Better Rugby Rules

 Source: Young ABs face inquisition Springbok-style– Duncan Johnstone

From top left to bottom right

1) Wulf: O so start, must impress to keep wearing black, ELVs require a kicking back three, so can he ?

2) Thomson: Little game time yet, but solid Super 14, so I hope he shines.

3) Ellis: Should call Chris Laidlaw and get the ‘how to’ manual on how to pass ! Must improve in this critical role.

4) Boric: Needs more game time and he may get it, I like what I have seen so far.

5) Nonu: Three tests, three excellent performances, whats he doing in this group then?

6) Donald: Needs game time, which will be hard while Carter is around.

7) Lauaki: Send him home, he is a failed experiment, too fat, slow and rugby dumb.

8) Kaino: Fail here against the Boks, and he will be gone, needs to Zinny up and muscle in!

I see that Conrad Smith is not in this list, and nor should he, Conrad is a class player in my view. Kahui had the rub of the green in his game (vs England) and had it easy, Conrad had to make his own luck.

 Wait and see…

Hang on, Rugby World Domination, that’s what we want isn’t it ???? Will Hanson be our new leader for a suppressed and ravaged NZ rugby public, will he create a new world order, and a 1000 year Reich. Here is the instruction book let, a little used.

Source: Ambitious Hansen – too good or too greedy? –Duncan Johnstone

Top coaching jobs in New Zealand are thin on the ground. To have one man holding two of them doesn’t seem right. Talk about having your cake and eating it too!

Goodness, there’s a job going at the Blues as well. Why not throw Graham Henry in there as well given his Eden Park background?

Might as well send Wayne Smith south to the Highlanders to sort out their questionable back play while we’re at it.

 The NZRU needs to be careful here. Their track record isn’t exactly brilliant. It took them a fair while to get the right mix at the Chiefs and the Blues’ failings can be closely attributed to a series of appalling coaching appointments.

They cannot afford to stuff up the Crusaders.

My Comments: There should be separation from All Blacks and Super 14 coaching roles. Mr Tew decisions are changing NZ rugby forever, watch and wait, let’s see if the NZRU can actually say NO to something !

Source: Wallabies maul controversial ELV  – Neil Reid

Wallabies forwards coach Michael Foley has spoken out about the risk of serious injury by the experimental law variation which allows defending sides to drag down attacking mauls.

Foley has spoken out following the death of wing Juan Cruz Migliore who died from a broken neck when a maul was collapsed in an Argentine club game last weekend.

While Sanzar did not trial the collapsed maul law in the limited ELVs it used in the Rebel Sport Super 14, the experimental law is permitted in the upcoming global trial of the ELVs.

Foley, a former test front-rower, said Migliore’s death highlighted the potential for danger in allowing mauls to be collapsed.

My Comments: Da, IRB what more do you need !

More here: ELVs – Endangered Species: Maul and Lineout

 David Strettle and ‘Angel’ Lewis.

Source: Alice and the energetic bunny – Rosmary McCleod

“I was dancing and kissing with David when he said, ‘Have you ever stayed at a Hilton before?‘ He had all the lines and all the moves,” the ingenue revealed, without a trace of irony. And she did not spare the details.

“My England man put rampant rabbits to shame – even though he’d been drinking all night. We did it all night long before he got up at eight to go for physio.”

Yet there was delicacy, too. “[It] was just about the best sex I ever had. His body was pretty much a perfect 10. He was such an accomplished lover and we did it in every position imaginable.”

My Comments: All off to the Pony Club for a free tart !

More here: English accent pulls (Tart) down under !

Source: There’s more to life than rugby – Lord Winston

“New Zealand is a wonderful country, but it is also a country which I think has some very poor values as well,” Lord Winston said during an appearance on current events show Close Up last night.

“The fact is that you still rate things like the America’s Cup, the All Blacks and the cricket (as) being far too important when actually they don’t fundamentally improve human wellbeing.”

