The natural urge to cheat comes because they are a nation of people who were once criminals. I can understand this. Its why an Australian cricketer will never walk and why George Smith has had his hands in every breakdown and ruck the game has ever seen. The natural urge to whinge and complain is ingrained by the influence Britain has had on its culture.
I can understand this. They are after all former prisoners of mother England and they were a colony up until last week. What that has created is a nation of cheating, whinging crybabies who are almost impossible to please. Again I can understand this. What I cant understand is why they cant keep it to themselves and why they constantly insist on trying to fuck up my rugby.
The whole reason why we brought the ELV’s into the game of Rugby Union was because the Australian Rugby Union wanted a game that could compete with the “excitement” of Rugby League. For some reason, a fair amount of people in England and Australia adore Rugby League because its what they like to call “pure running rugby.” Its a game that has eliminated set pieces almost entirely and strategy comes down to basic mixture of brute strength, fitness and speed. Few specialist positions in what is essentially full contact touch rugby. The joy comes in watching backlines run full tilt at each other trying to find gaps in the defence after which they hoof the ball down the field if they could not break the gain line. No one else in the world gives a fuck about Rugby League really. Its one dimensional. Despite this, Australia believes that have a way to improve the game of Union and make it easier to market to everyone. They are going to try to make it more like Rugby League.
I can understand why they find League more appealing then Union. There are people who love 20/20 cricket and would not dare watch Test Cricket too. Its a game that takes time to understand and requires a bit of effort to appreciate. Its considered the working mans game in Australia. Something for the plumbers and bricklayers. SANZAR went to the IRB and pushed for a change to Rugby Union rules so they could produce a more exciting game. A more marketable game. Especially in Australia, where the ARU felt they could not compete with League and AFL. They managed to convince everyone, even themselves, that its not the marketing of Union that is the problem, its the game itself. The game of rugby is flawed. The Northern Hemisphere has been against the notion of a rule change because they feel that rugby, as it was, had no real problems. The fans of the game, the people who appreciate Rugby Union, enjoy the set pieces and what it brings to the game as much as they enjoy seeing five pointers scored. Not only that but ratings for the game have been growing and rugby is going from strength to strength internationally. The game is exploding. The IRB buckled though and we now have the ELV’s currently being trialled. Australia got their way. They managed to get the changes made would provide them with the rules which should encourage the running rugby they, the Australians (and they believe the rest of the world) would like to see. Australians want attacking rugby
Even before this, when SANZAR was first being formed and the Super competition was only a competition paper, Australia and NZ were both “concerned” that the conservative style of the South African teams would make the product difficult to market in their respective regions. A bonus point system was introduced to ensure that the heavily defensive nature and set piece dominance of the South African teams would not be rewarded. Bonus points for tries were agreed upon in effort to ensure attacking rugby was ALWAYS going to be played by all sides. Defensive sides were always at a disadvantage.
There has been a prolonged effort by the Australian Rugby Union to encourage attacking play. Its been going on for years. Years! Slowly but surely, the game has moved away from its conservative nature and begun to embrace the attacking entertainment that League offers. You would think so at least. Yet once again, it seems as if we can expect another U-turn. The Aussies, and the Aussie franchises, are concerned. Again. Rugby, is in trouble. The Super competition, is in trouble.
With only three rounds remaining and nine teams separated by only seven points, it seems inevitable that play-off berths and even home semi-finals will be decided by a count back if two or more sides finish tied.Yet, as could well be the case, that could mean the Blues, currently only one point out of the top four despite having won only five matches – but with 10 bonus points to their credit – could pip the New South Wales Waratahs and the Brumbies, both of which have six wins at present but only four and three bonus points respectively.
With three rounds to go, the Blues and Waratahs have an identical points differential of 12, while the Brumbies, despite having an extra win, are almost impossibly placed with a points differential of minus 52. Big deal right? This has been going on for years right? I mean, this is how the competition is fucking structured, right?
“That doesn’t seem to make sense,” Waratahs coach Chris Hickey said. “Rugby is, after all, first and foremost about winning matches.”
Give the cunt a medal. I find it ironic that two years into the ELV’s and after all these years of playing a competition with a bonus points system they helped draft, its now an Australian side complaining about the negative impact it is having on his side. The Waratahs have played some of the most boring rugby we have had to endure in this competition. Be it spoiling at the set pieces or spoiling at the breakdowns their inability to score tries and break the line has been laughable. They have embraced that inability to the point where even the Fox Sports commentary team, as biased as they always are, have resorted to cheering them on for their defensive style of play. They wear their defensive record with pride. Attacking rugby be fucked, this is whats winning matches for us!
The running rugby we have been hoping to see with the rule changes and bonus point system happens to be coming from the South African and Kiwi sides. Individual points tables are currently dominated by South Africans who are traditionally at a disadvantage with the ELV’s and attacking nature of Super rugby.The script is like something out of the twilight zone. The Australian bitching? Clearly just another day at the office.
But it gets better. While most critics are satisfied there is a place for continuing with the system of rewarding attacking rugby by awarding a bonus point to sides scoring four tries in a match, but there is a growing dissatisfaction with the allocation of a bonus point to sides losing by seven or less, Fox Sports reports.
“There’s logic in having a bonus point for scoring four tries but I think, personally, it’s better if you only reward try-scoring, not sides that finish within seven,” Hickey said. “There was the example of the Crusaders losing 20-10 to the Cheetahs on the weekend but getting a penalty right on the bell, kicking the goal and scoring a bonus point because the match finished at 20-13. “Good luck to them, because that’s the rule, but I’m not sure it added anything to the match.”
Of course it adds nothing to the match. It adds something to the competition. It encourages sides to not only keep pushing even when they are faced with the prospect of defeat, it encourages sides to put the other team away so they take no points out of the game at all. Again, the Waratahs in the low scoring affairs where they eeked out a win playing 1950′s South African style rugby, have LEAKED points in the competition because they have not managed to beat anyone convincingly.
How can they feel hard done by here? Rule changes that suited their traditional style of rugby. Competition structures that reward attacking rugby. Structures that have been in place since its inception.
If there is any justice in the world no Australian side will qualify for the Super14 semi finals. Bar Western Force, who have played some entertaining rugby, both the Brumbies and Waratahs have been awful to watch. The Waratahs in particular could make watching paint dry seem exciting. Its winning rugby, but its boring rugby.
Its time to call a spade a spade. The Aussies have no interest in improving rugby. They dont need to improve rugby to make it easier to market to Australian audiences. They need to win. Winning rugby gets the crowds in and the viewers on the sofa. By limiting the importance of set pieces and speeding up the game they make it easier for their players to compete. When you grow up playing league, and wanting to play union like its league, its no wonder that a fucking fairy like Al Baxter could win so many test caps. Rugby does not need to change. Australia needs to change. Fit in or fuck off.
What is ironic though is that as soon as an Australian team has shifted their style of play to accommodate for their own shortcomings on attack they find fault with the structure of the competition. Unfortunately, I doubt it will be the last we hear of this if the Waratahs do not qualify.
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