And Rugby is Back!

And what a better day to restart this Blog. After 3 months in lockdown, Rugby is back!  

Today, started a new competition called Super Rugby Aotearoa (with only the NZ Super 15 teams). The first game was this morning with the Highlanders receiving the Chiefs.  

What a joy to watch rugby again. Without masks, social distancing and all that jazz.

So, what about the game? It wasn’t a great rugby game in the way it was very well played. Which is normal after months without any competition.

A few points:

Positives :

-       Referee. In one word, excellent. Paul Williams showed how to ref a match.

-       Breakdown: thanks to the ref, this is how breakdowns should be played and officiated. No more 5m rolling, no entries from the side, no slowdowns. Result? Faster rucks, faster games. And the proof you don’t have to change the laws to improve the game. Just enforce them.

-       Scrums: no resets, no collapses, no 2 minutes scrums, no milking penalties. Again, it proves when the scrums are played with the right mind set (a way to restart the game and give plenty of space for the backs to play) it can be beautiful

-       Not well played but a crazy finish. Rugby is still a  great entertaining game.  

Negatives:

-       Penalty count. I know players need time to adapt but after 60 minutes professionals still don’t understand the way it is being officiated!? Bad habits die hard.

-       Public. After all this time without rugby I was expecting full house for this match. The Forsyth Barr Stadium looked pretty empty.