The internationally renowned scientist said it was tragic that many impressive New Zealand scientists were now working overseas.

“You do some fantastically good science and it’s really sad that at the moment your Kiwis are in my laboratory. You are exporting the wrong things, you’re exporting your talent, the very talent which might prop up your economy. But there’s no future for them in this country.”

My Comments: Dear Lord Winston the natural selection process of Darwin depicts who will be a scientist or an international rugby player for New Zealanders, there are not to many rugby players that know what photosynthesis is, and there even few scientists that can tackle Ma’a Nonu. So never the twain shall meet. True the money is not in this country for research and development in most scientific fields, hence talent does leave. Sad but true.

The above represents England defensive pattern. Swiss cheese has less holes.

The game was more about England on the plane tomorrow and off to a sunny beach at Brighton. With the England team going backwards, two players that stood out were the Full back and No 8. England will be a different team in November.

I didn’t think much of the game, sure we won, and it was visual pleasing, but they are not the Boks or Wallabies. Role on Tri Nations.

I would like to re affirm what I said after the first English test. Nothing in the second test has changed my mind, yet the cheer-leading journos would say differently.

Why is Mose Tuiali’i not in the team over Sione Laukai ? Sione has not impressed in the black jersey ever, so whats he doing there. My bias opinion is that Henry can pick brawn over brian’s, and this is an example of it. Mose is brawn and brian’s.

Andy Ellis has not stepped up to international rugby yet, too slow, too many steps before parsing. Wheepu, if he behaves, would have been a better pick.

Source:  Sex-case England rugby players free to leave NZ – Jarrod Booker

The Sun said Ms Lewis had told a friend she had sex with one of four England players at the centre of sex-attack allegations under investigation by police.

My Comments: To the player with the itch, here is your next stop MensHealth.co.nz .  You may or may not find Angel (ak Ms Lewis) here at a local strip joint ShowGirls.co.nz (The rumor is !).

Yip, we have our little dens of naughty down-under as well, sigh !

The English player in question is most likely going to realise that this little event could cost him hundreds and thousands of pounds !

Ok, slightly sick sense of humour, but come on what are they doing !!!

The last time a Kiwi held the RWC trophy high !

A funny ha ha !

Source: Scrumhalf Gareth Jones dies after injuring neck in club match

A Neath rugby player has died in hospital after suffering an injury to his neck during a match on 20 April.

Scrum-half Gareth Jones, 28, was hurt at a ruck during a Premier Division game against Cardiff in the Arms Park, which Neath lost.

My Comments:  We love our rugby downunder, it is a sad day when a player looses his life playing this great game. Just a reminder to all who play, necks and heads must be given due care. Lets be careful out there !

All the best to the family.

Source: The return of rotation – Wynne Gray

Coach Graham Henry defended his policy of replacing players after such a decisive 37-20 victory in Auckland, as an investment for the start of the lengthy Tri-Nations tournament in a tick over a fortnight.

My Comments: A better investment would be more time building combinations in your best side, not your weakest.

Player combinations take many games to build, especially to handle pressure, just like in RWC finals. For example Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu have played two test matches together, and done well. Yet Conrad has been dropped from the squad for Richard Kahui, amazingly Conrad is not even on the bench.

Henry cant help himself, this is what happens when you don’t change your coach, he says he will change for better, but in the end he cant. It would be better to play 4 to 6 games with the best combination possible. There are 15 test matches this year for the ABs, I am sure bloody young players can be done latter after the best AB team is ‘well done’ (steak cooking analogy).

Sure there are no tours to blood young players, but you can use the bench after the game is near won to try out others.

 Rotation before the best team is well groomed is a mistake. AGAIN !

UPDATE1:

Source: ‘No rotating for Wallabies’ – Deans

Coach Robbie Deans has ruled out a rotation policy for the Wallabies despite the risk of player burn-out from a gruelling 15-Test schedule this year.

