ELVs: Paddy answers questions
The experimental law variations went universal on 1 August. The Southern Hemisphere would like more change, the Northern Hemisphere less.
There are differences. South Africa has variations of its own for the Currie Cup though they are concerned mainly with the use of the television match official. New Zealand has its variations which have to do with the sanctions – free kicks, rather than penalties.
In addition to the ELVs there have been IRB directives, especially on the refereeing of the breakdown. It seems to be more stringently applied in the Four Home Unions than in France, South Africa and New Zealand.
Now all of those differences are going to come together in the North when the South goes to visit.
The IRB’s Total Rugby put questions to Paddy O’Brien, the IRB’s manager of referees.
Total Rugby: Looking at some the founding principles behind the ELVs, has the game been ‘given back to the players’?
Paddy O’Brien: “The players would certainly say that it has. On the statistics we’ve had back so far, on 80 to 90 percent of the ELVs the players say they strongly support them; so despite all the myths out there that people don’t like them, the people who play the game, who are at the end of the day the most important people, they’re telling us yes they love them.”
Total Rugby: What about making the game more entertaining – there’s a lot of kicking in the North at the moment..
Paddy: “I think there’s a bit of a myth out there that one of our objectives was to make the game more entertaining, which was not the case. That’s up to the players. As for the kicking, the stats show that kicking is no more than it was at Rugby World Cup 2007; in fact it’s down. There’s an average of 51 or 52 kicks in a game and if you go back to the semifinals and final of the World Cup there were 87 kicks per game; so there is a lot of misinformation out there.
“Sure, there is a lot of kicking and that is down to other reasons. Until the referees really get harsh at refereeing people on their feet at the tackle players will not commit to the breakdown and the only way to break defences is by kicking the ball. The fact that there’s a lot of kicking in games at the moment shouldn’t be put down to the ELVs.”
Total Rugby: We’ve currently got different Laws being used in the South and the North. Could this not be a problem with IRB World Ranking points and Rugby World Cup seedings potentially at stake?
Paddy: “People get a bit emotional over it but the only difference between the two hemispheres at the moment – and a reminder the Air New Zealand Cup is being played under the 16 ELVs whereas up north it’s 13 – is that instead of being a penalty it’s a free kick as a sanction. That’s the only area.
“When a New Zealand player looks up at the breakdown he’ll see the (referee’s) arm straight up in the air rather than a free-kick. The difference in the actual playing will be that rather than tapping and going, or saying ‘no we’ll take the scrum’, it’ll be a penalty and that can be kicked out for a line out. I don’t think there’s going to be much in it.”
Total Rugby: With so much emphasis on the ELVs, have referees taken their eye off the ball again regarding the straight feed into the scrum?
Paddy: “They haven’t taken their eye off the ball, but some haven’t perhaps been as vigilant as we’d like them to be. We’ve got real concerns and we will address them again at Lensbury (referee’s conference in November).
“We’ve put out three directives to the referees and some of them are ignoring them. We’ll be making it quite clear that we expect them to up the ante in this area but it is a real area of concern because the scrum nowadays is a contest for quality possession rather than winning possession; so to have a scrum straight before the ball goes in is a problem on its own. It’s a bigger issue than just getting the feed in straight but, having said that, we can be a lot better.”
Total Rugby: Last week you were at a cross-sport refereeing conference in London – a useful exercise?
Paddy: “It’s a practice which is held in lots of countries over the world. Certainly we did it in my neck of the woods when I was reffing.
“Why re-invent the wheel when it comes to self-review or dealing with criticism? Why shouldn’t we listen to a cricketing umpire or a soccer referee and learn a lot from them, and vice versa? It’s a great concept.”
From the IRB
