SANZAR to make final law call
SANZAR, the ruling body for Tri-Nations and Super 14 tournaments, will ultimately make the final call on whether the some if any of the Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) are implemented in the 2008 Super 14 season.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) on Tuesday indicated that, although they encouraged it, the decision to implement the ELVs in the Super 14 wasn’t theirs to make.
“It’s up to SANZAR itself,” IRB spokesman Greg Thomas told Rugby Heaven in Tuesday.
The Southern Hemisphere rugby fraternity is slightly anxious about the fact that a final decision on whether to adopt some of the ELVs had not been made although many teams had already started their pre-season preparations in earnest.
However, Thomas doesn’t feel that should present a problem at all.
“Other competitions we’ve put them [the laws] into have had less than two or three-month build-ups. Some put them in at a week’s notice. You’ve got to remember these aren’t major law changes. They’re variations on existing laws. It really doesn’t take long for players to adapt,” said Thomas.
The laws have been applied in New Zealand’s B division and in the inaugural Australian Rugby Championship (ARC). In both instances there was very little negative feed-back, but many of the New Zealand Super 14 coaches feel that there are some laws that have no place in Rugby Union.
“We would love to see SANZAR trial them, but it’s up to them,” added Thomas, who hinted that there could be attempts to globalise the ELVs after the Super 14 if they were a success.
What the ELVs do bring to the game is more flowing and positive rugby. New Zealand’s Super 14 coaches, who all met to discuss the ELVs last month agreed that there was a lot of positive to take from some of the new laws and Thomas shared the same sentiment.
“A lot of people realise the need for a little bit of tweaking on the laws, and this is a tweak not major change. All the stats show the same number of scrums, rucks and line-outs. All we’re trying to do at this moment in time is put the power and decision-making back into the hands of the player with the ball. We want players to dictate the outcome of games, not so much the subjectivity of the laws,” explained Thomas.
A big concern for SANZAR at the moment though is the uncertainty on whether the laws would apply in international competition apart from the Tri-Nations and Super 14 tournaments next year.
“We are looking for continuity,” SANZAR tournament director Peter Rowles told media in Australia.
“We could be in a situation where we play under the new laws [for Super 14], the old laws [home Tests] and the new laws again [Tri-Nations],” added Rowles last week.
