Mitchell angry at 'complete waste'

By CHRIS RATTUE

Chiefs coach John Mitchell has described his extensive pre-season training as a "complete waste of time" because of rugby's new rule interpretations.

Mitchell, the highly respected former English assistant coach, said the battling franchise had wasted its money and resources since he brought the squad together in early January.

Thirty minutes into the Chiefs' Super 12 first round loss to the Waratahs, he realised he would have to totally re-design the side's strategies this season.

Pre-tournament matches are notoriously unreliable when it comes to working out how to play in the competition and the Chiefs' buildup was not helped when the Blues pulled out of a match.

And Mitchell was left bewildered by the way South African Andy Turner controlled their first-round clash at the Sydney Football Stadium, although the Chiefs coach did not want to blame the referees. He said the confusion centred around the tackle ball rule.

And the situation was made worse because the controlling body, SANZAR, had for the first time not put out a game management plan - outlining how they want matches played - before the Super 12 tournament.

Mitchell said he and his players had no idea that the second tackler in could not even touch the player in possession on the ground. But he declined to say how the Chiefs had decided to deal with the problem in future.

"I don't want to give that away ... but we might as well have started our whole planning on Monday (this week)," he said. "Everything we did before that was a complete waste of time. There has been no consistency in what we've been told.

'I actually believe they will be good rules for the game once they are understood and sorted out. And I don't blame the referees. I'm not sure who to blame. But we had no idea the game would be played that way.

"I've had to re-design everything we do. I feel very sorry for the players, who put in a lot of hard work and who have to rely on their instincts.

"Everything we've done since January 8 have been a complete waste of the franchise's money."