And despite concerns about the physical and mental toll on players following the Super 14 competition, Deans had no set plans to rest players.

“There will not be rotation as such,” Deans told AAP.

“There will be catering to our needs because we are not going to be looking ahead and putting less emphasis on what is immediately in front of us.

“We want to thrive in every instance.”

“Experience is valuable”

“I am not concerned about what has been, I am more concerned about what is coming.”

My Comments: O boy doesn’t this sound right, see what I mean about old dog same trick (Henry), Robbie Deans hasn’t won all those titles sitting on his arrrrse ! Then again is Deans doing the same thing as Henry but using smarter media spin, hmmm !

UPDATE2:

Source: Wrong time to split Smith and Nonu – Hart

But with the opening Tri-Nations test against South Africa looming (on July 5), Hart said he would not have split the Ma’a Nonu-Smith combination in midfield which was growing well.

” I would have given them as much football together as I could.

“They (the All Blacks coaching team) have obviously settled on them, they have done well, both have developed very well, I would have kept them together.

“I don’t see why we would play Richard Kahui when we are just trying to get a combination (going) and Conrad Smith is playing so well – I think there are some issues of rotation and some issues of their still trying to find who the best player is (for that position).”

My Comments:  I am not a huge fan of John ‘Been to RWC Twice for nothing’ Hart, but he has got this right ! Mid field is a vital combination, Deans knows this, and I bet he has this a possible attack point come Tri Nations. Remember Ma’a can’t kick, and can get communications a little confused. The two test matches played by Conrad and Ma’a have not been a great challenge to their mid field defensive skills, this exactly why they should have more time together. Or may maybe Henry will learn this when Mortlock sprints between Conrad and Ma’s and scores a match winning try!

UPDATE3:

Source:  Scene set for night full of fireworks – John Drake

Conrad Smith has revelled in consistent play with the Hurricanes and All Blacks. He is a heady player who complements those around him rather than dominating. Ma’a Nonu and the wings may miss his presence in Christchurch tomorrow night. Kahui has been on the selectors’ radar for some time and but for injuries would probably have been used earlier. I hope he is not another “project” like Isaia Toeava – thrown in the deep end without enough game time at the level below tests.

 Henry and Co will say they have little chance under the current structure to give the Kahuis of this world an opportunity other than in test matches. What a pity the New Zealand A and Juniors formats have been discarded as those are the places to blood up-and-comers and fringe players, not tests. The other alternative is to shuffle players between the All Blacks and the Maori team. I see Deans is doing something similar with Australia A and is resisting anything to do with rotation.

My Comments: Henry knows this, yet chose to ignore this advice. Once again you cant teach an old dog new tricks. Dam fool !

 John O’Neill

Source: Numbers game will bar code – Jacquelin Magnay

AUSTRALIAN Rugby Union boss John O’Neill has given a blunt warning that one of the football codes might not survive. He reckons it will come down to the survival of rugby union or rugby league, not both.

O’Neill said yesterday that league and union need to protect their own backyards as much as concentrate on interstate and overseas expansion because of the crowded marketplace and aggressive pursuit of new territories by the AFL and soccer.

” I mean, competition is about survival. Rugby league and rugby union actually are the two games that are very similar. Rugby league is celebrating 100 years of its existence. I’m not talking about reunification of the two games, but in this battle for hearts and minds, there is a risk that one of us may slip off the list.

“I don’t intend for it to be rugby union, I’m not intending for it to be rugby league. But I think we know there is a gorilla in the room called AFL and we know, I know, that football is the big mover and shaker – and therefore, I think rugby league and rugby union are going to have to fight very hard to maintain our positions, particularly in the eastern states.”

My Comments:  If you have ever wondered why the ARU is blindly supportive of ELV rugby, the above desperation comments from John O’Neill must seal it for you. I am not against the ELVs, I like them with changes (see my page called My ELV Amendments ). The ELVs is the ARUs great white hope for competing with NRL and ARL, and survival.

