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'There are too many laws': Ex-All Blacks react to Wayne Smith's comments
By Ben Smith
Former All Black wingers Sir John Kirwan and Jeff Wilson have supported Wayne Smith’s calls for changes after the former Black Ferns head coach criticised the state of the game.
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The ex-All Black assistant coach made waves when he said he “switched the game off for the first time in his life” while watching the Highlanders play the Force, during which five yellow cards were issued.
Smith, who is a vocal advocate for removing the driving maul from the game, expressed his frustration with the number of stoppages in the game, as penalty after penalty leads to set-piece after set-piece.
Kirwan agreed with Smith’s views on Sky Sport NZ’s The Breakdown, stating that too many rules interrupt the flow of a game
“He will always have solutions,” Kirwan said of Smith’s criticisms.
“But I think the frustrating thing for us is there are too many laws, even the Blues game last night, every second ruck the ref has his hand out for a penalty.
“This is what Wayne is saying. What’s happening then is they are kicking to the corner, they are mauling, there is scrums, re-scrum.
“I pre-recorded the Blues game and I’m just fast-forwarding it, fast-forwarding it.”
Ex-All Black Wilson had a solution that would force teams to commit more numbers to a ruck by removing the jackal at the breakdown.
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He said that allowing players to snatch at the ball is ‘killing the game’.
“Hands in the ruck is killing the game,” Wilson said.
“Everyone thinks they can steal it at any time, particularly at lower grades.
“I just want one grade to try where all you are doing is contesting for possession with weight over the ball, pushing past the ball and that’s the only way you can win it.
“You have to commit more numbers to the breakdown, what does that do? It opens up space.
“You get to a point where it is just a mess.
“You think of an amateur referee, he has no ARs, no one telling him in his ear.”
“If we don’t think outside the square, take the game forward, like Wayne Smith is talking about, make it more attractive, easier to referee and more fun to play, for more people to play, we will lose the battle.”
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Too many pedantic rules BUT mainly too many refs without a "feel" for the game. eg ball at back of scrum, available for halfback and front row penalised - utter nonsense.
Wayne Smith 100% regarding length of penalty advantage. In most cases the "advantage" is to give penalty straight away.
When a scrum collapses and a bent arm penalty is awarded, how about making the team awarded tap and run! Save time with resets maybe, I too like JK am using record and fast forward, a great tool to have!
I don’t think wingers can understand just how much more engaging the game becomes for forwards when jackling is an option, that’s like saying well a winger has to pass the ball after a line break or something equally stupid, removing jackling would result in teams just supersizing their forwards making collisions even more dangerous.
Yeah but the game needs to be entertaining for everyone, not just the forwards. I'm a former Flanker myself, do I get what you're saying, but the game is a tough old slog to watch right now.