I read yesterday about the new rule change in Rugby League.
When restarting on the 20m line, the team taking the restart can kick for touch – as long as the ball bounces prior to going out.
This seems a good change to me, as it will stop teams piling on loads of pressure by kicking for the dead line at the back of the try area time after time.
One thing that does bother me though is that for all the changes that the league keep making the scrum in rugby league continues to descend in quality.
For a long time now the scrum in rugby league have been uncontested and the feeding has been so far from straight that it is untrue. What the league need to do is bring back proper scrummaging. If they don’t then the game will suffer in the long run, it already suffers (in my opinion) from a severe lack of 50/50 ball.
Another side effect of the weaken status of the scrum is that continueing trend for players in all positions to conform to a particular physical template. With the exception of Rob Burrow (how I wished he played for the Bulls!?!?!) there are no, what I would refer to as small players. Rugby (of both flavours) used to be a game for players of all sizes – big forwards, lithe wingers, rangey centres and small agile halfbacks. There days it’s hard to tell the second row from the centres, from the the fullback, from the props, from the wingers,etc,etc.
All that said I am looking forward to the new Super League season and I believe it will be even more competetive than last year. The Bulls have made some quality signings over the winter and I reckon it’ll pay off.
Ruck on
\m/