In rugby’s quest to return itself back to an aerobic sport, reduce cynical ploys to waste precious seconds,and shorten those dead spots when the ball is out of play, there somewhat unbelievably has to be the establishment of a universal clock that serves as the sole arbiter of time.
The business of speeding things up and actively managing time to stop it being wasted by prolonged kicks at goal, glacially-paced shifts towards lineouts and complex choreography at scrums, has been a big theme in the Rugby Championship.
The competition is being played under trial laws that have seen the introduction of shot clocks on various aspects of play, and mostly, it’s been a roaring success.
In what has arguably been the best Rugby Championship of all time, not only has the rugby been intense, dramatic and unpredictable, many of the old frustrations of seeing so much time needlessly wasted have been eradicated under the clock shot regime and licence granted to referees to hurry things along.
But there has been the odd occasion where the system has remained imperfect and most frustratingly, inconsistent. One of those occasions was in the last minutes of the Bledisloe Cup test where the All Blacks, to those in the stadium at least, looked guilty of egregious time-wasting after Noah Lolesio had converted Tom Wright’s try to close the score to 31-28.
The All Blacks remained huddled under the posts after the conversion and, after a period, were hurried along by referee Karl Dickson.
They ignored him and held their ground to stay in the huddle. Dickinson asked them a second time to get on with the game, which they did, but walked with no purpose to the halfway line, and by the time Damian McKenzie restarted the game, a full 45 seconds had elapsed between the conversion going over and the ball being back in play.
Even those not counting the seconds ticking by on the scoreboard clock would have had a definitive sense the All Blacks were pushing the boundary of how long is too long to get the ball back in play.
But there is no evidential basis to prove it took that long because rugby has a time-keeping issue – in that it madly and archaically does not operate with one universal clock that is used in the stadium and across all broadcasters.
Instead, the understanding of how much time was left and how much time elapsed will have varied, based on whether fans were in the stadium, watching in Australia or watching in New Zealand.
The discrepancies between all three clocks were significant, as according to Stan’s coverage in Australia, Wright’s try was scored on 78.11s; while on Sky TV, the clock shown to viewers said 78.50s.
The game clock showing 78.11, seen by Australian viewers, as Tom Wright scored for the Wallabies. Photo / NZR+
The game clock showing 78.48, seen by New Zealand viewers, as Tom Wright scored for the Wallabies. Photo / Sky Sport
The stadium clock wasn’t aligned with either of those two, and this is because all three are independently operated – making their own decision as to when to stop and start based on the information flow they receive from the referee’s communications.
While this may seem a pedantic point to press, it is in fact significant as firstly it creates a different fan experience, and an inconsistent means by which to contextualise the drama of the game.
There’s a big difference between a try being scored with two minutes left to play compared with one minute left: a difference that respectfully manifests in fans as genuine hope against limited probability.
Secondly, it can create confusion for the players, as against South Africa at Ellis Park, when Beauden Barrett kicked the ball out, believing it would end the half as the stadium clock had gone past 40 minutes, but whatever clock referee Andrew Brace was using said there was still time to take the lineout.
Thirdly, it creates confusion as to who precisely is the arbiter of time.
Three clocks all showed different amounts of time left and all three had a different take on how much time elapsed between Lolesio’s conversion going over and McKenzie restarting the game.
This may not seem a high priority for New Zealanders right now, but imagine if the tables are turned in Wellington, and the Wallabies win the game by successfully killing 45 seconds through time-wasting.
Rugby needs one integrated clock controlled by the referee, and that way there will be no subjective arguments about whether the All Blacks were guilty of cynical time-wasting or simply exercising canny game management.
This is a point of particular interest given the recent historical context, with the Wallabies infamously penalised for time-wasting in the first Bledisloe of 2022 – an incident that cost them the game when Bernard Foley took too long to kick a penalty to touch, and the referee awarded a scrum to New Zealand.
Rugby needs an integrated time management system, and universal agreement about setting limits for all restart activities such as taking penalties, forming lineouts, kickoffs and scrums.
Have specific laws, an undisputed means to accurately measure them and non-negotiable punishments for breaking them.
