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Print Wayne Smith | October 06, 2009
The Australian
THE ACT Brumbies have drawn a line in the sand and committed themselves to playing an exciting brand of rugby in next year's Super 14 to counter the kickathon tactics destroying the game as a spectacle.
Brumbies coach Andy Friend said yesterday that the exciting AFL and NRL grand finals had highlighted just how badly rugby was falling behind in its capacity to entertain, with even the showcase of the sport, the Bledisloe Cup clashes between the Wallabies and All Blacks, failing to ignite any excitement this season.
Indeed, following Berrick Barnes' 10th-minute try at Eden Park, the Wallabies played 230 minutes of rugby against the All Blacks without crossing their line. By the time of the third Bledisloe Test in Wellington a fortnight ago, Australian viewers were voting with their feet, with only 146,000 Sydneysiders watching.
Not only was Australia's Tri- Nations try tally of eight its lowest since the series was expanded to six matches apiece in 2006, but the Wallabies on five occasions topped that tally in the preceding decade when each country played only four Tri- Nations Tests each year.
New Zealand's nine tries this year was its lowest by far in a six-Test campaign and indeed was virtually half the number the Kiwis scored in 1997 and 2003, 17, when restricted to just four Tests. Even the Springboks, in winning this year's southern hemisphere series, scored fewer tries, 10, than they did in finishing last in the two previous expanded series in 2006 (11 tries) and 2008 (13 tries).
"As coaches and administrators, we need to be looking at the sport and asking ourselves how we can get more movement into the game, rather than getting bogged down in the kick-a-thon that prevails now," Friend said.
"It's always been the Brumbies' way to play attacking rugby and that's what we're determined to do next season, even though it is at times fraught with risks."
How Friend intends to counter the box kicks and midfield bombs that are now destroying the game as a spectacle he wasn't about to say. But one theory is to drop back as many as half a dozen players into kick-receipt positions, which could open up the game in two ways.
The most obvious is that the side kicking possession away then would have to confront a wave of attackers running the ball back at them. But the other is that when kick-happy teams suddenly realise there are only nine players arrayed against them in the first line of defence, they might be more prepared to run the ball.
If any Super 14 side has the ability to confound kick-dominated sides such as the Bulls and the Crusaders, it is the Brumbies, especially since boosting their ball-running capacity by recruiting such players as Matt Giteau and Rocky Elsom. But it still is a high-risk strategy Friend is considering, as he well knows after seeing his old UK club, Harlequins, embark on a similar bold campaign this year.
The Quins have refused to conform to the prevailing safety-first norm and are steadfastly attempting to play a game based around quick taps and multiple phases. The trouble is that, as a consequence, they are coming ninth in the 12-team premiership, regularly being squeezed by teams that pin them in their own territory and then force a penalty.
It has only taken one season after the abandonment of the experimental law sanctions for rugby to revert to the same dirge that saw the three sides that played the least rugby at the 2007 World Cup, South Africa, England and Argentina claim the top three positions.
But with the IRB now dominated by the Home Unions to the same degree as the International Cricket Conference is swayed by India, there is no hope of law changes to open up the game globally until British spectators start to complain about the dire fare being offered up to them.
While British tolerance levels are much higher than those in Australia, even their patience must be wearing thin after the first 30 premiership matches produced only three instances of teams picking up a bonus point by scoring four tries or more.
It is within SANZAR's powers to introduce tournament-specific laws to at least keep the southern hemisphere series vibrant although it is highly unlikely South Africa would want to tamper with the formula that allowed the Springboks to dominate this year's Tri-Nations.
Friend knows where he would start with any overhaul of the laws - by bringing the ruck back into rugby. "Defenders tend to roll away from the ball when attackers are allowed to use their feet," he said.
But he also was prepared to find new ways of making the game more entertaining - by limiting the number of times a side is able to kick the ball each half and introducing NRL-style rolling substitutions to enable coaches to tailor their replacements to the needs of the game.
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