ELVs: was it North vs South?
The IRB’s working party that met in London on Monday and Tuesday have so far rejected everything seriously different that the experimental law variations tried.
The maul is back where it was and the tackle, rugby’s biggest problem area, remains, it seems, untouched.
The changes are cosmetic bits and pieces – taking away the corner post, where people must stand at a line-out and, throwing in backward.
But there are two which are more than cosmetic – restriction of kicking out on the full when the ball is put back into the 22 and being five metres back from scrums.
But you may not pull down the maul and you must conform to line-out numbers. Maybe when the IRB’s committee meets on 13 May they may deal with the tackle and the question of sanctions – free kicks or penalties. May perhaps. If they do not then this whole experiment may have been a huge expense for little profit . An elephant has been in labour and brought forth a mouse.
Australia has been noisiest in support of the ELVs, claiming that it makes for a more entertaining game. England has been noisiest in opposing them.
Statistics will show that there are more stoppages in Super 14 matches than in Six Nations matches, even though Super 14 matches are played in better weather – generally. But in both cases there have been entertaining matches and drab affairs. It is hard to force teams to be enterprising and entertaining. There were matches of great worth an entertainment before the ELVs, even before the radical changes of the 1960s.
The voting may have gone along north-south and national lines.
Let’s look at the composition of the discussion group that made the recommendations:
North
England: Bill Beaumont Mike Miller, Francis Baron, Rob Andrew, Chris Cuthbertson, Damian Hopley, Kevin Bowring, Steve Griffiths (8)
Scotland: Roy McCombe, Colin Thomson, Bill Nolan, Frank Hadden, Richie Dixon, Ian McGeechan (6)
Ireland: Peter Boyle, Phillip Browne, Eddie Wigglesworth, Syd Millar, Mick Molloy, John Feehan, Derek McGrath, Owen Doyle (8)
Wales: Geraint John, David Pickering, Joe Lydon, Roger Lewis, Bob Yeman, Corris Thomas, Nigel Owens (7)
France: Bernard Lapasset, Jean Pierre Lux, Jean Louis Barthes, Didier Retiere, Pierre Villepreux, René Hourquet (6)
Italy: Giancarlo Dondi, Francesco Ascione, Carlo Casagrande, Nick Mallett (4)
Total: 39
South
Argentina: Ricardo Garcia, Fernandez Marcelo Toscano, Santiago Phelan (3)
Australia: John O’Neill, David Nucifora, Robbie Deans, Rod Macqueen, Bruce Cook (5)
New Zealand: Steve Tew, Neil Sorensen ,Graham Mourie, Rob Nichol, Steve Hansen, Paddy O’Brien, Lyndon Bray (7)
South Africa: Oregan Hoskins, Johan Prinsloo, Peter de Villiers, Ian McIntosh, André Watson (5)
Total: 20
North wins!
However the voting went and whatever the expense, it is fair to say that never in the history of the gam have possible changes to the law been as thoroughly researched or debated.
The great boon will be to have all rugby all over the world played to the same Laws.
