KEY POINTS:
Cake tin officials should dish out special brochures with the programmes tonight to explain Edition Two of the laws which will be seen in New Zealand this season.
The first version, known as the ELVs, came during the Super 14. This month will see a revision to last
season's laws, then from the start of the Tri-Nations, other amendments like pulling down the maul and uneven lineout numbers will be allowed.
In practice there may not be a great deal of difference, but the International Rugby Board lawmakers are asking a lot of their players and patrons with their continual changes.
It should not surprise, though, as this organisation cannot even decide on something as simple as finding a uniform ball.
They have also come up with another beauty this week, an edict that should send warning signals about how tonight's season-opening international will play out.
The email bounced out of the IRB ether, complete with a triumphant headline which declared "IRB Confirms Tackle and Ruck to be Refereed According to Law".
What a relief you might think, or even about time. But the IRB's dictum indicates that officials have not been refereeing according to the rules as they were intended, or that those rules have not been practical.
Delivering such directions on the eve of this test puts extra pressure on referee Chris White to satisfy the IRB, and the only way he can respond is with a whistlefest in Wellington. That can lead to the sort of penalty shootout which satisfies the victor but few others. Assistant All Black coach Wayne Smith thought that White, generally, had a good feel for letting matches flow but that the command for stricter interpretations of the laws would have some impact.
The IRB worries boiled down to this. Attackers were sealing off the ball at the tackle and handling in the ruck while defenders were being told to leave the ball alone. Referees needed to be more vigilant and equitable and were being told to make sure halfbacks fed the ball into the middle of scrums.
All these rules have been operating for some time but the vigilance of match officials, certainly during the Super 14, has not been as strong as it should be.
In part that comes down to the calibre of those officials who need to be right on top of their game when the all-inquisitive eye of television and endless replays can reveal them as the sort of ineffective bystanders that even the IRB can see.
* Blues assistant coach Greg Cooper has left the franchise after one season. He joined the Blues after four years as head coach at the Highlanders. His youngest daughter became ill during the year and the family was unwilling to shift to Auckland. Cooper has taken a short-term consultancy position with NEC in Japan.
