Super Rugby Pacific: Crusaders-Blues clash could be focus of wider rugby debate

Blues captain Dalton Papali'i and Crusaders captain Scott Barrett speak to the referee. Photo / Photosport

The fourth-place Crusaders will play the third-place Blues in the key match of the 12th round of Super Rugby Pacific on Saturday which might also be a focus of a wider debate about the state of rugby itself.

Wayne Smith, who guided the Black Ferns to victory in last year’s Women’s World Cup, last week became a prominent voice in a growing debate over how rugby is played and refereed.

Smith, who is also a former All Blacks coach and assistant, said he was so frustrated watching a match last weekend between the Hurricanes and Western Force that he changed the channel at halftime and watched a nature documentary.

“The standard is great in terms of the quality of the players that you see around the world,” Smith said on the All Blacks podcast. “I don’t know about you, but I’m getting frustrated with the game.

“Not the players, I’m frustrated with the game.”

Smith highlighted refereeing and the ubiquity of the rolling maul as a scoring strategy as key areas of frustration.

“I’ve come out and spoken publicly around the lineout drive and mauls in particular,” he said. “I reckon one thing that would fix that is ... if you get a penalty and a kick to touch the other team gets their throw-in.

“That would stop all these incessant kicks down into the corner and driving mauls and mauls falling over and then another one and then another one. I don’t know how many people I’m speaking for when I say this about the mauls and the scrums but I bet there’s a lot.”

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Smith also faulted the refereeing in the match that he watched. He said the referee indicated an advantage at almost every play, allowed the advantage to run for seven or eight phases then returned to the penalty which often led to the kick, lineout and rolling maul.

The passage of play that occurred under advantage, often two or three minutes, simply was scrubbed from the game as if it never took place.

“I turned off the first time in my life at halftime,” Smith said. “I actually put on program on the Lions in the Serengeti. I watched an animal documentary.

“I was so frustrated with it. I don’t know if it got any better in the second half. It probably did. But I just thought it’s not the sort of game I want to watch at the moment when it’s like that.”

Smith’s comments attracted support from commentators and fans who are similarly frustrated. Former All Blacks winger John Kirwan agreed with Smith and said rugby has “too many laws”.

But current Crusaders and All Blacks prop Joe Moody called Smith’s comment “ridiculous” and rolling mauls are “a great part of the game”.

“It’s a good challenge to lay down a yardstick for your forward pack,” he said. “It’s awesome. I’d hate to see that get thrown out or reduced in some form.”

The rolling maul likely will feature prominently in the match between the Crusaders and the Blues. It has been a common scoring tactic for both teams who will be determined to win to solidify their place in the top-four ahead of the playoffs which are a month away.

The Crusaders edged the Blues 34-28 in the first meeting between the teams in round four.

The Chiefs host the Reds and the Force host the Fijian Drua to open the 12th round on Friday. The Hurricanes play Moana Pasifika at Wellington to open Saturday play, followed by the Crusaders and Blues at Christchurch.

The Waratahs host the Rebels later Saturday and the Brumbies play the Highlanders at Canberra on Sunday.