Trying to adapt to the new game

It is becoming more and more obvious that rugby union has changed and it may take some time for the old-fashioned approach, beloved of people of this writer's generation, to adapt to the new experience.

The matter was put very succinctly by a letter in the letters page of the newspaper last week from a reader, Conor Sexton, who makes a number of very valid points.

Apart from the fact that name of the letter writer rings a distinct bell it is the contents of the letter which are so intriguing in the context of the modern game. He identified two changes in what the rugby union fraternity so pompously call "the laws" of the game namely the rucking and mauling laws which Mr Sexton says: "promote multi-phase play" and the changes in the line-out play which allows the lifting of the jumper by one or more team-mates.

He makes the point that these changes have turned rugby union into a "continuous possession clone of rugby league".

The poor man seems to be at his wits end when he expresses "disgust and despair at what our beautiful lateral movement, flash it to the wing game has become an endlessly - recycled, punch-another-hole, return-to-the-scene-of-the-midfield-collision bore".

"The game," he goes on to say, "has simply become monumentally tedious" and adds that he is "within an inch of abandoning all interest in the `new' union". He points out also that in rugby league the team in possession must give up the ball after six "plays" while in the union game the ball can be retained indefinitely.

He also wonders if this attitude of his is merely a sign of his age or whether he has any support for his view.

Well he has mine for a start! Watching the match between Ireland and the All Blacks I wondered what it was that seemed to be missing. It wasn't merely that after the first New Zealand try the only unsettled business was the margin of the drubbing Ireland was going to get.

We knew in our hearts that Keith Wood's two tries were but evidence of a false dawn. One yearned for Ciaran Fitzgerald and his "Where's your f.... pride" or Moss Keane and the three Willies - McBride, Anderson and Duggan. Mind you they would have been run off their feet but we might have enjoyed it more.

The fact is that the element of chance has been taken out of the game almost entirely and it is the poorer for that. Such a development was, of course, inevitable. One of the major changes is that the scrum and the line-out, which were to some extent equal contests have now become automatic. The "strike against the head" disappeared to all intents and purposes with the change in the scrummaging rules and now the line-out is almost totally dominated by the side throwing in the ball.

Some things have improved beyond all recognition. The handling of the ball by forwards and their willingness to run with it has added to the spectacle but what Conor Sexton calls "the endlessly-recycled-punch-another-hole-return-to-the-scene" bore is much more a feature of the game as it is played today.

And indeed, by some accounts, some of the players are not all that happy either. Recently the controversial South African winger James Small has been talking about his own attitude to the new order.

In his time he became the first Springbok to be sent off in an international match (against Australia) for disputing matters with the referee - a mortal sin in rugby, then he lost his place in the South African side after a punch up in a night-club in Port Elizabeth, then he was dropped again two days before an international match after being spotted in a night club in the early hours of the morning.

He appears to have reformed to the extent that he is at present a member of the South African team's players disciplinary committee (a poacher turned gamekeeper) but his views of what has happened in the game are interesting. He regrets, like many others, one suspects that the fun seems to have gone out of the game. After a recent match in France he had this to say: "Rugby has become very serious, which is a shame." He added: "In Paris, an amazing city with so much to see and do, some of the guys didn't even venture out of the hotel. I can't understand that."

Well there may be a madness within him but he seems to have a well-balanced attitude to the game along the same lines as Conor Sexton.

Of course the modern game will probably evolve further in response to demands from outside influences such as television. It came as a surprise to many at the recent match in Lansdowne Road when the teams left the pitch at half-time. Whether or not teams from the Northern Hemisphere will ever be able to match their southern brethern remains to be seen.

There would not appear to be any reason why they can't but the rugby union gospel must get a much broader canvas if Irish teams are ever to be in a position to match the best in the world.

Certainly, if heavy beatings become the norm, it is doubtful if the game can survive in any meaningful way in this country. Let us hope that lovers of the game do not become as disillusioned as Conor Sexton. The future may not be very bright, but neither is it quite as dark as the match against New Zealand might suggest.