[url=http://www.rugbyleague.com/rugby-league-news/new-rule-interpretations-for-2010.htmlLooks like the game will get even quicker.[/url

Looks like Phil Clarke has got his way on that second one. Personally, I like it when a group of defenders don't complete the tackle so they can drag a guy into touch. On the other hand, if it encourages wingers to take a chance on the outside it will be no bad thing.

Don't like either to be honest, I can understand the leg lift to a certain extent, but being pushed or dragged back i feel is part of the game, its part and parcel of winning the collision, and dominating it.

I agree, both are not required - more technical infringements - more like RU than ever.

On the first case I can see defenders deliberitely lifting a players leg so that the tackle is called held to prevent the tackled player off-loading the ball - or the tackled player lifting his leg as soon as contact is made with his leg so as to try and win a penalty. Seems a pointless change to me.

On the second I agree with the previous posters - it is part of the game and is a reward for a good defensive effort - why stop it? It is not as though it happens a lot in a game.

You can imagine someone as picky as Stuart Cummins being right behind it. I truly wish we could get that fella OUT of rugby league once and for all.

We are moving further an further away from being a game of rugby and even closer to being a glorified game of British Bulldog

Don't like either of them, it won't speed up the game - just simply result in more penalties.

When the OP said the game would get quicker, I was praying the RFL had finally got rid of the controlled restart and we could continue the flow of the game amongst penalties and tap restarts.

it wont stop the dominant tackler/s 'driving' a player backwards , the word is 'dragging' .

to me that implies the use of the shirt etc

Just thinking about this some more, just say there's a kick into the ingoal area, the defender tries to get out and a couple of players drag him back. That's now a penalty?!

Next year's interpretation...

As soon as someone touches the attacking player and shouts either "TICK, YOU'RE IT", or "BRITISH BULLDOG, 1 2 3", then the referee will call "held" and the tackle will be completed.

Stuart Cummings is an idiot who makes up these type of pointless rules to jusity his wages and position within the RFL IMO.

It reminds me of the season in the early 90s - not sure which one exactly - when a ruling was made that any contact with the ball-carrying player at all after the ref had shouted 'held', no matter how slight, was deemed to be an infringement. The season was a penalty-a-thon for the first five weeks, after which the referees took it on themselves to ignore the ruling because it was totally ridiculous.

Mind you, now and then it is resurrected - a la Silverwood with us at KR a couple of Good Fridays ago.

These rules move us in my opinion down the line of American Football, ie whatever gain you make going forward to contact is the actual meter gain and the defence can do very little to prevent that momentum, i love attacking flowing rugby but if these rules stringently followed I think we will see some big scores next year which is not good for the game.

The rule states that if there is only one defender in attendance therefore the 1 on 1 dragging/driving backwards appears to be ok.

No it's never a penalty, it's a call of held (tackle complete)

And it's only a held call if the guy with the ball has a team mate join in, otherwise they can drive him back.

People need to read the text at the bottom of the article.

jonh, read the text at the bottom, they can drive you back fine. It's just a change to call held when a team-mate of the ball carrier joins in.

On the lifting the leg front, i'd imagine deliberately raising the leg will see the ball carrier penalised for foul play

I don't like it, they're making the game too soft. Was dragging or leg lifting becoming a real problem? In my opinion no, Wingers still scored loads of tries last season, and I can't remember many instances when a player has lifted just one leg during a tackle, it's usually smart play after held is called to slow the ptb down

[iApplication: This does not prevent players driving an opponent into touch or back into his own in goal area providing that a team mate of the ball carrier has not added their weight to the tackle. As soon as the referee sees a tackling player dragging the ball carrier in a tackle that involves more than one tackler he will call "held". If the tackling players continue to move the ball carrier after the "held" call they should be penalised.[/i

how does it make the game soft or spoil it ?

as i said earlier , the dominant driving tackle is NOT outlawed .

it just stops a 2nd or 3rd player coming in after the original tackle and dragging the ball carrier

a good move in my view

but thinking about it , the rule for last year was similar regarding dragging a tackled player , the new rule just comes in a bit earlier during the tackling process

theres nothing fires the crowd up like 2 or 3 tacklers driving a man backwards near his own line.
picking em up and carrying ems different, as is dragging em back by the shirt.

so why not leave it alone, and just change the bit were carrying em backs not allowed?

and we seems now we arnt allowed to tackle by grabbing the shirt (my interpretation anyway).
theres nothing like seing a winger grabbed by the shirt and swung into touch imo.

as a previous poster mentioned........NFL (again)
we are going that way...they have penalties for horse collar tackles (grabbing the shoulder pads), chop blocks (similar to spear tackles , but awarded when a tackler hits a guy about knee hight and he spins up in the air and comes down on his head), uneccasary roughness (charging in after a tackles made , or quarterbacks released ball, similar to a flop, or late charge on the kicker) and face mask (fortunately we havnt gone all pansy yyet and started wearing helmets.)
but we do seem heading that way where the balls played at the place of forward momentum, and not where the ball carrier ends up.

as stevos fond of saying.......its not tiddly winks.

Spot on.

The lifting the leg thing is a daft rule change, basically, if your a prop and you manage to stay on your feet thats it, the defending team can do nothing to take you to ground other than throw you over a leg. I hate the RFL

It does not change the ability to drive the player back unless a team mate of the ball carrier joins in the the tackle, then it's a held call to get the ball played and moving again. It in no way stops 2 or 3 defenders from driving back the ball carrier whether in open field, into the ingoal area or into touch.

That's not true though, all the change does is make held be called when the defenders lift one leg of the ball carrier. If they don't lift his leg (but his leg comes off the ground) then held isn't called until the tackle is completed normally. It's actually a more sensible rule than calling held when both legs are lifted off the ground if you think about it - if that was introduced to promote safety, it's a bit bloody late by the time the guy is in the air and anything can happen, and it actually speeds up the game. You can still dominate the tackle and ground the ball carrier, you just have to use a bit more technique than simply 3 men on him and lifting his legs.

Lets see how it actually plays out, and what the reactions of the players and coaches are.

And seriously mate, if you think NFL is soft, I suggest you give it a go. All that padding and protection you're wearing is also being worn by the 275lb guy who's got the acceleration over 10 metres of a great sprinter running full force into you trying to shred you. Without that protection today people would be killed on a regular basis in the sport. Even with all that protection the size and power of the athletes involved still results in some horrific career ending injuries on a reasonably regular basis. That's why they have penalties for unnecessary roughness - it's already plenty rough enough as it is.

These rules are turning the sport into a game which the ref controls, IMO you shoudln't need a ref all game.

In the late 80's early 90's the only time you saw or heard from the ref was when they awarded a try or broke a fight up.

Now I'm on edge all the time when we are defending waiting for the ref to blow his whistle for a penalty.

Forget quick play the balls, all it encourages is scooting hookers and 5 drives and a kick.

Force team to put some effort and thought into their play.

All this will do is force endless penalties, and an increase in players in possession holding the tacklers trying to milk penalties. The game as a result will end up slower, not quicker.

Plus, the referees can't keep up with play now. Heaping all these silly rules on them is making the job even harder.


The RFL are a complete joke.