English pundit's bizarre law changes
SPOTLIGHT: Since their loss to South Africa in the World Cup Final last month, England’s ‘pundits’ have properly spat the dummy.
Former England hooker Brian Moore, who already had a bad case of ‘foot-in-mouth’ disease since the Springboks’ impressive demolition of the English in the Final, has now suggested a series of law changes, because – according to him – the game is too “boring”.
In his latest column for The Fleet Street-based Daily Telegraph newspaper, Moore suggested scrapping conversions and making drastic changes to set-piece laws.
The 57-year-old Moore, with 60-odd caps for England and five Tests for the British and Irish Lions, took leave of his senses in the immediate aftermath of the World Cup Final.
In his ‘Team of the Tournament’, Moore found room for just four Springboks – yet five of the English players that failed to match the Boks in the tournament showpiece, still made it into his selection.
On the morning of the Final Moore sent a brutal two-word reply to English Prime minister Boris Johnson, who donned a jersey to wish the team good luck.
He told the Prime Minister to ‘f*** off‘, after Johnson wished Eddie Jones and his players well.
He later replied to a tweet by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with a similar message – ‘just for balance’.
His harsh response came ahead of England’s devastating 12-32 loss to South Africa at the Yokohama Stadium in Tokyo.
Now Moore wants people to take him serious when he suggests they ‘speed up’ the game and remove ‘time-wasting’ aspects such as conversions, while making drastic changes to the laws that govern other key aspects of the game.
“There are four areas to focus on: kicks at goal, line-outs, scrums and defensive box kicks,” Moore said in his Telegraph column, after watching Harlequins and Leicester play to a 30-all draw in front of 75,500 spectators at Twickenham Stadium last Saturday.
“I would remove conversions and make a try seven points,” he said.
“Why should a thrilling back movement, resulting in a try in the corner, have a much more difficult extra two points than one driven over near the posts after an attritional succession of short drives from rucks? Take away the minute allowed to complete a conversion and you probably free up five minutes in an average game.
“Penalty kicks at goal are also supposed to be completed within a minute of the intention to kick at goal being signalled. However, the George Ford goal-kick, from Kyle Sinckler’s high tackle, took one minute, 45 seconds from penalty award to completed kick. The referee allowed 45 seconds before he signalled the decision.
“The minute time limit should be from when the referee specifies the position of the penalty.
“If the kicking side wants to endlessly debate their options fine – but they will just cut down the time their kicker has to complete a shot at goal. Given the average number of kicks at goal, you would free up another two or three minutes, and that is being conservative.
“Also, apart from the problem of too many resets, the time taken to form and complete scrums is unacceptable.
“One Quins five-yard scrum took one-and-a-half minutes before it was eventually resolved. It was 45 seconds before the packs got into a position where the referee could call the engagement. There is no reason why both packs cannot be set for engagement within 25 seconds of the mark being specified.
“Many line-outs had the same problem.
“To illustrate the point, take one Leicester attacking line-out. From the point the ball went into touch, it took 20 seconds for both line-outs to form and Leicester to throw the ball in. At other times it was well over a minute before the throwing side finished their huddled debate, got into position and made the throw.
“How about for line-outs and scrums having an NFL-style delay of game call? Go over a specified time limit and the set-piece is moved 10 yards back or forward or the put-in/throw-in is reversed, depending on which side offend.
“Finally, caterpillar box kicks. A ruck is over when the ball is clearly won, not when it is in the ideal position for the scrumhalf to box-kick. With each player added to a defensive blocking line, you take another few seconds for the No 9 to roll-kick it into his optimum position. Referees should call ‘play it’ as soon as it is won and count the five seconds out loud and then enforce the law.”
Source: Daily Telegraph
