All Blacks prop slams Wayne Smith's 'ridiculous' comments
SPOTLIGHT: All Blacks and Crusaders prop Joe Moody doesn’t agree with Wayne Smith’s recent comments on the line-outs and mauls in the modern game.
The former All Blacks assistant coach made headlines over the weekend when he said rugby was becoming unwatchable with the rolling maul becoming the repetitive weapon of choice.
Smith used last month’s Super Rugby game between the Western Force and the Highlanders as an example. He admitted he switched off the game at half-time in favour of a nature documentary.
“The standard is great in terms of the quality of the players that you see around the world,” Smith told the All Blacks podcast.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m getting frustrated with the game.
“Not the players, I’m frustrated with the game.
“I watched the game that Nic Berry refereed the other day, and his arm is out the whole time. Every single play, there’s an advantage.
“Then, you know, we’re going to go seven, eight phases and if it goes nowhere, we’re going to come back and it’s going to be a penalty.
“Then, 30 seconds to kick the ball and another 40 seconds for the line-out to happen. It’s going to be a drive that’s going to collapse, and It’s going to be an arm coming out.”
“It’s going to come back to another penalty. Kick to touch, another drive. Then a yellow card comes out because they do it again.”
After Smith’s criticism of the line-out drives, Moody had some choice words for the coach.
“Aargh, sh*t. What a ridiculous [thing to] say,” Moody said.
“Nah, bloody line-out maul is great.
“A great part of the game.
“It’s a good challenge to lay down a yardstick for your forward pack.”
Moody added: “Smithy is a good man, and he’s got a lot of interesting views and everything, but I just can’t say I’d align on this one with him.
“I’d hate to see that get thrown out or reduced in some form.
“You’ve got to keep it in there.”
Source: stuff.co.nz