       Ma’a Nonu on the right.

Ma’a has impressed twice, keep this up and Luke McAlister will go down as a very average All Black compared to Ma’a. You see, no one remembers those that dont play internationals. Players must choose between money now or lifetime reputation and money for ever. I refer you to Jona Lomu, do you think he would be a big as he is with out playing international rugby?

Source: Fitzy urges picking overseas players

The New Zealand Rugby Union should consider picking overseas-based players for the All Blacks, former captain Sean Fitzpatrick says.

“In the end …. selecting our overseas players is inevitable,” Fitzpatrick told the Herald on Sunday newspaper.

MY COMMENTS: THEN NZRU IS DOOMED.

“We have to start selecting from the overseas players’ base, simply because there are now so many of them and because we have to take care that we don’t spiral into a culture of loss.”

MY COMMENTS: NO WE DONT, FITZY MUST BE GOING INTO THE AGENT BUSINESS.

Flyhalf Daniel Carter and captain Richie McCaw have re-signed with the NZRU until the 2011 World Cup but have sabbatical clauses in their contracts.

Carter is expected to take up a six-month contract with a French club at the end of the grand slam tour later this year.

“I was never a fan of opening up the doors before but I think the sabbatical given to Dan Carter and Richie McCaw could open up a can of worms,” Fitzpatrick said.

MY COMMENTS: THIS IS TRUE.

“Allowing those doors to open will also safeguard New Zealand player stocks better than sabbaticals.”

Fitzpatrick, however, said the NZRU should abandon their domestic-only policy and consider the multitude of players plying their trade in Europe and Japan.

The All Blacks, who beat England 37-20 at Eden Park on Saturday, have had 11 players either leave New Zealand for overseas clubs or retire since the World Cup last year.

The 92-Test hooker said his biggest concern was diluting the player pool in New Zealand and lowering the standards in the Super 14 and domestic provincial competition.

“It isn’t as if our franchise or provincial rugby would suffer a great deal more than it is already,” the 45-year-old added.

MY COMMENTS: WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING, THE FRENCH/ENGLISH/IRISH CLUBS COULD TAKE ANOTHER 30 PLAYERS, THIS WOULD LOWER THERE PRICE, BUT STILL MORE PLAYERS OVERSEAS.

“The standard has already dropped and we are now risking such a lack of depth in the All Blacks that we risk losing.

“And I think that is the last thing the game needs in New Zealand and globally.”

MY COMMENTS: FOR NZRU IT SHOULD BE NZ FIRST, GLOBAL TENTH!!

MY COMMENTS: I hope this guy doesn’t end up on the NZRU board, if this is the standard of ‘thinking’ in ex players. Maybe Fitzy should have done some more time at school. He should have a look a Argentina (rugby) or Brazil (soccer). Some journo probably got a few beers into him to get this type of smarts, who knows, sure its an opinion, but lets hope that all it is.

UDPATE1:

Source: Fitzy’s just the man to lead rugby union– Chriss Rattue

Fitzpatrick’s insistence that never-ending All Black selection changes must end and that it is wrong to ignore overseas stars is a godsend. He was even forced to state the obvious, that great test sides are formed around established combinations which foster an honest belief and knowledge in each player’s game.

My Comments:I agree with the player combination theory, that is true, but the selection overseas players is doomed to fail. Why, look at NZ Rugby League and Soccer and see there troubles getting players released from the wealthy European clubs.  You may argue that the IRB can pass a law to allow the players to be available, yeah right,  that would work, once again review Rugby League execution of this policy. Fitzy knows about teams and playing the game, politics and money, please stand aside mate !

          Laukai left, Tuiali’i right.

 Lessons, the Bad.

