Rugby - Defending The Indefensible?

There is no doubt that all laws and regulations favour the attacking side in today's rugby, to the point that commentators are questioning the integrity of the game as tries rain down like confetti. For young players, it must seem like Christmas coming early. The younger, targeted supporters can consume smaller action clips, which pleases the advertiser and broadcaster. Excitement, noise, flares and music abound. Welcome to the modern, NFL style entertainment but perhaps forget that in their world only a small handful of touchdowns occur in 60 minutes of play.

Firstly, the level of skill on show is very high, let us celebrate this. From a time when coaches demanded impact rather than a focus on space, it seems that every runner whether back or forward has an offload in mind or even a reverse pass which is no longer dramatic to witness. I often wondered what professionals did in all that training time and at last our own league is practising what the rest of the game has been doing for years, from Fiji to France. One eminent International English forward told me some years ago that he was often scared to go to training because of the ridiculous and dangerous physicality expected, cue injuries and head impact. Now it is lung bursting and demanding in a different way.

This debate has sprung up when another weekend of action saw 6 tries scored in only the first 30 minutes of two of the Prem contests! To be fair to the Red Bulls, it was impressive to see the midfield sleight of hand which released the wide runners for scores. The flip side is that their wide defence was non existent so Exeter ran in their own scores to win a game they barely deserved. Was it the Sunday kick off time or were all those empty seats a function of high prices and poor form? Too early to tell.

As for Northampton, their skills are truly exceptional throughout the squad.The 70 point thrashing of a feisty Bath team not short of their own qualities was littered with moments of sheer brilliance, Mitchell's was the individual pick. Coaches Dowson and Vesty should be proud as should Chris Boyd now weaving his spells at Gloucester. You can now point also to the athleticism of forwards everywhere hitting new levels - among many examples Harry Wilson of Australia, Cameron Hanekom of the Bulls. Alex Coles and Henry Pollock of Northampton Saints are English equivalents and must start for England.

Where is the defence we cry? Apart from the generosity of referees and the slanted laws at maul and scrum, I see naiveté in defensive lines rather than an inability to tackle. No one bothers to cover the 'wide receiver' who saunters in either from a kick pass or simply a long spin pass. Some wings cannot hold space or buy time for defences to come across, others 'bite in' or are caught in some ruck they are now coached to dive into to show their forwards coach they can. One commentator suggested a return to drift defence and yes I highly recommend it. You have to communicate and fill the space which seems not to happen in any way now. A vicious ( or virtuous ) circle has developed because you will get a chance for your own score soon enough even if you yourself concede.

Another indefensible topic is the scrum. I have no interest now in any scrum debate until the ball is put in straight. That is the law, and instead we are subjected to referees confusing themselves and the rest of us with unintelligible interpretations of apparent skullduggery dressed up as a technical term while the scrum half feeds the No 8. World Rugby has a real problem on its hands, and one or two new pronouncements recently on the tackle law leaves unanswered again one of the most ridiculous scenarios on a rugby field. The French took matters into their own hand, with a straight put in now mandatory in the Top 14. The rest of the game should follow but I wonder if World Rugby is even bothering to debate it.

Back to the outbreak of open play in our club game. Borthwick will be feeling the pressure to allow Lee Blackett to take over the game plan for our National side, and the risk is something of a halfway house. Fin Smith has been vocal in calling for real progress, and can point to his own club, and I think that the many years of frustration and underperformance are finally coming home to roost. Some of our top players have won precisely nothing in the game and it is a poor reward for all that effort and when England has dominant resource. In 2007, the players took over and reached a World Cup Final, perhaps 20 years later they should do the same.