, this is still possible from general play, it's just harder to do when the ball has to land infield and bounce out more. These lineouts will still occur, but fewer of them will be a long way down the field when the kick is from the 22. Same with penalties. A team who plays that way would always take the points off a penalty and the lineout if they don't think they can get it. They'll still have that mantra, they will just sing it a little differently.

You can't force a team to change it's entire philosophy by changing the rules, the philosophy is crafted as a result of the skill set that exists in the playing group. I think there will be more tired players out there, and that will assist the ball running teams to run further more often, but I don't think it'll turn the Bulls into the Crusaders!

He will be good, he has plenty of nous, but can his minder tell him to keep his mouth shut.

Heard Adrian Barich 6pr talking to Gits at the launch of the Carbon Club at Burswood tonight. Warnie, Dean Cox and Gits on a panel for select crew. Gits is getting sharper with the media. Barra was slicing up the SMH and establisment old boy clubs for nutting the the ARC and especially targeting us. Gits was being diplomatic re NSW and our new Kiwi coach. Good stuff.

Hey Gigs, unfortunately South African rugby is going south big time and for a few years. Christ we have done them in yapie heaven......Loftus Versfeld? Suck on that.:iconrofl:

The Bulls are already on record as saying the ELVs won't change their style of play that much, I mean shit if you're a 10 man football team, you CAN'T play running rugby. They won't spend 10 years buying and developing players to make themselves into a running rugby team, they'll pick their way through the rules until they can come up with a way to play 10 man rugby in the ELV era. They mightn't have as much success as they would in BELV (That's Before ELVs) but they won't give up on the kickers and lineout jumpers they have, simply because there are contracts to get out of. We're going to crap all over the Bulls this year with or without the ELVs that's not the point, the point is, the change will be limited, particularly early. Teams will try to fit what they already do well into the structure that they've been given. Only if that proves totally impossible will they change.

IMHO

There is also the inability of anyone in South African rugby to admit an error and change their ways........QED They will play the same rugby they always played and bitch about the refs if they make the call. It mightn't work, but they'll do it!

On the money Gigs

Maybe a touch harsh - who else has instituted the ELVs at all levels?

It worries me that people seem to expect that the game will be dramatically different next year, as there may be a knee-jerk reaction if it isn't. There will certainly be the opportunity for teams to find new ways to attack. I'm really hoping to see what could be achieved with tap kicks following the scrum or breakdown, particularly close to the line (I reckon you could just about knock out professional fouls if, once teams got used to it, the quick tap produced a try as often as not). But at the end of the day, the effectiveness of removing most long arm penalties will be almost entirely determined by the referee - the opportunity exists now to attack with fast ball, but the refs seem to call it back far more often than not.

In practice I am not sure that the S14 version of the ELVs will dramatically change the game, but then that is one of the reasons I am enthusiastic about them. Dramatic changes will guarantee the NH will run away from them - what I am hoping for is just some acceleration of the game whilst leaving teams the ability to define a style of play that suits them (God forbid the game ever gets as one-dimensional as League). I don't know there'll be any less kicking, but a lot of what would normally go out on the full now won't. That will offer opportunities for counter-attack, but inevitably some teams will decide to just dunt it back where it came from. Similarly, if teams like the Bulls aren't comfortable taking the free kicks they may just opt for scrums.

We'll just have to wait and see, fingers and legs crossed.

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Originally Posted by GIGS20

You can't force a team to change it's entire philosophy by changing the rules, the philosophy is crafted as a result of the skill set that exists in the playing group.

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Originally Posted by GIGS20

I mean shit if you're a 10 man football team, you CAN'T play running rugby.

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You only need to look at England and their domestic league to agree with these sentiments. Rules have been changed quite abit over the past 10 years yet English rugby is still very much the 10-man rugby of yester year and its hard to see them change their ways. I read an interesting article the other day that suggested that crowd numbers were up despite the 10-man game which apparently is what a good number of people want to watch (bloody purists).

Yep, that's all I was saying.

To tell the truth, before watching the ARC with interest this year, I thought that the ELVs would signal an end to rugby as we know it.....Legally collapsed mauls? Hands in the ruck....It's bloody madness, they're turning the game into Mugoland!

Really, I sat at Members Equity for every game, and it didn't look very different at all. Teams still kicked long when they were in trouble. I saw more than one kicking duel, and there was a heap of pick and drive forward play...exactly the sort of stuff which we thought was at risk. I think (like you have all said) there is POTENTIAL for the game to change, but this (if it happens at all) will be an evolution, not a sudden change