Better Rugby Rules

Dan Carter – Kicking game all important under ELVs

Source: All Blacks are ready to put the boot into the Springboks – Toby Robson

All the signs are pointing to a kick-fest at Newlands when the All Blacks take on the Springboks in a pivotal Tri-Nations match this weekend.

the All Blacks coaches have talked openly about the lesson they learned over the folly of running everything in the loss to Australia in Sydney .

Suddenly Richard Kahui’s superior kicking game means he has established himself on the right wing ahead of specialist Anthony Tuitavake.

The All Blacks too have devoted plenty of their training sessions to kicking and catching, specialist coach Mick Byrne an influential figure.

There was a time not long ago when such developments would draw moans.

Ironically such complaints were a big reason why the ELVs were introduced. The catch-cries became all-too familiar – too much kicking, too many lineouts, not enough running rugby.

“You don’t want to get caught at the breakdown too often in your own territory because you are likely to have a free kick against you and then you hand momentum to the other team

“Hence a lot of teams are kicking a lot more than they did in the past. You want to attack if there’s opportunity, but if not you want to put the pressure back on the other team.”

Smith reckons South Africa won the kicking contest in Dunedin and believes they will try again at Newlands.

My Comments: The force back game has got a major boost from the ELVs, what a bore! Endless up and unders, yeah thats fun ! These statements confirmed my previous entry of how every ELV game will look like in the future (see here: Super 14 Final : Birth of the generic ELV rugby style! )

I remind you of some quotes from this page : My ELV Amendments

Graham Henry [quote]…“We were worried about the amount of turnover ball we saw, teams were going backwards and forwards without any sort of structure. We didn’t see any territorial pressure and continuity.” …

Laurie Mains [quote] …”If the aim of these laws was to speed the game up then they’ve succeeded. But the real concern I have is rugby is looking more like league every year.”…

Ian McGeeChan [quote]..”My concern is that we will end up playing one type of game, that the variety and depth of options which the game has always had will be taken away,”…

 Are you seeing the TREND YET !