Rugby: High time to tackle ridiculous ball situation

By WYNNE GRAY

If the IRB had the balls the current adidas ruckus would not exist. And if Sanzar had any clout they would have nutted out the ridiculous Tri-Nations situation for themselves.

Complaints about the new fluoro adidas ball increased during the All Blacks recent test series with Scotland as the teams tried to get to grips with the new equipment.

For Tri-Nations tests in New Zealand, teams will use the adidas ball. In Australia they will switch to the Summit equipment while sponsorship arrangements mean the Gilbert ball will be used in South Africa. It makes sense to commercial groups but not to rugby players.

They acknowledge the commercial realities of rugby but agitate when they are forced to work with equipment they consider inferior.

It does not fit for adidas to claim their ball "wasn't an issue" after frontline All Black kickers Andrew Mehrtens and Tony Brown criticised its performance and said they had been forced to change to drop punts. Halfback Justin Marshall was unhappy with the ball's aerodynamics and found the ball extremely slippery in the wet, that it floated and drifted on some passes.

That trio found an ally in former All Black kicking maestro Grant Fox who claimed the ball was flawed for spiral punting.

"Resistance to changes doesn't wash with me," he said. "These guys [adidas] are being far too defensive. What they have to do is acknowledge there is a flaw and fix it."

Had rugby's rulers decreed there would be a global ball, with dispensation for brand markings in different countries, the problem would not have arisen. But under their laws of the game the IRB states only that the ball shall be oval, of four panels, within certain ranges of length, circumference, weight and pressure.

And if Sanzar was a proper Southern Hemisphere organisation rather than the nominal group arranging for three countries to play provincial and international rugby against each other, then the equipment drama could have been avoided.

If Sanzar had total control there would be one official Tri-Nations sponsor rather than separate backers in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. The ball would be standard and there could be a uniformity of judicial processes. .

Sanzar officials should be addressing these sorts of issues today as they meet in Melbourne.