RUGBY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11955, 27 May 1933, Page 10

RUGBY

SCRUM LAICS

THEORY AGAINST (PRACTICE

Speaking at the annual dinner of iho .London Society of Rugby Football Union Referees, Adrian D. Stoop, the president of blie Rugby Union of England, mentioned) the room for improvement in the laws of the 'game. Probably it was this that led certain Scotsmen present to make friendlycriticism of tlie refereeing of the recent match between. Scotland and England. Those Scotsmen alleged that the English outside front-row forwards had .been allowed to book the ball iwljen. England’s scrum-half had to put the] ball in. This allegation bad also been freely mado in Edinburgh after the match and! the subject of jt appears to provide a. .most important instance ot tho room for improvement to which the president of the Rugby Union referred (comments the special Rugby correspondent of the London “Observer”). Tho present state of affairs, whatever .theoretical treatment for offences may bo. quoted, provides in practice, a series of matches, in which the referee is confronted) with a definite choice of two unpleasant courses. Either lie must whistle warn and! pen .aliise ’and .so on- ancl on until there is no coherent course in tfie game; the player's get irritable and the spectators) disgusted; or he must use his discretion to such an extent that lie flouts the laws, as they exist at present, jin ordjor that the game may not become a farce.

Clearly it is unfair that a referee should) be placed in ,‘fhis position ; a position in which a caviller might assail his efficiency on a point of fact, whatever good general results he might claim to have brought about. Before going any further it would bo well to quote Law 15 (o): —

“No player in a scrummage shall raise a foot off tho ground or advance either foot beyond the line of foot of his front-row forwards until the ball is fairly in the scrummage. and the first three feet of the front-row forwards of each team on the side on which the ball is being put', in shall not be so raised or advanced until the ball has passed them.” Law 15 (g) must be dovetailed in with the words from “until the hall' 'is fairly" ;it states that the hall is not fairly in until it has been pul in straight, has touched the ground, and “has passed both, feet of a player o.f each, team.”

jin other words, a referee. every time the ball is put in, lias to decide instantaneously us to the position in which six individual feet- were at a precise moment. When 1 asked a noted referee, with international experi once, how often he, c-ould have sworn with any certainly as to the position of those six feet, ho answered. “'Very Veldom,” anti went on to say that., provided that the offending near-side men were not clearly guilty of breaking the rule, aml that- the nou-offend-i.ug near-side man did not use his outside foot, he considered that the spirit of the rule was kept.

Whether Dr J. B. Wheeicr (Ireland) acted thus deliberately or unconsciously at- Alnrrayfield matters little : in effect lie furthered 1 the interest of that game, and the Scots gamed the .rather barren triumph of abstaining from a urnctir-c which, in me circumstances, could not come within the category of cheating abhorred by all good Rugby men. Tlk> fact- of die matter i„ that- the scrummage laws have become a deal too much complicated, and the elaboration. from which they have suffered has emailed losing sight of the original purpose of a scrummage. Rightthrough die instructions about penalties to referees the same idea can he traced that for a major offence a kick is awarded to the non-offending side, for a minor offence a scrummage.

The big advantage of being allowed to kick free from all active opposi. tion is carefully conserved; the lesseradvantage of having the more favourable chance of getting the ball against active 'opposition D? now so hedged about with restrictive rules that the retention of the advantage is almost more, bother than it is worth. A season or two ago- a member of the Rugby Union Committee explained that- it was tbo intention of scrummage laws that the non-offending side should, unless shoved off the ball.,,gain possession. At the time the significance of the remark seemed) lost on the majority of players, recent matches have gone a long way to prove that even those who then took any notice of it have now forgotten.

