Sanzar united over new laws for S14

[travelling_gerry]

The push for next year's Super 14 and Tri Nations competitions to be run under the new experimental laws trialled in the Australian Rugby Championship is gaining momentum, with the three southern hemisphere powers all agreeing to their use.


The International Rugby Board will soon receive a formal and unified request from the Australian, New Zealand and South African unions that they be introduced as soon as next year.

The Australian Rugby Union board voted in support of their use at a four-hour board meeting held in Paris on Friday.
The Sanzar board, representing Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, also voted in agreement of the proposal.

"The three nations have agreed to approach the IRB and formally apply to use the laws in 2008," ARU chief executive John O'Neill said.
The new laws, known as ELVs, have been met with a positive response since being trialled to various degrees around the world this year.

The laws are aimed at speeding up the game and making it easier to understand for players, referees, officials and the viewing public.
All eight laws were used in the inaugural ARC, and while some players felt that certain laws would need tweaking, the exercise was a huge success.
O'Neill said before the ARC trial that he would like to see the ELVs tested at Super 14 and Test level, but the IRB baulked at the proposal.

When asked by the Herald about the prospect, IRB chairman Syd Millar said O'Neill may have been premature in advocating that their use be fast-tracked.
However, now the ARU and Sanzar are firm in their intent to push the IRB for approval.

The IRB will next meet in Paris on Friday when it is expected that the SANZAR proposal will be tabled.
The IRB meeting will also look at the ongoing issue of whether the World Cup should be a tournament for 16 or 20 teams.

There are concerns about the host nation of the next World Cup in 2011 – New Zealand – being able to stage the tournament with 20 teams.
However, the campaign to keep the event open for 20 teams has gained huge support during this year's tournament in France.
Many of the games were highlighted by close tussles – in some cases, upset defeats – between rugby powers and the minnows.


http://www.rugbyheaven.co.nz/4238554a22439.html

[travelling_gerry]

IRB admits game needs new laws


Rugby needs new laws to make the game more attractive after a World Cup dominated by defensive tactics, according to International Rugby Board (IRB) chairman Syd Millar.

Rugby needs new laws to make the game more attractive after a World Cup dominated by defensive tactics, according to International Rugby Board (IRB) chairman Syd Millar.

"Defences are on top at the moment," Millar told a news conference in Paris a day after South Africa beat England 15-6 in a dour, tryless final at the Stade de France.

"We need to free the game up a bit, make it easier to play, easier to referee, easier to understand and we have to produce more options for the players," he added.

A set of new laws have been experimented at club level in various countries for the past two years and the IRB now wants to try them in the southern hemisphere's top club competition, the Super 14, Millar said.

The experimental laws are aimed at encouraging players to run the ball more. They concentrate notably on rucks and mauls, where the defences currently slow the game down by delaying the release of the ball as much as possible.

Under the new laws, players are permitted to use their hands in the ruck and a maul can be pulled down.

"Those laws are designed to make the game more exciting and to hand the game back to the players making decisions", Irishman Millar said.

"The creation of space, keeping the ball in hands rather than in the air are things we want to encourage. On experiments we've had with the new laws, the ball is played 10 percent more of the time, more tries are being scored and the rugby gets more exciting.

"We have asked the southern nations to try these new laws in the Super 14 which is near enough international level. Hopefully they will agree to that."

The IRB would then carefully study the statistics from the new laws before deciding whether to introduce them for internationals, he added.

There were some fluent, attacking moves during the pool games of the World Cup, notably from teams like Wales and Fiji, but from the knockout stages it all dried up with teams concentrating on defending and kicking.

"The pool stages to me were a festival," said Millar, who will be replaced by Frenchman Bernard Lapasset at the head of the IRB in January.

"Then from the knockout changes, teams were more worried about not losing and became more defensively minded, less enterprising.

"The new laws will indicate a willingness to change that."

http://www.rugbyheaven.co.nz/4246626a22363.html

[JediKnight]

What a load of tosh!!! This will mean that the RWC will return to its rightful northern hemisphere home in 2011.

How can dragging a maul to the ground make the game more exciting? Suppose if you find spinal & neck injuries 'exciting' then this is for you!!!

Don't tinker with what's not broken.

[Happy]

10 percent more .. oh be still my beating heart, I'm getting a semi already from the 10 percent faster paced rugby that is to come!!!

[GIGS20]

OK, so what he's saying is that the WC Final (gee that was unintentional, but kind of appropriate to link that final with a term meaning toilet) was boring due to a 'defensive mindset' but that changing to ELVs will open the game and cause more running rugby. I don't know that the two are inextricably linked really. A team could surely play with a defensive mindset under the ELVs, we're just not really sure exactly how that would look. I think it moght look a lot like Mungoball as a matter of fact. Teams would probably bash the ball up for a few phases, and then kick for position (remembering of course to bounce the ball in the field of play) at which point they'd probably NOT contest the lineout (since numbers aren't an issue) and either commit every available body to snuffing out any maul that is likely to form or chase down the kick. Keep doing that until you're in range for a drop kick (or luky enough to get oneof the few penalties on offer.

You can approach a game with a conservative, defensive game plan regardless of the rules you play under. I suspect the teams who don't already search for an open style of game (usually because they just don't have the staff) will search all the harder for a defensive game plan in an environment where such weaknesses are exposed more. The real question is, do these rules make it easy enough for the teams which embrace them to outplay the teams that don't.

