Wogball in crisis

As Brian Moore said in his article - the IRB shouldn't be afraid to re-instate laws if necessary. That one's a case in point. The 22 clearance to touch and ensuing line-out at least gets the ball in hand again.

While it's not perfect, it has to be better than the ariel ping-pong we're getting now.

But I do think that it's something that the IRB should be able to admit just hasn't worked without them getting slated. I honestly don't recall anyone opposing that idea, it seemed a perfectly sensible one at the time.

It should be remembered that the E in ELV stands for experimental.

The rule about not kicking out on the full after passing back into the 22 has turned out to be a dud. It should be dispensed with.

Well, yes - but that's just a figleaf to suggest it wasn't permanent. It's only because several of them have turned out to be disastrous that this has come up. Even then, quite a few people doubt the IRB will have the guts to straightforwardly dump bad rules.

Mick.

To clear up our remaining points of disagreement.

On the two-point try... how about 2 points for tries from kicks within the opposition 20m? That would take care of the grubbers without punishing the chip-and-chase or long-range cross-field kicks. Bombs would still be discouraged somewhat by my rule on allowing marks inside the 20.

On making most penalties six-again or a handover... I think too many teams in Rugby League are playing for penalties rather than just playing the game. Metres gained from a kick to touch PLUS six tackles is a massive advatnage. Referees try to avoid giving penalties because of the impact they have on the match. At the moment a ref might let a couple of infringements go but ping them when they do it a third or fourth time.

Under this system he could just call six-again on the first infringement without affecting the flow of the game. Hopefully that initial sanction would have some effect on the offending team's behaviour, nipping it in the bud so to speak. Continually giving a side six-again isn't a smart option... and the ref could still hand out full-arm penalties for repeat offences.

Interestingly, I think Rugby Union could gain a lot from embracing metres gained from a kick to touch as the main form of penalty. The sanctions ELV would have worked better if it still allowed teams to kick for touch (a kick to touch is obviously a harsher penalty than a free kick). And it would work even better again if teams could have the option of a scrum or free kick to restart play after a penalty kick to touch (rather than being limited to a line-out).