// NZ RUGBY WORLD // JUNE/JULY 2015

you slow the ball down people can get their defensive lines in

place. And when they are two feet in front of where they should

be, then there’s just no space.”

When Hansen says the rugby fraternity has gone too far with

its desire to build effective rush defences, it’s hard not to

conclude many in the sport – coaches and players everywhere –

have gone too far with their thinking in nearly all aspects.

For a game built on the Corinthian spirit of fairness and

sportsmanship, it’s surprising that it now ﬁnds itself with a

culture of what those earning a coin in rugby say is innovation

but should really be called cheating.

There’s no getting away from the fact that rugby, more

than any other sport, has a pandemic culture of rule bending

and breaking.

Coaches and players are constantly ﬁnding ways to manipulate

the archaic law book and take advantage of the interpretative

rather than literal nature

of the rules. This year we saw the new

strategy of teams backing off at lineouts

to try to force referees to penalise the

attacking team if they set up a driving

maul. It was legal but symptomatic of this

desire teams have to focus on ﬁnding

questionable advantages.

Earlier this year Toulouse player Yohan

Huget was ﬁned for faking injury to try to

win a penalty. Clipped on the shoulder as

he chased a high ball, he collapsed

clutching his face.

The jackal tackle – where the defending

player swings his leg over from an offside

position – was another clever but dubious

ploy that had to eventually be outlawed.

And that’s the problem with the game

– why do so many teams have this desire

to cheat?

It pervades deep and it means that

referees, already compromised by the

rules, face the near impossible task of

policing players hell-bent on getting away

with that they can. And they are good at it.

Some players – especially loose

forwards – are expert at making it look

like they are competing for the ball on the

ground when in fact they are simply

hoping for a penalty by giving the

impression someone is holding onto it.

Frontrows practise screwing and

pulling and all sorts of different binding

techniques to test the astuteness of the

referee. The breakdown is effectively a

free for all as players try their luck

entering from different places and rarely

attempt to stay on their feet.

“I don’t really understand a lot of the

calls made by the referees,” says former

All Black legend Christian Cullen. “I’m not

really sure what is going on at the tackled

ball much of the time and it all happens so

fast and players are so good at pushing the

boundaries. I wonder if referees end up

guessing a bit as I know I am.”

BIG ISSUE

The scrum engagement

and subsequent battle is

often fraught with

illegality.

[ TROUBLED SOUL ]