Possibly, it might seem an extreme measure to suggest that the offending side should be subject- to the “first three feet” rule, while the non-of-fenders use any feet but the outside orie __iG l us endorsing the principle that, itho slight advantage should! bo safeguarded—but a move of this nature ,while '.still allowing those guilty of a minor offence the chance to push the others off the ball and gain the possession they had forfeited, might go a lono- way towards cutting out the inconclusive hearings and profitless delays which at- present mar -forward play.

wallabies tour CHANCES IN SOUTH AFRICA. GREAT 1 INTEREST IN N.Z. Prior to leaving Sydney, the Australians got seme advance information and advice in a letter from F. I>. Ruby, who captained the All Blacks m Australia last year, and was with the Now Zealanders in South Africa, in 1925. HAs remarks also are of interest to New Zealand footballers generally. “The opening engagements are easy as far as I can see. No really stiff opposition is met until the first Test, by which time the best; fifteen should have been discovered, and players have developed form find combination, besides being more or less acclimatised.”

TACTICS —AND OSLER. Discussing tactics, Kilbv stated that in the early games lie would on most occasions allow opponents to get the ball, and l concentrate on getting to their five-eighth.. “South Africa will tm

doubtedly dominate the serums in the Tests, and if the Wallabies adapt themselves to this style of play a i> beginning they will have some idea of the way to combat Bennie Osier, a very elusive man,” he continued. “When I toll you that Bennie stands about 10yds behind his half-back, y <ra twill realise that the chances of getting to. him are remote. As an. illustration of this, in the-first Test against New Zealand),-ho did not once go off his feet. Imagine it! He will take uja this position! and kick for the line, until within striking distance, and will then pot a, goal or send the ball on, as be feels disposed, “The South African backs are most unenterprising, arid I hope your tour selectors will not choose their Test players for defence, as we did in 1928. Tlidir forwards are tremendous, and as forwards magnificent. They have big men, averaging 14A- stone,, in tbo moii, averaging about 14A stone, in tbo front row-, but this is exceeded by the average weight of the -remainder. They play a. real dour ‘bead-down-all the-time’ type, of game, but, after all, this is football and is most effective. The spectacular forward is not encouraged) in South Alfrica, whereas he 4s the man ive go for in New Zealand. Your forwards will have to ‘dig in’ all the time, and may have an even chance of holding them.

ACQUIRING COMBINATION “The -opportunity the team will have at the beginning of the tour to acquire combination and confidence is going to boa: real factor, and when the Tests arrive anything might happen. Bennie Osier, as far as I know, is still the only outstanding five-eighth in South Africa, but he is not improving, and when you have counteracted him you have gone a long way toward victorv. n;

?— —:■ ........ .-I ! “L would like to see a real ■ match-' winner arise in the.; touring team,” ho proceeded, “and in this respect, I have great-hopes in Steggall, while another we are optimistic about ".is Billmann, who was so effective against ‘Rusty’ Page. STAUNCH TN DEFENCE.

.“During mu’ tour we lost the .ball consistently in tbo scrums, and ro had to make most of our opportunities in other phases of pKv, opening it up on every possible occasion. Of course, ■with the South African forwards playing a. very, tight game chances were limited. Your backs will have to be absolutely fearless in. defence, with particular strength iii rusK-stopping. I would! advise the half to stay on his feet at all. times possible; -to get on the ground too often over there is fatal. Malcolm is solid enough to be against any forwards. “I think your backs are a good lot who should 'develop. If anything, .they are inclined to bo too spectacular on occasions. By this I mean that often, when hv orthodox methods the defence was beaten (in your games against, us last season), tbo opportunity was lost through attempts at reverse passing, etc.”

NOTES AND NEWS. ' &

“A likely successor to'Cert Cooke,” was the high, enconium passed on I). B. Mulvihill’s recent displays at second /five-eighths at Eden Park by a Rugby enthusiast, who numbers scores of. All Blacks amongst bis intimates. Making his mark in mid-posi-tional play last season, the ’Varsity player has developed % consistency that is likely to qualify him for inclusion in the ranks of selects few desigated as “great five-eighths.”