Rugby Referees Seek Return to Old Rules

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 760, 5 September 1929, Page 11

Rugby Referees Seek Return to Old Rules

HARMFUL METHODS AUCKLAND’S ATTITUDE “It is perhaps to be regretted that Mr. S. Dean, chairman of the management committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union, has spoken so strongly on the question of Auckland rules at the present stage,” remarked a prominent Auckland referee to a SUN representative this morning. “There is a definite move in Auckland toward abandoning the amended rules, and perhaps this will be brought about more quickly if there is no outside intervention.” The referee was referring to the criticism of Auckland at the meeting of the New Zealand Management Committee last evening. Since the question had been discussed earlier iu the season there had beeii a distinct change of opinion on the part of many players and referees. He thought that when the question was again brought up there would oe a much stronger backing for the proposal to revert to the rules authorised by the New Zealand Union. Personally, he did not think the attendance would suffer in any degree through reverting to the official rules, and was quite sure that many people who regularly attended club and representative matches did not know that there was any difference in the rulings at the different games. A strong supporter of the proposal that Auckland should get into step with the remainder of New Zealand in regard to Rugby rules is Mr. V. R. Meredith, Auckland’s Rugby selector. “As far as I am concerned this is not a new thing. I have consistently advocated that Auckland should fail into line,” he remarked to a Sun representative this morning. Every year Mr. Meredith is confronted with the task of remoulding players, particularly inside backs and forwards, on representative lines. Under Auckland’s imaginary line rule we will never produce quick-passing halfbacks or resourceful insides, said Mr. Meredith. NO INCENTIVE TO SPEED

The imaginary line rule prevents any player not in the scrum advancing beyond a line drawn through the hack of his own scrum till the ball is clear of the back of the opposing scrum, and no forward can break from his own scrum till the ball is clear of the other scrum. This gives the inside backs about eight yards of paddock to move in before they lift a foot, and as a result of there being no incentive to quickness, slow halves and inside backs are developed. Iu other words, they have deliberately been given the room to work in which under the ordinary rule they had to make for themselves by the use of quick-thinking brains and fast concerted action between the half and inside backs. It is a good rule for the mediocre player and a bad one for the good player. The task that confronts him every year is to teach half-backs to get the ball away in the face of fast-breaking forwards, coach inside backs to come up on their opponents when on defence, and teach the forwards to break.

To a certain extent this can be taught at practice, said the selector, but they can only learn to attack under the official New Zealand rules in the actual course of playing, and club games under Auckland rules, far from affording them this opportunity, deteriorate their play. Mr. Meredith said it was fortunate that Auckland possessed a pack of forwards who had good experience in playing under the official rules, otherwise the province would find itself in a far different position from what it oc-

cupies today. He was convinced that the game would not suffer through reversion to the official rules. On the other hand, robbed of their false imaginary line protection, inside hacks would have to develop speed and exploit to the utmost the traditional tactics of the game such as working the blind and drawing the defence, tactics that had made the game what it was. Forward play would also improve following the necessity for efficient scrumming in order to produce the quick, clean hooking that was essential to good back play under the correct rules. Unfortunately there appeared to be some misconception in regard to what the change hack meant, many thinking that it involved going back to the old ruling which permitted kicking into touch from any part of the field. Practically the only difference would be the abolition of tile imaginary line rule and that prohibiting charges in kicks at goal from tries and marks.