New Zealand All Blacks No.8 Kieran Read with referee Wayne Barnes during the Pool C match between New Zealand and Argentina held at Wembley Stadium. Photo / Brett Phibbs.
The laws of rugby have been tampered with and fiddled about for years but when they sit down at the end of the current World Cup, the game's power-brokers need to seriously consider the amount of time that is wasted and the length of time that the ball is actually
in play.
In the wake of the second half of the All Blacks v Nambia game, which in my opinion turned into a giant yawn, consideration must be given to stopping the clock when the ball is dead. It's hardly a new concept but if the game is to be taken seriously as an international attraction we simply can't have the sight of endless collapsed scrums and tiresome time-wasting as the clock relentlessly ticks on.
My simple solution, and this is hardly revolutionary, is that the referee sounds the whistle for an infringement and that automatically stops the clock until the ball is legitimately back in play. It's not that difficult is it?
Cynical and experienced sides worked out long ago that the protection of a narrow lead in the final stages of a game can be achieved quite easily within the current law. Front rows standing up, hookers clarifying line-out calls, so on and so on - this has to be stamped out for the protection of the game both as a contest and, more importantly, as a spectacle.
