An odd one

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Arg vs Eng, final game of the group.
Arg is winning 19-0, if England scores a try, England AND Argentina go through. Argentina has been playing with 6 men since minute 0 (dont ask).
I know there are no rules to be enforced here unless the ref has a tantrum and escalates things to biblical proportions.

I can see the outrage from some fans. I can also understand why the English player acted the way he did. What I cannot understand, for the love of god, is how some people (commentators during the broadcast) were partially blaming Argentina for this. How can a team without possession be guilty of anything in that situation?

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Blame the rules. I think the criticism was directed at Argentine players and coaches ordering other players back away from the Englishmen. It made me all fuzzy inside to see Argentina and England being brothers in arms 40 years on.

(too soon?)

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Such a weird situation,

Feels like the kind of incident that will lead to a change in the laws

 

[die_mole]

Under current WR 7s guidelines the referee was acting improper instructing the players how to play the games (at least how USA has passed it on). The referee isn't responsible for masking inefficiencies in the game or the tournament structure.

Why would Argentina do something that hurts their chances in the tournament? Waste their energy? Force England to dot it down and you have to play more rugby or risk losing the game. IDK how rugby hasn't putt a delay of game for in-goal like they have at scrums, rucks, and mauls yet. But at some point you have to recognize that teams with advantages are going to use those advantages. Don't hate the player hate the game.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Blame the rules. Hold the ball for 20 seconds in goal - award a scrum to the opposition 5m out. Easy fix, won't happen again.

Both teams did the right thing, too bad it didn't help.

 

[Reiser99]

Definitely a rules issue. Both sides share some of blame for spoiling the end for fans.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Blame the rules. Hold the ball for 20 seconds in goal - award a scrum to the opposition 5m out. Easy fix, won't happen again.

Both teams did the right thing, too bad it didn't help.

Yeh this rugby values bull crap keeps getting sprouted.

Yet the dark arts of rugby gets praised by the same people lol.

In sevens game of fast pace there should be a a simple rule on this sort of things really.

 

[Reiser99]

I had a thought. What's the difference between this and match fixing other than not being pre-planned?

Both teams have manipulated the scoreline to ensure a favourable result rather than playing the game fully.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Match fixing is planned before a game or fight, the outcome is preordained, that the key part of match fixing.

If it's not preplanned it's not match fixing

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

I had a thought. What's the difference between this and match fixing other than not being pre-planned?

That match-fixing is planned ahead by definition?

Both teams have manipulated the scoreline to ensure a favourable result rather than playing the game fully.

How did Arg manipulate the scoreline? They played all game with 6, BC was literally under the posts, looking backwards. Any and all attempts to stop him would have been futile and resulted in a waste of energy, which happened to be quite a rare resource at the time.

I can even understand (though disagree) with the ref pushing the english player to score, but blame the argentines for this is just mental.

It takes some balls, some ******* balls to tell a team that was 19-0 playing with 6 players vs 7 all game that they've manipulated the scoreline.

Eng had possession, they crossed the in goal line, they chose not to score, they were losing, then benefited from scoring, it did nothing to Arg's chances whether they scored or not (result wise).

Feels like the kind of incident that will lead to a change in the laws

To be honest, not sure there is anything you can do about it. How would you implement a rule to prevent this? Something along the lines of 'once you cross ig line you have X seconds to score', well in that case the BC would just stop a millimetre before the IG line and you're back at the start again.

And i have quite a few issues with the ref telling a player what to do with the ball, particularly in open play.

 

[die_mole]

I mean it kind of shows that this is something that never really shows up in rugby. You never see people intentionally not playing the game. For the most part at all levels, no matter what the score; we play out the game and no one gets their feelings hurt. But you turn what was originally a summer fundraiser into a highly competitive offshoot of the sport with weird competition rules and you get weird consequences. This is no different than that soccer game that caused them to change the World Cup format (that they will go back on in four years). I really don't see how you can blame anyone on the field for what happened; in a vacuum, yes, they should have just played out the game. But this game didn't happen in a vacuum it happened in a tournament with PD and more games to play that weekend.

I do empathize with the ref cause that's a bizarre situation to be in and two minutes probably feels like an eternity to be standing next to a bloke with a ball.

I do see them introducing a law but it won't be one that me or any of the purists out there like.

The reason I don't consider this match fixing is that it had nothing to do with gambling and solely to do with advancing. You could say that England were potentially throwing the game by not trying to score more tries but come on. Teams give up on tries all the time in sevens so I don't see how you could blame Argentina.