chickenfeet

Well after serving up four weekends which ranged from the so-so to the abysmal, the Six Nations served up a really good final weekend.  All three games were pretty good with some inspired rugby especially from England and Wales.  When Wales put it together they really do look good.  It was also very nice to see my former clubmate Goughie leading Wales out to claim his 50th cap.  There are things that need to be sorted out though.  Referees seem to accept two obviously unacceptable things as a fact of life now.  Players just flop on top of a tackled team mate at the breakdown and make no attempt to stay on their feet.  This completely eliminates the possibility of contesting possession at the breakdown.  Wales reacted best to this.  Their refusal to commit players to "rucks" was smart.  It gave France no attacking room at all and they seemed completely unable to think up a counter tactic.  It does make for very negative rugby though.  Maybe the ELVs may not be such a bad idea after all?  The second problem is that defenders at the "ruck" are offside at every play.  Quite often the attacking side has a couple of "guards" in offside positions too.  I really don't know why refs don't deal with it.

Overall, I'm really not happy about the standard of play generally though in the 6N.  The teams are far too sloppy and inconsistent.  I may be proved wrong when Wales take on South Africa but I'll be surprised if I am.

I expect we shall see the ELVs in the northern hemisphere sooner rather than later.  I'd be happier about them if I didn't think that they were part of a long term Australian plan to make us all play League.  Fundamentally changing the game because Australians are big girls' blouses who can't scrummage just isn't on.  Still, at a minimum, a sensible rule about contesting possession at the breakdown would definitely be a good thing.  At the moment far too much is up to the referee's interpretation.