• 1) Why is Mose Tuiali’i not in the team over Sione Laukai ? Sione has not impressed in the black jersy ever, so whats he doing there. My bias opinion is that Henry can pick brawn over brian’s, and this is an example of it. Mose is brawn and brian’s.
• 2) Andy Ellis has not stepped up to international rugby yet, too slow, too many steps before parsing. Wheepu, if he behaves, would have been a better pick. Jimmy Cowan was not up to it either.
• 3) English forward drive, both in body position and two man drive was very effective, AB’s need to do better here.
• 4) Keven Mealamu, two bad lineouts, a tight head lost. Needs to do better or go.
• 5) The ABs ‘B” team was shocking, if this was a close game we would have been toast.

 Lessons, the Good.

• 1) Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith are coming up trumps, looking good for the future. Ma’a can pass and not loose possession when tackled, keep it up. Conrad is just magic !
• 2) Dan Carter, excellent ! A french girl should acquire his DNA for the French rugby by having his child. Don’t laugh, I bet it’s on the drawing board!
• 3) Jerome Kaino did better, watching him closely.

The Game:  England stood up for 15 minutes. That’s it !  Then the black wave took over. The Ref was not good, and this game was old rules.

The new ELVs will shake English rugby style big time. England need more players like Topsy Ojo and David Strettle for ELV rugby. Pace, pace and more pace.

Hey Charlie Hodgson, you must learn to tackle polynesians. Take a month off and play rugby in South Auckland, best place to improve your tackling skills.

Source: Henry backs greater use of technology in officiating

All Black coach Graham Henry is backing an increase in the use of technology, including a greater use of TV replays, in deciding on contentious refereeing calls.

The IRB has overnight granted South African officials their approval to increase the powers of the TV match official in their Currie Cup competition.

At present the TMO is only allowed to rule on the grounding of the ball.

But the IRB’s decision will now let the TMO rule on forward passes, knock-ons and other transgressions before the ball has gotten over the opposition try-line.

“I think it is a major problem with the game at the moment. And we just need to try and get those things right.”

The increased powers to be used in the Currie Cup mirror those that are used in the NRL league competition.

My Comments: About time, you cant have millions of people around the world witness a shocking call by the Ref when it could so easily be resolved by a few minutes looking at the TV replay. All Blacks vs France RWC 2007 forward pass was a shocker and a bad mark against the world wide rugby union reputation. I do agree that the TMO can’t resolve all issues and nor should it, just the 5 pointers is good enough !

Source: Law variations threaten to cause chaos – S Jones

Despite fierce opposition, the IRB hopes this week to sneak changes through the back door that could have dire consequences for the game

THE WEEK ahead could prove one of the darkest in the history of the International Rugby Board, the ruling body of the game, and could harm rugby for generations. On Thursday, the IRB council meet to vote on an extraordinary proposal originating from their laws project group, a body many see as unrepresentative of the modern game, that a series of experimental laws, effectively including a bewildering 32 new or revised measures, be imposed on all rugby from August 1.

The measures have run into ferocious opposition in Europe. The English, Welsh and Irish unions confirmed on Friday that they remain implacably against blanket imposition of the Experimental Law Variations (ELVs), therefore joining all 12 of the Guinness Premiership coaches and all of the Top 14 French clubs.

Owen Doyle, the Irish spokesman on the ELV issue, effectively spoke for all the opposition: “The radical ELVs change the key characteristics and identity of rugby union and we are very concerned about them for that reason.” The laws would be imposed initially for a one-year period, but as one opponent said: “Once they are in, how do we claw the game back? The experiments become the status quo.”

In my experience, the reaction of the big European unions and their technical debate has been markedly more constructive than that of the IRB hawks. I have found not one IRB supporter of the ELVs who will admit that even one of the new measures is shaky or dangerous, that they will inevitably change the charter of the game by stealth and artificiality, or that to rush through untried laws could threaten the sport’s growing commercial power and cause chaos to the community game.

