The rules are destroying rugby,

Watching an old recording of London Irish playing Wasps, brought home again the ‘league-like’ nature of modern rugby. One line of men facing another line of men in boring phase play. Nobody getting above a trot. Endless resets with the defensive team’s objective to get a turnover penalty, to kick for the corner and maul for a try.

Maul sanctity, turnover penalties and lack of space with forwards all over the backline are killing the game. Oddly more set pieces would be good because they confine the forwards. Stop calling handling advantage….it just leads to more phase borethons. Set the scrum to create space….but fix the scrums as well….the old scrums without the hit worked much better. We need some deeper innovation here.

In the old days weeks before the game there would be discussion about centre and wing contests…made certain because of set piece defence. Now you are more likely to see a loosie defending a centre than a serious contest in space between centres.

In protecting mauls and the turnover we have driven out the most exciting moments in rugby….eg a wing trying to round his opponent. Today you hardly ever see it….the ball can’t be protected out there or the runner could be pushed into touch. So the wings turn inside looking for support. That means big powerful guys are better options than sprinters.

The gaps are still there for the great centres, wings in full cry can still occasionally be seen. But 95% of the time it’s sterile phase play. Rugby is so much less attractive than in the sixties…somewhere between 7’s and today’s league-like game there has to be a better way.

Having fewer substitutes would create more space as the forwards tire during the game. 
This extra space would bring more skill back into the game.

It would bring smaller players back into the game, as they are conditioned to last a whole match. 
The bigger units will tire as the game goes on.

A big bench works for South Africa though, as we have lots of international standard forwards that we can switch on a like-for-like basis.

Unlike the backs, where there is less depth of all-round players that can pass, run and tackle. 

I Agree Moz it's all these new rules that has made it Very similar to league rugby stop start phase play....and is it my imagination, but I see more severe injuries happening in modern day rugby. The game has lost it,s natural Flow.

Rugby people talk abot the laws of the game, rugby noobs talk about the rules of the game. 

The rugby noobs should find another sport to watch if the "rules" make them cry.

This from the Cambridge University Dictionary:

law noun (RULE)

Plum please don’t discourage the doddering old codger. Any confrontation with Peeper is a guaranteed feel good moment..he is so inept!