By JOHN DRAKE
It's time that rugby sorted its timekeeping out.
Rugby must be the only professional sport in the world that gives referees such a discretionary hold on keeping time, and it leads to the sort of confusion that Saturday's wonderful test at Wellington ended in.
Of course, the sport has long held on to that quaint concept that the referee is the sole judge of time. But that is no longer good enough, and the latest test between the All Blacks and Wallabies has brought the matter to a head.
For a start, the referee and touch judges are simply too busy to have to deal with keeping the time. The referee should signal to a timekeeper when he has stopped and started playing time, and the timekeeper's time would be what the officials, players, ground spectators and broadcasters work with.
Not only would the introduction of timekeepers, agrà la rugby league, be fairer on the players and watching public, but it would add to the drama.
Time is a big issue in professional sport, and the final countdown to a clearly understood fulltime provides some of the most dramatic moments in sport.
All season we have had funny goings-on with timekeeping, and there was a game in South Africa where it was claimed there were 12 minutes of injury time. The current system only leads to frustrations and misunderstandings.
That, and a few rule problems aside, it was another extraordinary test. The Australians and New Zealanders have taken test rugby to a whole new level and the once mighty South Africans are a distant third in this Tri-Nations series.
There really isn't much between the two top sides, and whereas the All Blacks were probably a bit lucky in Sydney, the Australians had a dash of luck in Wellington.
The Australians have become used to winning, while the All Blacks, despite having a host of players from the champion Crusaders, still seem a bit short on experience and composure.
You can't help but feel that if Sean Fitzpatrick and/or Zinzan Brooke had been out there, they would have worked the right moves to ensure New Zealand hung on for the win.
Once again the lineout proved to be our Achilles' heel. It's been a problem all year and the All Blacks have paid dearly for it this time.
While it was a thrilling test, some rule changes could make the game better. The defensive lines need to be kept apart because they are stifling the attacks, and I believe the players should be kept 5m back from the advantage line throughout the game.
The referee and linesmen have to patrol an offside line at the moment so it is just a matter of changing where that line is.
And the rule-makers need to find a way or ways of encouraging more players to join the rucks, so that the defensive lines are not so heavily packed.
I don't have the answer to how that should be done, and as always there are causes and effects with any rule change. But it needs to be done somehow.