imo the new charge down rule is aimed at defenders actually trying to attack the ball rather than attacking the kicker, as such giving the kicker better protection and also allowing for a dummy kick and run. which can only be a good thing.

Also, there was an incident when a Rhinos kick on the last tackle came of the Wakefield players leg and went into touch, which was a scrum feed to Leeds (just as it would have been last season), had the ball bounced back into a Leeds players hands it would still have been the last tackle, but Leeds gained a scrum on the Wakefield "40".

FWIW, although there will be moments when the ball trickles "dead", it looks like a positive rule change and will prevent the hpoefull "hoof" upfield.

Don't really like the idea of any of them. You very really see teams hoofing it completely dead on purpose. OK some trickle dead when the oppositions tries a clearing kick, but that's part of the game. 40m is too much IMO. What's the difference between someone kicking it out dead from a clearing kick and someone deliberately kicking it into touch?

Aimless kicks to the corner resulting in a try is probably the worse way to score a try IMO

Aimless kicks to the corner resulting in a try is probably the worse way to score a try IMO, no skill.

Like this. It will discourage aimless hoofs down the field.


I also like this. It will mean that pressuring the kick is a win-win situation.

I don't like the sound of that, at all.

Tell you what, take a ball out onto a local pitch and stand 10 metres in from touch on one side, around the 20 metre line.

Now try to kick the ball so it lands in a five metre square patch of grass in the opposite corner. It has to be in the air long enough that someone who was stood behind you could run forward and catch it before it lands.

Try it 20 times, and come back to us with how many landed exactly where you wanted them to with the right amount of time in the air. Then tell me there's no skill involved in cross-field kicks.

What's the new advantage rule?

Said by someone who has clearly never played the game. If you have it was probably as a prop, the Paleaaesina kind.

You try and do it and see what success rate you come back with.

Ade Gardner's try for St Helens against Leeds in March (46-6), the leap by Gardner made that try, it was perfect...the kick by Roby however wasn't great and quite a desperate play on the last. It's about the recipient of the kick, and the how the opposition's defence deals with it, not really about the kick itself.

Its still got to land in the right place, though,and in order to make it hard to take, you need to get height on it.

1. Nope, it penalises the 'attacking' team too much when the vageries of a bounce/pitch divots/swirling winds can mean the ball pulling up way short of the try line or bouncing miles over for similar power/directioned kicks.
Trying to put back rotation on a ball to hold it up and get distance over 35-40m is extremely difficult without having a player charging you down if no.2 gets the go-ahead



2. So if a defender charges down, the ball goes back toward the attackers goal line 25m and they recover it on the last, isn't the risk for open kicking massively more riskier. Will we be seeing the offside rule tightened up because that will just be a joke situation with some teams already infringing the 10 by a few yards, more so at the back end of a game..

3. Again, if we see defending teams being offside at scrums as has been the case for like forever with virtual impunity having an extra man over won't make a huge amount of difference.
Stop the defending team from moving up so quick, as in enforce the offside rule properly, retiring back the required distance behind the scrum until the ball is out and they'll be space for teams to attack, no need to have an extra loose man.

I like this, as it will help make it harder to pin a team in their own half. I prefer it to be morelike the rugby union rule, whereby when the ball runs dead in goal, the restarting team can choose a tap on the 20, or a tap where is was kicked from.
It is extremely difficult to get it to stand up in the in goal, but all too often people don't even try, they just hoof it down field as hard as they can and if it goes dead, they get a pretty good reward in a restart on the 20m.

You are right, the offside will have to be policed well, but I think it will encourage pressure on the kicker. From a speccy's POV, you want the charge down occur every time, but if the players kicking it around the half way, the defending wingers are dropped back, it may not be considered worth while to risk giving them another set of 6 by attempting a charge down - that's not condusive to entertainment, imo.

Percentage rugby has taken over at my club more than most, and its not as exciting to watch as RL should be. Whilst I love an armwrestle and seeing a team put under pressure until they break, i think the above tactics would help break down the slight monotony which is creeping into the game. All-in-all, I think they want to see more rugby around the half way line.