On this last front, the RFU launched a website (www.rfusurvey.co.uk) on which anyone can express their views. Some IRB grandees blithely dismiss any hint of a problem, but this abysmal failure to grasp the scale of confusion that faces the sport is possibly the most disturbing aspect of all. The idea that, during the holiday season, a torrent of new measures will cascade down to junior clubs and schools and players at all levels in 120 nations with the required clarity is ridiculous.

There is, apparently, some good news. The three main opposing unions (England, Wales and Ireland) hold two votes each and I understand that Italy also have major reservations. Each major union holds two votes and, as any radical motion needs a 75% majority, it should be possible for the unions opposing the ELVs to stop their imposition.

However, it may not be so simple. With the looming possibility that the IRB will fail to get the necessary majority, we have had reports of serious pressure and horse trading, aimed at the smaller rugby countries.

IRB tacticians have spotted two possible ways to get the trial through by the back door. They could ask the council to propose that the ELVs are merely imposed on the professional game, hoping to attract support from countries whose chief gripe is the community chaos and therefore betraying one of the game’s oldest tenets – one set of laws for everyone. Or they could force a debate on each individual ELV, voting as to whether each could have a trial.

I have seen a document giving the reaction of all six of the major European unions to each ELV. Even with the tame acceptance of France and Scotland to every measure, there is barely one radical ELV which gets a majority in favour. However, with different nations objecting to different experiments, it may just be possible that most of the laws are pushed through one by one. The opposing unions are alive to this. “We have told our delegates not to vote for anything until they see what the whole picture is,” one chief executive told me.

Of course, none of this is even to begin a discussion of how appalling has been the fate of other laws down the years forced onto the game. Nor has the IRB managed to persuade supporters, given the scale of support for the measures in the southern hemisphere, that this is not another attempt to speed up artificially the pace of the game.

The IRB insist that scrummaging will still be a staple when it is obvious that, with the tap-and-go style seen in the southern hemisphere under the ELVs of late, coaches will rapidly opt for smaller and faster players.

Yesterday, members of the laws project group denied to journalists that there was panic over their bid to get the laws ratified. Yet all they achieved in their presentation was to create an even thicker fog around the whole issue. A well-meaning trawl through the key ELVs produced not one that stands up to their claim that the laws are working excitingly well.

After three years of effort, it seemed a poor return. It also seemed to me that those who have allowed the project to become their lives are afraid to admit that it is too big and that it does not work. As I said last week, they must be stopped.

My Comments: Just another opinion, must review all rugby thought out there, be fair !

Source: NZRU underestimated anti-Henry sentiment– Tew

NZRU chief executive Steve Tew admitted the organisation didn’t envisage Henry’s new two-year tenure – made after he guided New Zealand to their worst ever placing at a World Cup in France last October – would have been greeted with widespread condemnation.

Jes Wayne, if you got this wrong what else are you underestimating.

What should have been done since RWC 2007

• 1) Henry sacked: For the sole reason there was some one better to take the job, no matter the known rift between Mr Tew and Mr Deans.
• 2) Night rugby in June – July moved earlier: From 7.30pm to 5.30pm
• 3) Open forum on how to create interest from the International season: Tri Nations once every two years, bring back the tours.
• 4) Blind love for the ELVs is plane wrong: Many don’t like the ‘touch football style’ ELV rugby style. Sure there experimental, well they better be, because they sure need work.
• 5) Sabbatical rule quashed: If it means the player misses Super 14 season before internationals.

Some of the above require more than phone call to fix, fan interests must be placed higher than other interest, after all we pay for the tickets!

Arrogance in the NZRU board decisions is alive and well.

UPDATE1:

Source: Cup not really an obsession, says Henry, we just enjoyed challenge – Henry

 “So I don’t think we have been obsessed as a team about Rugby World Cup. We are disappointed we did not win it, obviously, and that has caused a bit of pain, but as I say, every test match this team plays and every competition they are in is extremely important to the side.”

