I remember playing inter-school soccer many years ago. One day I was marking a guy who had played representative soccer.
He wasn't any faster than me, nor was any any fitter. He probably had a little bit better ball control - but not that significant.
But what the bastard could really do was foot-trip me and get away with it. I crashed to the ground 20-30 time that day. Guess the ref just thought I was a bit clumsy!
Anyway that was off-topic, but the point is to succeed in sport you push hard at any boundary or grey area you can find. Traditionally Australian teams are the most hard-nosed about this aspect of sport - so I'm not sure what has happened to Bob Dwyer?
Anyway- right now, I'm thinking about the scrum engagement as an area where it is too easy to beat the rules.
Sprinters have Ready Set Go. Imagine if the "ready set go" was delivered by a robot, and it was always the same length of time between set and go.
Who would really wait for the "go"? That's right ... the loser. Everyone else would know how long to wait after the "set" so that they could anticipate the "go" and get away with it.
Why then are rugby refs so robotic with their CTPE calls?
Why do we never hear "Crouch .. Touch .. P-Engage!"
Has the IRB specified that they have to be consistent in the length of pause? If so, then I say that's stupid.
