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I'm not sure what flair you're talking about in that game... it barely gets beyond phase one before either side kicks or gives away a penalty for most of the game.
[TEXTAREA]"Brive produced what was widely acclaimed as one of the finest club performances ever seen in a match in the northern hemisphere as they swept Leicester Tigers aside in a pulsating final that made sure the Heineken Cup stayed in France.
They followed up Toulouse's success in the inaugural final at the same ground by dashing Leicester hopes of an English club winning the European crown at the first time of asking following the belated entry of teams from England and Scotland.
Dean Richards' Leicester Tigers did take the lead in the 54th minute when John Liley kicked his third penalty goal, but they were already under enormous pressure and Brive, astutely directed by captain Alain Penaud, stormed to victory with a scintillating display."[/TEXTAREA]
Give it a chance, its not a highlights package!
Look, I agree with you regards 30 years ago, but even though the modern game has bigger, fitter, faster & stronger athletes than it had 20 years ago at the beginning of professional rugby, I still believe something has been lost from the game in the last few years. Super Rugby in the late 1990 was exhilarating; it was like the Rugby equivalent of Dutch soccer's "Total Football" under Rinus Michels. It was averaging nearly seven tries per game. Now it runs at about 4, and it would probably be lower but for one or two very weak teams boosting the stats.
IMO, defences are too easily able to shut down attacking teams behind the gain line. Especially, the offside Law at ruck and maul is not enforced rigidly enough, and defences have learned that they can have a player out in midfield rush up to cut off the outside pass without risking a gap in the inside back defensive line.
I would like to see several changes the the way the ruck/maul offside line works and a few innovations brought in to encourage defences to put a couple of players back, away from the front defensive line.
1. 2M offside line at ruck/maul - This idea was first suggested by South African test referee Freek Burger.
Push the defending offside line back to 2 metres behind the hind most foot. This is how it works in practice.
- When a tackle is made and a ruck forms, players must make a decision as to whether they wish to join the ruck, or stay and defend at the offside line (you're either bound to the ruck or you are back 2m)
- A player in the ruck may unbind from the ruck but must immediately either retire to the 2m offside line, or go back past the hindmost foot of his own ruck and rejoin behind or along side the hindmost foot.
- a player behind the 2M offside line may join the ruck but he must do so from directly behind the ruck - no loitering
- when a ruck ends, players in the ruck and players who were in the act of joining or rejoining the ruck may proceed directly to the next tackle or ruck (allows pick and drive which would otherwise be illegal)
- as is a line out or a scrum, the team in possession may advance as the half-back takes the ball from the scrum, giving them a little jump on the team not in possession.
This would get rid of those pesky "pillars" that hang around the ruck shutting down the inside channels. It would also make it much more difficult to execute the rush defence.
2. The 10-22 kick - steal the idea directly from RL
In General play, if a player kicks the ball from inside his own 10m line, into touch indirectly (i.e. by bouncing it or grubber kicking it) inside the opponent's 22m line, then his team gets the throw-in to the line-out
This would encourage teams to keep a defender or two back to guard against the opponent gaining a big territory and possession advantage.
It also might bring back the long-lost skill of the "wipers kick", as players become encourage to kick meaningfully, not aimlessly.
3. Mark inside the 10m instead of the 22m
Allow defenders to mark the ball inside their own 10m line. This will discourage aimless kicking, as teams in possesion in the middle of their own half who belt the ball aimlessly down the middle will gain nothing, but may find themselves contest for possesion in about the same place as they kicked it from.
NOTE: Both 2 & 3 would probably require the 10m line to be marked as a solid line rather than a dashed line.