Another year and another set of changes to the game that we all (thought we) know and love! Brace yourselves, guys and let’s try to get to grips with what’s going to be different in Super Rugby 2013.
We’ve already talked about the increase of the half-time break from 10 minutes to 12 – whether that’s got anything to do with making players just that little fresher for the second 40, or simply to increase the amount of ads that can be squeezed in, we’ll never know, but I guess it is what it is. More interesting are the changes that will be implemented during actual playing time.
Over the last few months, we’ve all got used to the new “crouch, touch, set” scrum call sequence, which will replace the “crouch, touch, pause, engage” waste of time that we’ve had to endure in recent years. That will continue in Super Rugby, which should hopefully reduce the number of failed scrums, as well as cut down on the agonising 5-minute wait we often have to endure as overly-officious referees can’t seem to remember what the next command is. There will also be a change to the quick-throw law, allowing a team to take a quick throw when the player is anywhere outside the field of play between the line of touch and the player’s goal line. Also, a non-offending team will now be allowed to take a lineout, rather than a scrum, when the opposition knocks the ball into touch.
The most interesting changes, though. are the implementation of a 5-second limit for ball held at the back of the ruck – basically, once the ball has been “available” to the scrumhalf at the base of the ruck for 5 seconds, he will need to “use it or lose it” – and the extension of the TMO’s power’s beyond simply ruling on try-scoring activity. In the latter case, though, there is some good news, in that the new TMO jurisdiction won’t go as far as it did during the Currie Cup, where the TMO could go arbitrarily far back to find virtually any reason he liked to not award a try.
For Super Rugby, the TMO will be allowed to rule “in-game” on incidents of foul play, if referred by the referee, but will only be able to review try-scoring plays for infringements within the last two phases. We’ll have to see how that works out, but it should be better than the Currie Cup.
The other interesting news is that these law variations will be trialled on a global basis across both Northern and Southern hemispheres this year, rather than in a piecemeal, competition-by-competition fashion as we’ve seen in the past.
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And for the 3rd time I’ll ask… Will we now have 8 reserves or still only 7?
@JarsonX (Comment 1) :
7 for SR 2013
8 For RC 2013
8 for SR 2014
Thank you
@Morné (Comment 2) : really? That bonkers. Why not just do 8 for SR 2013?
@robdylan (Comment 4) :
No idea. Ozzies probably against it
I asked Greg Peters from SANZAR on tiwtter and that is what he confirmed.
@Morné (Comment 5) : haha…. God, imagine telling the Aussies teams to each find an extra prop. They’d go mental
@Morné (Comment 5) : @robdylan (Comment 6) : Wow, so the ozzies still running the show?!
They really need to invest in SA forward coaches and stop trying to change the game to suit their forward inability. Bunch-a softies
hopefully this 5 second rule will kill the wait and look option at the ruck
Isn’t it ‘Crouch-touch-Set’?
@Pokkel (Comment 9) : o crap, is it?
@Pokkel (Comment 9) : @robdylan (Comment 10) :
It is indeed.
@Morné (Comment 11) : and the article now reflects that
@robdylan (Comment 12) :
I did not pick it up either
@Morné (Comment 13) : sweet
@robdylan (Comment 14) : At least SOMEBODY still reads your articles instead of just skipping to the comments.
@Pokkel (Comment 15) : thanks dude! Long may you continue to do so
@robdylan (Comment 16) :
Ja,just don’t let the standards drop,né!
@Pokkel (Comment 17) : standards?
@robdylan (Comment 18) :
hehehehehe……
pretty soon you won’t be able to tell the difference between union and league…
@lostfish (Comment 20) : don’t say that… I mean, you’re right, but don’t say it out loud, please!
12 minute half-time breaks then? Hmm, 2 more minutes for DSTv to show the same adverts twice in one break. Or of course, they could advertise themselves more – when, if you can watch the ad, you’ve clearly already got their product…
Why not make it a nice, round 15 minutes? 10 minutes seemed to work fine – as if 2 minutes a week is going to make a difference when the poor sods have to play SO many matches – but 12 just seems arbitrary…
I’m starving for news or anything rugby related. How is FL and LMS coming along?
@JarsonX (Comment 23) : I’m already getting my FL squad together.