MY INITIAL TAKE ON THE ELV'S (EXPERIMENTAL  LAW VARIATIONS)

written Sunday 12/08/07

AND THE EXTRA BIT,  SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TO THE FIRST BIT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE.

I watched the Vikings vs Melbourne Rebels match yesterday,  Saturday 11/08/07,  part of the new ARC and using the new ELV's,  or Experimental Law Variations.  I have heard a bit  about them but have not gone into looking at them in any detail.  I have heard that they will speed the game up and that they will maintain the ability of all body shapes to play the game.

I'm afraid my initial look at it and analysis of them indicates a far more fundamental shift in how the game will be played,  and moves the game ever closer to rugby league.  Tradionalists would be shaking in their boots and after listening to Warren Ryan talking about space on fields,  rugby league fields last week,  I will add to that boot shaking shortly.

What we used to have,  and it has been waning at the ruck for some years now,  were possession and territory contestable phases of the game in the ruck and the maul.  The maul, under the new laws or experimental laws is dead,  you can pull it down and everyone will.  The great thing about the maul was you could do three things,  secure possession,  contest territory and tie up opposition numbers to deplete the defensive structure out wider,  in other words,  the defence converges to the maul,  leaving space somewhere else on the field.  The maul under these laws is dead.  It will be put straight on to the ground.

The ruck has been a static possession contestable only area for a long time,  and now with the allowance of using hands as long as you are on your feet,  they will be static,  full stop.  These guys will have to be very strong in the forearms to contest possession in this fashion. The game used to have more upright bodies in a ruck situation and be able to move forward,  or backwards.  And more upright allowed the best method for removal of hands and bodies on the ball,  4 or 6 merciless flashing 32mm steel tags ripping about there,  sorry mums but that's how I see it.

 What it seemed to do in the game yesterday was have more committed numbers to the breakdown,  which will add to two things,  space wider,  and fatigue.  However,  it does not alter the thought in my mind,  after only one viewing that the game is becoming closer and closer to rugby league,  with those static zones,  fortunately still possession contestable.

Now flowing on from the static possession contestable zones will come the need to probably regulate the distance between sides,  like the 10 metres in rugby league,  especially as coaches and players get used to the tactical process required under the new laws.  Playing against set defences out of static zones is one thing,  playing against them standing in your pocket will be impossible.  So static tackle zones will require the regulation of distances between attack and defence.

However,  just on the flip side a little bit,  and it seemed yesterday that there were more numbers being committed to the tackle zone,  and that the game had sped up considerably,   thus giving rise to greater fatigue levels,  thereby opening up more space as the game wore one,  so that has to be taken into account too,  and I need to watch more games to get a full handle on those issues,  but like rugby league,  for the attack it will be the speed of delivery or the speed of the play the ball,  out of the tackle zone that will be one of the keys.

I do feel though that the short,  nuggety guys times are limited in the game,  they have been for some time,  and again the traditionalists talk about how easy the tall  guys would be to scrummage against,  but guys like Carl Hayman to me are the new breed of prop,  and given what goes on these days in scrums,  you may see guys like Sione Lauki and Mose Tuiali'i move to prop as younger kids,  bringing about faster,  more mobile and better ball carrying players across the park.

The lineout,  well it's just good to see some of the technical rot removed from what went on there,  too many penalties available for things that had little or no effect on outcomes.  It will be interesting to see how coaches adapt to and play to the new lineout laws over the next few weeks.

Before I get on to Warren Ryan's comments last week,  I will add the the game is changing,  and we can all like or not like the changes,  you will never please everyone.  The game is a business now,  and unique in this country in that it comes up against rugby league,  Aussie Rules and Soccer,  no other country has four sports and a small population competing for the same sports entertainment dollar.  So the game has to do something,  it was dead boring and I struggled to watch a test match unless the All Blacks were involved.

As much as we generally like all the laws and stuff,  the general public want simple stuff,  they want to see ball movement and tries and that sort of stuff.  They don't want to go to any thought to try and figure out the whys and wherefores of tactics,  they just want to watch something fast and furious with big hits.  So simply,  the game has to change.  I think we are moving and will move towards and possibly to a hybrid game of the two rugby's,  I think it is inevitable.  When contested scrums go out of rugby,  and insurance will force that issue,  and it will happen,  the game will be very close to rugby league and really close to what the hybrid clone will look like.

Listening to Warren Ryan last week on the ABC.  For mine Warren is the foremost intellect on the game of rugby league in Australia.  Forget all the entertainment clap trap that goes on on the radio and TV,  it's all quite sickening in reality,  if you want to hear about how and why,  listen to the Wok.

