<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gingergenius @ Dec 1 2009, 02:12 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
I thought the ELVs taught us that major changes do not benefit rugby union....
There is a problem with the scrum. Referees have got lazy and have decided that a free-kick is the thing to do when the 1st scrum collapses.
There is no problem with the breakdown. As always, there have been laws up for interpretation, and the players find out early on how the referee reads it. Just nowadays people moan more when they lose.
There is a problem with the lack of tries and running rugby. This can be partly cured by getting rid of the ping ping that has lingered since the ELVs. Also, it's only New Zealand, Australia and France who have the balls and vision to counterattack. If teams were less scared of conceding penalties and making mistakes then we'd see far more tries scored.[/b]
I think we'll start seeing more and more of the running game over the next two years Gingergenius. The game of rugby always switches from one style to another. Looking at the NH to begin with. In 2003 England led the way of big backs (+ Robinson), playing behind a big forward pack. Everyone tried to play like them, with the likes of Wales leaving out players like Shane Williams because they were 'too small'.
Fast forward a couple of years, and Mike Ruddock realised that these teams full of big players can easily be beaten, by running around them. In the NH, Wales perfected this, with forwards and backs looking for space, not contact.
Fast forward again to 2008, Wales perfect the 'pressurise the life out of your opposition' gameplan. Keeping the ball in field, commit as little as possible to the breakdown and rely on fitness to do the rest, coupled with players capable of feeding from mistakes.
Now it's the southern hemisphere teams who usually change their tactics first. SA perfected the kick, chase and pressurising game for the 2007 world cup, the same tactics Wales used later in 2008. Then SA put more emphasis back into the ruck this year, forcing the rest of the world to change. Now this Autumn I believe we've finally seen another change of tactics by NZ, France and Aus. They've switched back to a controlled running game. This reduces the effectiveness of the strong opensides, becuase they can't reach the ruck's in time. These teams also managed to cut out the aimless kicking, instead kicking for position instead of simply hoising the ball into the air and hoping to get on the end of it.
Now from a Welsh perspective, I think that's the direction we also need to start heading in. Bring back some of the flair and start moving these big packs around a little more. Maybe then the likes of Brussow and Pockok will stop having such majour bearing on games. Aimless kicking needs to be stamped out, as it's not doing anyone any favours.
So have we seen the change were all hoping for. Will we see more emphasis put back onto a running game in order to counter the stranglehold the kicking game has had over the last 2-3 seasons? The rise of NZ, France and Aus and the apparent decline of SA (this could also be down to tiredness) and Wales appears so.