[blueandblack]

From post #1:

""The three nations have agreed to approach the IRB and formally apply to use the laws in 2008," ARU chief executive John O'Neill said."

post #2;

"We have asked the southern nations to try these new laws in the Super 14 which is near enough international level. Hopefully they will agree to that."


Interesting.

[hopep]

I don't think that the stelenbosh rules (from MARC) should be adpoted in 08 for S14. They need another year of tweaking in ARC or NPC level first.
The trap is that SH teams are training one way and then for test matches it all changes.
The NH teams are more consistent between rep level and national comps.

The ELV's have some good in them, but they need to be firmed up before applying them at S14 level.

[jargan83]

I don't think that the stelenbosh rules (from MARC) should be adpoted in 08 for S14. They need another year of tweaking in ARC or NPC level first.
The trap is that SH teams are training one way and then for test matches it all changes.
The NH teams are more consistent between rep level and national comps.

The ELV's have some good in them, but they need to be firmed up before applying them at S14 level.

yeah i dunno if they need to fast track these new laws, i agree that they need more "tweaking" at lower levels (ARC/NPC) before they get adopted at provincial/international level, i also agree with jedi, if it aint broken, dont fix it

[KenyaQuin]

Hopep, I beg to differ. Alot of other rule changes over the years have been experimented on at S14 level before transition into Test level. S14 has always proven to be the best platform for experimental laws as it is the more adaptive league format in the world. The experimetal rules will see the top coaches and players in the SH push them to their bounderies and really give a good indication of what needs tweaking.

Keeping the ELVs at ARC level doesn't make sense because eventually the ELVs will have to still go to the S14 for further analysis before Test level. We've seen them at the ARC level, most think they are generally good so why waste time fantasizing.

As with any experimental laws, there will always be an overlap period and in the grand scheme of things that is the World Cup, one year is going to make a big difference. Better to have these laws introduced and tested sooner at top level in time for all teams to comprehend and adjust in time for the next World Cup, when I hope the new laws will be in play.

[GIGS20]

Keeping the ELVs at ARC level doesn't make sense because eventually the ELVs will have to still go to the S14 for further analysis before Test level.

Whih means another year before they're introduced internationally (not preferable from a World Cup point of view)

S14 will also be a more accurate sample of the effect of these rules on test rugby.

I still want to know whether tri nations will be ELV or not!

[zimeric]

i think a year is long enough , actually i think its been more than a year didnt the NPC roll it out in 2006?

I say bring on the ELV hopefully Australia will then be able to compete with the smaller Scrummagers we have

[The InnFORCEr]

I still want to know whether tri nations will be ELV or not!

They go hand in hand I think GIGST, if they agree on Super 14 that will mean Tri Nation will get them as well......I think

[GIGS20]

I understand the logic of that statement TiF, my concern is in the use of the term 'logic', there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of that on tap in international rugby at the moment.

I guess the good news is, there will be a decision on the international scene shortly before the beginning of the International season.

[Jehna]

O'Neill calls for more tries

October 24, 2007

RUGBY Union should follow the lead of rugby league and look to make significant changes to improve the game.

That was the message from Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill, who said yesterday on his return home that two "very poor" World Cup semi-finals and a tryless decider demonstrated an urgent need for a rethink on the sport.

"Rugby league went from unlimited tackles to limited tackles; it went from three metres to five metres and reduced the value of a field goal to one," O'Neill said.

"When you say, 'why did it do that', it did it for some pretty obvious reasons and we may be confronted with the same reasons.

"Rugby league has been around as a professional game for 100 years, I think there's a lot we can learn from some of their law changes.

"We need to create space, we need to create time, we want to create a philosophy that encourages try-scoring, that's what people come to see.

"We had two very poor (World Cup) semi-finals and we had a final in which there were no tries scored, that will not bring the crowds back."

While applauding the efforts of underdog nations Fiji, Tonga and Georgia, O'Neill conceded the final stages of the 20-team World Cup made unattractive viewing.

"It's fair to say the semi-finals and final were disappointing in terms of a spectacle," he said.

"We had a lot of aimless kicking and the final was a very poor game.

"Heartiest congratulations to (champion) South Africa, but it was not what you would call a showcase of rugby."

As such, O'Neill thought SANZAR would be foolish not to embrace the Stellenbosch laws.

"What I think it has done is convince people that the new laws, the experimental laws, must come in sooner rather than later and we expect that the International Rugby Board will write to SANZAR inviting us to use the experimental laws in the 2008 Super 14," he said.

"I think SANZAR would have rocks in its head if it didn't accept the invitation."

The experimental Stellenbosch laws were trialled in the recently concluded inaugural Australian Rugby Championship and drew praise for the flowing rugby produced.

O'Neill said the ARC had been successful from a rugby perspective and as a player development tool, but the ARU couldn't afford to sustain the seven-figure loss it incurred this year over coming seasons.

"I think the economic model when it was done was not done robustly enough and we now need to go back and revisit it," he said.

Another important issue to be addressed by the IRB would be the contentious concept of an integrated global season.

Asked if Australia had a preferred model, O'Neill said the ARU would go into an IRB workshop next month on the integrated season with an open mind and urged northern hemisphere nations to do the same.

"It's imperative that people don't come in saying the English clubs have a deal and the French clubs have a deal and very soon there's little room to move, then there's not much point having such a meeting," he said.

The Australian

[JediKnight]

Sour grapes from the CEO of a beaten quarter-finalist!!!

Get a decent coach & scrum and then comment on the state of world rugby!