As part of their mission to make the game easy to play, easy to referee and easy to watch, SANZAR have asked referees to focus on quick ball, the scrum and space.
The game management issues highlighted at a recent meeting of SANZAR coaches and match officials concern the extended use of the TMO, the Pitch Side Concussion Assessment and the Big 3 areas that referees should concentrate on to improve the spectacle for the fan.
Focus areas for referees
a. Quick ball
* Focus on the tackler first. He must roll away from the halfback, not towards him.
* Tackler assist must be clearly seen to release the tackled player
* Closely monitor players taking out defenders in front of the ball
* Sealing off is to be penalised when the opportunity exists for a defender to be in the position to contest the ball
b. Scrum Outcomes:
* Scrum accuracy to be measured for every engagement.
* Stability must be evident before calling ‘SET’.
* Tighthead must hit straight.
* Loosehead must hit up and bind.
* Monitor fast wheel on axis. The team must gain forward momentum before wheeling.
c. Space
* Stop means stop for players in front of the kicker.
* Ruck management to be stepped up.
So again the focus will be on the loosehead, who’s job it is to keep the scrum up. One has to presume that hands on the ground will be severely frowned upon, but good to see that another focus area is the tighthead having to hit in correctly. It has been a little too easy for the tighthead to come in from high and knock the loosehead to the ground in order to milk the penalty.
The focus on the wheel is an interesting one. On the opposition ball a tighthead will often pull back in order to negate the right shoulder … But having to get forward momentum before instigating the wheel might actually keep the scrum from collapsing. As with most things come scrum time, though … A very tricky thing to police!
Points for byes …
SANZAR will continue to award points for byes … As with last season, each team will have two scheduled byes during the regular season and will receive four points for each of these byes. The confusion could come via the Australian sides getting off to a false start as those four sides will be ahead of the pack on the log …
