The abysmal goal line rugby

You have a lineout 10 metres out. The maul is stopped and now we have goal line phase play. The object is to get the ball to within 2 metres and burrow over. Ten or more times the ramparts are charged…but the backline is excused. It’s a forward thing …boring and often unsuccessful. Ireland is particularly guilty of this junk rugby, but we aren’t far behind.

As one looks at these phases they move mechanically in one direction….nobody receives the ball at pace, there is no variation of tactics..no deception, why not have a runner at pace crossing just behind the ruck with the right to call for the ball if he spots a gap. A modern Joe Cool variant ….where the runner moves in the opposite direction to the phases, looking for gaps as defenders cross over.

Breaking down the walls of defenders is the big challenge of modern rugby and there has to be a better answer than bashing. This is particularly true for the side, like Australia or Argentina, who are power disadvantaged.

Rugby is now mostly box kicks and forward bashing….backs get involved in kick chases and when defense is upset in broken play. Coaching has advanced a lot in terms of defense…..attacking play seems to be in check mate. Is there a coach out there that can tilt the balance back to attacking play? It’s not any of the current major country coaches.

If we want smarter rugby close to the line, the first thing that should be outlawed is the maul. It's just organized obstruction and terrible to watch. What if teams are actually forced to create smart lineout set plays instead of just doing the infernal tortoise shuffle towards to the line.

If you go back in years matches were more low scoring.
If you want a score a minute go and watch basketball oaks.
The struggle on the try line is gripping stuff and has viewers on the edge of their seats. Bit like a rolling maul advancing to the try line.
Yes defence have got sharper but so have attacking skills hence the greater number of tries being scored these days.
No need for these complaints oaks.

We need to pick a French team, Paks.

Seriously, not a single game involving a French side let us down this year. Literally, every match thread of their games is proof of that.

And that even includes the France v All Blacks game.

I'm dropping the Sharks and not gonna bother watching them. And will probably also dip out in some Stormers games.

Gonna watch Bulls, Leeus and Bordies next season.

All Good points.

• Line out drives
• Pick and drive, pick and drive
• around the corner, first receiver, the occasional tip pass to the next forward.
• If all else fails, cross field kick, only if penalty advantage

Lets unpack.

Maul, you can no longer pull the side, sacking from a line out is near impossible, penalty is severe for collapsing a maul, yellow card and penalty try. So the risk is low, reward is extremely high.

Then, around the corner, bash bash bash, refs are too quick to blow off side, slight ruck infringement and no proper reffing of the ruck. The amount of time players hitch onto a player or just throw a leg over, or slightly in front, the formation of the ruck has gone out of the window. so may player just latching onto the side and no through the gate entry, players can't use one hand to rest on the ground, makes it near impossible to poach the ball. Risk, medium, reward medium, eats up time. to many ref intervention.

Cross field Hail Mary, if team runs out of ideas, cross field bomb, most effective, get out of jail High risk, medium reward

What has rugby done to stop it

held up over the line, goal line drop out, we seen a lot of this as player are not illegal and can do what they want when ball crosses the goal line. there was that one incident where the guy was clearly on the ground, but because his shoe lace was behind the line he was deemed legal.

I would just get rid of ruck penalties and go for free kicks, now that they got rid of the scrum might as well form a flying wedge. We see the Irish teams do this where they refuse to scrum and just tap and go.

Solution, sort out the ruck, allow level of tolerance, at lest hand on the ground to stabilise, players entering the rucks heads can't go below their hips, players securing a ruck head needs to remain above the hips, this is how it work in the scrum. Got to lock into to your opposing player, player dropping their head at ruck time to seal ruck, immediate penalty. It is dangerous to the player and very poorly coached. Players can no longer fly into the ruck. Immediate penalty, you can only launch within 1 meter of the ball, to get that push and the body has to go up with the arms in front. They have figure it out in the NFL and rugby can copy this. No shoulders, hands always in front to push.

For ruck infringement, free kick, any player not releasing the ball fast, 10 m advance, better chance of offside, penalty. Players deliberately holding onto the ball penalty. (They did this in super rugby, but it failed because players just deliberately spoiled the ball, freekick and then it was a scrum, but it can work if you have the right sequence)

This can easily be solved, and remove a lot of injuries if applied correctly