The Breakdown: the v2 Rugby Podcast

All, this week's podcast is up. http://www.v2journal.com/the-breakdown-v2-rugby-podcast-12th-september-2012.html

This week's highlight: the panel takes an in depth look at the new law interpretations being trialled, and discusses their likely impact in the debut of "Ask the Ref"

Good work Pete, I am having a listen now.

Looking forward to getting back on next week, strange listening to you guys chatting without me!

Good stuff guys, especially Donal

Very informative. The 15 phase thing for TMOs sounds hard case, crazy! Reckon it should be just from the last ruck, and then only after the ball has been cleared. Stop any inconsistency between how the ref and TMO see things in the ruck.

Made sense what you guys said about engage being two syllables and 'set' being a short snappy one syllable. More a 1-2-3 with the new rules.

Anyways, thought it was a real good listen and big improvement from week 1.

Thanks Ebop,

Glad you liked it and hopefully we will continue to add to it as time goes on.

Hhhmmm when I try to follow the link i get a 404 page not found message.

yappysnap wrote:Hhhmmm when I try to follow the link i get a 404 page not found message.

That may be my fault, I was updating the wrestling podcast page on the site (as Adam's away) around then. Try again.

Just wondering, could the podcast be a sticky, say on both club and international pages?

Loved the podcast Stag, Kiwi and Yappy. Had a listen to it this morning. The parts breakdown is helpful to. Kudos.

Wow you boys have been busy.Excellant effort.

Just a couple of points on the trialled laws from what I've observed down here in New Zealand in the ITM.

The 90 Second conversion rule: Time commences from the awarding of the try not the scoring of the try, Yes it is positive and 90 seconds is a long time, I have not seen an incident yet where a ball gets blown off the tee, and so far I can only imagine that as being the only time that this law could possibly cause some consternation.

Crouch..Touch.. Set: Its not going to be the super remedy to fix all scrum issues but I do believe it is a move in a positive direction, We still are seeing a lot of "going early' penalties down here, and in the ITM every ref is good for a couple in every game, perhaps a baulking law may have to be considered (as in lineouts) to circumvent tightheads duping the opposition loosehead from going early and milking a penalty??? i have heard this suggested from players who know a lot more about the front row than I do.

the Five second ruck ball law: From the outset I must say when this was first mooted several months ago I thought it was ridiculous, and must now admit I was completely wrong, the effect it has had in speeding up ITM games has been outstanding.In fact Ive seen a lot more centres being forced into adlib football because they are getting ball before they are even ready for it which does open the game up, but this does to some degree get balanced out by defensive lines also not being rigidly set.
Although I havent seen every minute of every ITM game (nearly 30games) so far this season, I havent seen one instance of a referee invoking the sanctions that come with this law. I thought the calling of "use it" at every avaliable ruck ball would just be an extra burden for referees but this has not been an issue at all.
It also has eradicated the practise where half backs, would stand at the base of a ruck, scan the horizon as if they were impersonating a meercat sentry, and vitually freezing the game, whilst the opposition formed an inpenetrable block wall.
Although its early days yet, this law is not only good for the game but also good for the game as a viewable product. and that is in the interests of all of us.

I have some thoughts on the refs using the stadium screen, but since that is not affecting us down here I will hold them for a later time.

All up team you have put in a lot of thought and effort into this, well far more than I have in banging out some of my crazy thoughts, and I applaud you for that.