New Zealand captain Kieran Read talks with referee Roman Poite at the end of the third and final rugby test between the British and Irish Lions. Photo / AP.
Anything to make rugby easier to comprehend gets my vote but the latest proclamation from World Rugby fails to deliver that promise.
They want to give spectators and players sharper rules to counter the confusion but that black and white objective has churned out further cloudy disarray.
Take the ruck,
that complex phase of play where bodies arrive to hunt the ball and all sorts of issues apply about offside, use of the hands or feet, taking players out off the ball, the rights of the first tackler, the definition of the "gate", where the last feet are and which amendment the referee checked before he took the field.
Since rucking became the leprosy law, the breakdown has disintegrated into a perplexing shambles but World Rugby offered hopes about a solution with their work on the issue since the last global tournament. Forget it. Coaches and specialist staff will be in the ballpark but the rest of us might as well be watching a roulette wheel again.
Six changes to the scrum, tackle/ruck laws "aimed at making the game simpler to play and referee, as well as further protecting player welfare" will be assessed from August in the north then down-under from the start of next year.