Anyway last week he was talking about opening the game up,  and it is Warren's firm belief that rugby league needs to reduce the number of players on the field to 11.  He says that increasing the lateral distance between players will increase the skill level of players,  and make it irrelevant whether you have a 10 metre rule,  5 metre rule or zero metre rule as rugby league used to have.  He also mentioned the greater fatigue factor.

Now that's a brief wrap up of the Ryan expose,  but if you think about it he is right,  and maybe rugby could look at getting rid of two wingers and a number 8 or breakaway to open up the field.  Or maybe,  and just maybe these new laws will commit more to the breakdown,  increase the space on the field,  increase the fatigue levels,  and allow the more free running that the paying public,  not necessarily the traditionalists want.  The paying public,  those craving the primeval physical spectacle that football codes are,  are the ones that will determine whether the new laws are winners or losers.  Unfortunately,  there are too many traditionalists still involved in the game with far too much power and influence.

It was also very nice to see some young kiddies exposed and playing rugby at the next level, and it should be the next level.  that is the first time I have seen that Hansen kiddie play since the Qld Schools side played Ireland some years back,  probably two.  He was part of that really awesome Terrace front row,  coached by Mark McBain.  Benny Lucas was also in that side,  both the GT and Qld School side,  my memory from the Ireland match was that Lucas played himself to a standstill,  just got bashed against a monster Ireland side,  and again from memory was one of a handful that could hold his head high,  I thought a few of the side went to water that day in front of a very physical,  very aggressive Irish outfit.  They were big too.

EXTRA BIT: added Monday 13/08/07.

The East Coast Aces vs Ballymore Tornadoes game certainly was a cracker,  and the Law Variations certainly highlighted that they will turn the game into a spectacle.  The onset of fatigue seemed to start at about 20 minutes,  and deepen from there on in.

Interesting in the two games that I have seen that very little,  perhaps zero picking and driving,  everyone was trying to achieve go forward and width.  I think yesterday that there may have been less than 10 scrums.  The bigger,  squatter, slower man will find his way out of the game I feel,   quickly. 

That Breakdown continues to be an interesting place.  There certainly seems to be more people committed to it,  and we need Eddie Jones to address us with that stat,  he could tell us that the breakdown numbers have risen from 4.7 to 5.5 or 5.6 per breakdown.  He loves those stats and numbers old Eddie.  However,  with more people in there,  and all getting more tired due to less breaks,  plenty of breaks and gaps started to appear and continued to appear.

Very importantly the laws have maintained the need for the team work that rugby needs,  and Chris Latham hinted at that in his interview when he said that it is very hard to counter attack under the new laws,  that the ball has to be released very quickly,  and it forced a re think to a kick strategy in the second half.

The breakdown zone was pretty clinical if it was over and done quickly,  usually on the back of a tackle line breaching,  or in turnover cases on the back of some big defence.  The beauty of the breakdown now is that if something minor happens,  a short arm is awarded and play can again go on against a retiring and/or fractured defence.  The whole thing is happening that quickly that after the early onset of initial fatigue,  coupled with that pace,  alot of the game is being played against fractured and retiring defences,  a step closer to that chaos situation and a step away from that order.

I think it is good,  breath of fresh air for the game,  it will be interesting to see when they are adopted how the fitness types change over the next couple of years and how the tactical side of the game alters as well.  Interesting on a tactical front to hear Ross Reynolds,  Brumbies forwards coach in 2007 talk about the lineout and applying defensive pressure by putting 9 in the thing,  three pods of three,  just to maybe give away his line of thinking on it.

Also interesting to hear Ross Reynolds talking about Aussie Rugby's bigger men needing to stay on their feet longer,  use their fend and create some havoc.  He said our big men tend to go to ground to early and too easily.  I couldn't agree more.

And on a lighter note,  who gives out these man of the match awards,  had to be Rodney Blake or Olei Avei didn't it,  tries to each of them,  and did you note that when Rodney scored his try,  the two guys in closest support had 1 and 2 on their backs.  Rodney also did some great work at one stage down the short blind and slipped a good short ball in the same movement,  he maybe needs to give the long passes out of the base a miss though,  the big wind up allowed the intercept,  but later nailing an intercept of his own.  How can you give a flyhalf the award over a performance like that from a 3.

Kiddies on display,  Blair Connor looks like he will be everything we have all heard he is,  has some shoes,  strong in and through contact,  just needs some more time in top level footy.  Good to see Ben Mowen,  watched him way back when in the schoolboy stuff and he was great then,  he is a big unit now.  Looking forward very much to the rest of the competition and hearing the very involved and very passionate calls of Peter Wilkins,  I have missed him for years.

While you may not and possibly do not agree with the authour and his thoughts,  the authour doesn't really care,  and freely admits he may not be 100% correct.  However,  the basis of what is said is factual as best we can determine on any given day.  Always challenge the status quo,  better things evolve when current systems and ideals are questioned and challenged.  Make change positive,  strive to make positive change.