COMMENT
THERE were 25 scrums during the Crusaders- Sharks match. The Highlanders kicked four penalties to defeat the Cheetahs, even though they played with 13 men in the later stages of the match.
There were 34 tries in seven matches, despite the fact that two of the matches were played in wet conditions - the Crusaders-Sharks and Bulls-Waratahs games - in which there were only three and two tries scored. It is obvious that under the experimental law variations (ELVs) rugby remains a physical contest for all body shapes where an essential element in play is a continuous battle for possession. It is equally obvious, unfortunately, that the opposition to the ELVs from the Rugby Football Union (the England rugby union that still believes it should run rugby as it did before 1949) and a group of influential rugby writers on the leading English broadsheets is not based on fact.
The opposition is all about resisting the end of the RFU's dominance over the governance of the game, and the end of the influential rugby writers' dominant position as arbiters of what is good for the game. There is a certain consistency here. The RFU and the rugby writers have, for more than 100 years, opposed every major reform of the laws and governance of the game, from the value of a try to the concept of a World Cup. When there were calls to give a value to a try in the 1890s, the RFU chairman harrumphed that players with speed shouldn't be rewarded just because they were fast runners. Several of the influential rugby writers leading the charge against the ELVs insisted, in a similar mindset, that when lifting in the lineout was introduced that there would never be another lineout turnover. They argued passionately for a return of the "dockyard brawl" lineout.
English rugby, its officials, its clubs and its journalists, have always seen rugby as more of a football game than a rugby game. The ELVs are part of a 100-year evolution to create an authentic rugby game, to minimise the football element of rugby. The variation, for instance, that restricts direct kicks to touch if the ball is passed back into the 22 was played in Australia and Auckland in the 1920s under the title of the "Australian dispensation". The ELVs will, finally, globalise this Australian dispensation.
All the matches in round 12 of the Super 14 were hard, fast, tough and skilful. It is noticeable that teams with strong scrums, such as the Crusaders and the Hurricanes, used this part of the game to establish dominance over their resilient opponents. On the other hand the Waratahs, with their less powerful scrum, were not able to capitalise on the fivemetres behind the scrum variation to set up try-scoring moves. The Waratahs also do not have a long-range penalty goalkicker. Last week's hero of the long-range penalty goal, Lote Tuqiri, missed his two kicks by wide margins against the Bulls. It's time to end the Lote-as-kicker experiment and give Kurtley Beale, who kicked the trifecta with a conversion, a penalty and a well-taken field goal, all the shots at goal.
The Waratahs remain the best hope for Australian finalists. They play the rampant Stormers in Cape Town on Sunday morning, Sydney time. If they win, they will probably have a home finals match. If they lose, they face the daunting prospect of having to defeat the Reds in Brisbane to make the top four.
