I wish that statement was correct because with a little over 21,000 players in Auckland alone (38,000-plus if you include the Super City), this region should be a bigger contributor to our national game.
It is not however, and with our regional super team spreading the talent, we now not only have a stronger provincial product, more teams capable of winning the NPC, but a stronger national side who have been able to increase their winning percentage since that time so clearly that theory no longer holds true.
Hi Kamo,
1) Can you please explain why scrum put-ins can be right under the hooker's feet at nearly 45 degrees without penalty, whereas lineout throw-ins have to be straight.
2) Penalty kicks at goal make up a high percentage of points and take up much time.
A couple of years back the Super 14 competition experimented with "bent arm" penalties where no kick at goal was allowed in many instances.
This sped up the game; fewer goal kicks; more time for ball in play; more running with the ball; more tries.
Why was this abandoned? Any chance it might be re-introduced?
Regards, Peter Worrall (Ex-Counties fullback)
1) Peter I understand your concerns but of all the things that can go, and do go wrong in our scrums, a crooked feed (apart from the most blatant of offences) is the least of our problems.
Most will agree and I know the New Zealand Super coaches think the same way, we would rather see the referees concentrate on other areas of the engage, keeping the thing up than stopping for every crooked feed.
The lineout is another matter as it is still a purely contestable part of our game and a unique feature of it, so the ball thrown down the middle gives both parties an equal opportunity of winning it.
2) Penalty kicks make up 39 per cent of this year's points scored with 409 attempted at a little over 8 a game.
That is a maximum of 8 minutes lost time per game which isn't a lot when you think about the importance of penalties in rugby.
The penalty is there to punish teams who are impeding the flow of the game and this pleasingly has dropped in recent times.
I don't see the bent arm penalties, which where used in the 2008-2009 season under the ELVs coming back as most teams quickly found out it was better to give away your bent arm penalty rather than points and infringing actually increased.