Watson defends law application

André Watson, South Africa’s manager of referees and the leading referee in the world at one stage, has come to the defence of  the application of the law which stresses the release of the tackled player by the tackler. He has done so in the face of media queries after the first round of the Varsity Cup.

Watson makes the following points:

1.     No laws have changed – it is just more correctly applied, played, coached. The Big 4 areas are:

a.     Tackle – tackler to release IMMEDIATELY and roll away or get back on his feet.

b.     Scrums – correct engagement, correct binding and straight body positions.

c.      Offside in general play – players to stand still until put onside as per law.

d.     Obstruction at kick-offs and line-outs prior to a maul forming.

Watson had examined some statistics of the first round of the Varsity Cup in 2009 and the first round of the Varsity Cup in 2010 and was able to come up with the following:

·       Reset scrums in 2009 were 28 (7 per game); in 2010 there were 11 (2.8 per game) a reduction of 60%.

·       In 2009 there was an average of 48.5 kicks per game; in 2010 the average was 32.3 per game – a reduction of 33%.

·       The total of tries scored after round 1 in 2009 was 12; in 2010 it is 30, a 250% increase.

Watson ends by saying: “Maybe the jury is still out, but when one looks at above stats then perhaps the product has improved.”