Better Rugby Rules

Source: All Blacks get rules head start

Extract..

…”A secret meeting has handed the All Blacks and their southern hemisphere neighbours a big on-field advantage before the Rugby World Cup is staged in New Zealand next year.

All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen and coaches from rugby’s nine other top-tier nations met behind closed doors in Dublin last week.

Their aim was to decide what the game’s politicians couldn’t – what rules will be used in international rugby for the next 18 months.

And the good news, from a Kiwi perspective, is that the current “interpretations” being used in this year’s Super 14 have now been set in stone.

IRB chief executive Mike Miller confirmed the news when approached by the Sunday Star-Times.

Miller said: “The rugby world is on the same page again. There is no north-south split as some suggested there would be. This is great news for the game.”…

COMMENTS: Ok first up I am not unhappy on this matter. However it must be said that the IRB wear nothing but flipflops.

I remind you when the ELV experiment was in full swing it was decided that the laws can not be changed 2 years out from the RWC. To give all nations plenty of time to adjust and become solid with the new or adjusted laws of the game.

However a rule/law change in my book is either a law change or a change in the manner of the interpretation of a rugby law. The result is the same.

The southern hemisphere teams now have one thing that the northern teams dont have. Six months more conditioning to a much faster paced game. And that folks matter, dont believe me, just wait for the northern versus southern hemisphere clashes this winter, the English and Welsh boys will be knackered 30 minutes in…and that could mean 30 points.