My Comments: Maybe not the players, but Henry and the NZRU made obsessive gestures and still are: Players out of competitions, special clauses for players that don’t require playing in Super 14 rugby prior to internationals. Henry has been deeply scared by the RWC 2007, this maybe good or not so good for the RWC 2011, because self impose pressure can destroy the man.

Source: Andrew taunts Kiwis about World Cup ‘obsession’ – Rob Andrew

“There is an obsession with the World Cup and we are now in the country that has the biggest obsession of all,” he said.

“Why haven’t they won the title since 1987? Because they’re too obsessed.

It takes an unusually bold variety of Englishman to stroll into All Black country, where the red rose army have achieved the grand total of two test victories in the 45 years since they first paid a visit, and tell his hosts where they are going wrong on the World Cup front.

The New Zealand time of 7.30 pm Saturday (test match kick off), is:

• – Dublin – Sat 8.30 am
• – London – Sat 8.30 am
• – Paris – Sat 9.30 am
• – Moscow – Sat 11.30 am

So why cant the NZRU and the broadcasters re schedule the kick off to New Zealand time 4.30 pm (or 5.30pm). This will allow more chance to avoid such bad weather the Ireland vs AB game was played in.

The northern rugby fans wont mind getting up a 6.30 am.

Mr Tew (CEO NZRU) said “Win back the Fans!”, well he missed this stella idea.

Maybe there will be press release in the next couple of days, with news of this, wait and see.

       Smith – try 1 coming ..

      Carter – try 2 coming .. ( and Value up more $$$).

The game was not for back play, so that’s why the above two players were outstanding.

Well done ABs. But I will mention Andy Ellis was too slow in getting the ball cleared, I think he is a better dry player. Jerome Kaino for a number eight in the wet and up against big Irish forwards was not imposing enough. Richie McGaw needs more support.

Brian O’Driscoll was toast, and easily so. Conrad Smith has the goods for the ABs Center job for many years to come.

New rules or old rules, doesnt matter when the Ref is not so good.

UPDATE1:

Source: New Zealand men in Black have talent on tap – David Kirk

The All Blacks’ front row was just about 100 per cent new, yet the forwards, including two other inexperienced Test players, Brad Thorn and Jerome Kaino, dominated a powerful Irish scrum, line-out and the confrontation at the tackle. The All Blacks have also rebuilt their backline and on yesterday’s performance they have got most of it right. Andrew Ellis was tough and intelligent. He will need to lose the habit of running a few paces before passing and his kicking game will have to develop, but his ability to clear the ball, use his loose forwards and make tackles was first class. Ma’a Nonu was perfect at inside centre for the conditions while Conrad Smith and Anthony Tuitavake made almost error-free transitions to the big time.

Stephen Jones has been rugby correspondent of The Sunday Times for more than 20 years and is regarded as one of the sport’s most influential commentators.

Source: Stephen Jones debates the biggest issues in rugby union

On Inside Rugby in Australia a few weeks ago, George Smith said half the players like the ELVs and half don’t. A very diplomatic answer but hardly “relatively positive feedback”. There is no real evidence that the players prefer them. JD, Brisbane, Australia

SJ: Every player in Britain I have heard offering an opinion is against the ELVs, even the few that are going to be trialled. There is a great political correctness around now under which everyone is the Southern Hemisphere is frowned upon if they dare to suggest the new laws are not brilliant.

