General Rugby Discussion 3

rumour that it’s coming fro World Rugby, though it’s from barstool sports so as likely to be horseshit as based on something real. Seems an insane love that will destroy union in the US.

But not anywhere else. Would be tail wagging the dog.

Merging with league would be great for the sport, if it didn't require too many compromises. But it probably would.

Moving to 13 players and trying to make the game a little bit faster to bridge some of the gap would both be obvious wins for Union though - a big reduction in wages for professional clubs, more players to spread around teams for amateur clubs that are struggling with numbers, and a faster game for spectators.

More cardio to cover the open spaces would mean smaller players too with positives for player welfare.

Im a big enough rugby fan but will be honest and say scrums aren't all that interesting to me. It's got better recently but the less scrums in games the better.

So I don't think the rules are all that bad. Only one I don't like is

When the ball is knocked on or thrown into the in-goal area and grounded by either team, the result will be a goal-line dropout, eliminating the scrum as a restart option.

That just allows teams to play back into their try zone and touch the ball down. It's too easy an out

There are plenty of league viewers in the UK too. These 2024 attendance figures are comparable to the Premiership or URC UK teams.

Bringing those fans (and their money) on-board would do wonders for the game, especially in Australia where its dying.

But even money and fans aside, reducing union to 13 players isn't exactly turning the game into League. Theres no real negative to it, but plenty of postives - reduce wage bills for professional clubs by approx 15% overnight, spread more players around amateur teams, a faster / more exciting game, smaller players to cover the more field space so reduced contact injuries etc.

It mentions throwing the ball over the line. My original post didn't mention carrying it back.

Currently defending a line out of the 5 you pass back to your 10 and he clears under pressure. With the change you can pass back to your 10. He touches down and has a pressure free clearance.

I always thought a defending team passing back into the in goal area and grounding it was a 5 metre scrum.

You're probably right. As I said, head melted. Carrying it back though is still a scrum. Or at least it was last weekend.

obviously trying it in the US because audiences are small and insignificant in the larger rugby world. It’s likely an R&D excercise to experiment with the rules to minimise scrums. It does feel like it’s headed to RL territory but let’s face it, doing that would haemorrhage supporters because union fans don’t like rugby league. But be it’s a dangerous trend that assumes downsizing forward play will attract more fans by speeding up the game. Kind of ironic that it’s trialing in the US where AL is religion, a game that takes 4 hours for less than 20 minutes of play.

you might not be a fan but to call league 'a joke in comparison to union' is a bit ridiculous - the international game is, but the NRL and Super League are very good competitions. im definitely against the push from the southern hemisphere to make union more similar to the NRL (mainly for safety reasons), but i also think both games can learn and take things from each other

you could say the same about GAA, Canadian Football, Aussie Rules etc,. id argue it applied to NFL recently apart from the Super Bowl, although that seems to be becoming more popular worldwide in recent years (not that im a fan personally)

of course union can learn from league (and vice versa). for one, the 50/22 law comes from the success of the 40/20 rule in league. attacking patterns have benefitted from league influence (ireland being a good example) and the influx of league coaches in the early 2000s improved defences massively (debatable whether it is a good thing or not)

more than anything, the NRL has the best marketing of any competition in either rugby code. by an absolute mile.

again, union shouldnt just copy everything league does, but there are definitely things that can be learned.

conversely, league needs to learn from union in terms of tackle safety, so im not saying for one second that its all a one way street. the rugby league world cup is also an absolute joke apart from the final and occasionally the semis.

also, its not even australia as a whole that prefers league, its pretty much nsw, act and queensland that care about either code, with some interest in melbourne and even less in the other states