I  am a PE teacher in a west London co-ed school with 1,500 pupils. I have been at the school for eight years and have produced some good, if a little rough around the edges, rugby players who have gone on to play for local senior teams in the Twickenham and Richmond area. However, I cannot and will not continue to coach youth rugby if the law to permit the collapsing of the maul is allowed to go ahead. To do so would be in breach of my “loco parentis” with the pupils in my care. Should an accident occur, or I should say when an accident occurs, it will be me as the teacher and then my school who would be in line for legal proceedings against us. I cannot believe that the IRB are serious in this as a means to improve the game. The maul has been a core element of the game since its inception and should remain so. If other countries (Australia in particular) are struggling to find decent forwards then they should look at the state of their own game instead of trying to run roughshod over ours. The state of the game in the Northern Hemisphere has never been healthier and doesn’t need tampering with. My advice to the IRB and the RFU is to leave well alone before they lose the youth and community rugby that they spent millions on previously trying to improve. Chris Salter, PE teacher at Lampton School, Hounslow

SJ: Well said Chris. And that goes for the scores of people who have written to me who echo your thoughts on the place of the maul in the game, especially the coaches and teachers who feel the same sense of duty. As we now know, the RFU has bravely decided that enough is enough and will not allow the maul experiment in under-19 rugby. Long may Lampton rugby thrive.

When I was young it was perfectly legal to collapse a maul. The powers that be then came along and said “do this no more for it is very dangerous”. The reason given was that the number of maul-related injuries was increasing each season. Fitness levels were not as they are now, nor were the mauling techniques as sophisticated. The IRB will now be liable to litigation under duty of care as it can be shown that they are reversing a law that was introduced to reduce the known risk of injury. So how can the new law be defended? Peter Brown, Bridgend

SJ: Agreed Peter.

FAINT PRAISE FOR THE IRB

Partly hidden away last week was the first sign of a climb-down by the International Rugby Board that they are finally acknowledging the sheer power of the opposition to the grisly ELVs.

It’s about time. Every report suggests that political correctness is now so rampant in the Southern Hemisphere that it is simply not done to express yourself in opposition – although as George Smith of Australia said in the New Zealand Herald recently, only around half the players believe that the experiments are any good.

In Britain, from top to bottom and at any level, from coaches of junior rugby all the way up to the top players and top coaches, the opposition is total and so is the sense of dismay that just a fraction of the full raft of experiments have sneaked their way in to the next European season.

However, there is good news. Last week, the IRB issued a directive to referees. It asked them to remember the laws. It insisted, for example, that referees are hard on players in rucks and at the breakdown, that players on the team in possession are refereed strictly, so that they do not simply flop over the ball to seal it off.

In other words, the IRB have belatedly realised that one of the major problems in the game is that their own laws are being ignored by their own referees. This is new. Speaking on the record to me only six weeks ago, Paddy O’Brien, the IRB referees manager, was clearly posing to me only a rhetorical question when he asked if I wanted the laws to be refereed strictly. “I can tell you that it will cause two years of chaos if we suddenly go back to the letter of the law at the breakdown,” he told me.

That is exactly what the IRB are now going to do, and they are completely correct. You see, their only other strategy to try to avoid the mess at the breakdown was an ELV cheats’ charter in which they basically abandoned almost all of the laws and sanctions, and set loose an utterly nonsensical tap-and-go fiesta of rubbish in which almost every offence was liable only to a free kick.

If they are really good enough and strong enough to apply the existing laws at the breakdown, we will see the re-emergence of the ruck, we will see the game speeding up, we will see the end of that horrible succession of mini-rucks through which teams run down the clock.

And we will see the end of the need for ELVs – as if there was any question in the first place that they were unnecessary. At last, we can give full marks to the IRB.

My Comments: I am not a great fan of Jones, but his opinion was 100% correct about the All Blacks prior to RWC 2007, and we didn’t listen. So let him have his voice.

Source: Tri-Nations ELVs confirmed

“We’ll be playing under the Super 14 ELVs plus the two that the IRB approved: unlimited numbers in the lineout and pulling down the maul”..

And we can see these laws applied four times against (ABs vs) Australia, woopee wont that be fun (not) !

Please read this post for my view:  ELVs – Endangered Species: Maul and Lineout 

AFL players getting friendly ! This must be illegal.