Neville Hopkins looks at a progressive NZRFU rule book

As the curse of McNab Domain, home of the Counties club, has struck again and I am injured, meaning light duties for a week or two, I have time to reflect on the new layout and purpose of the 2018 Rugby Union Law book.

The first thing that strikes me is that women appear on the cover and in some of the illustrations for the first time.

This is ground-breaking stuff for someone who began playing rugby in the male-dominated, post-war era of NZ sporting culture.

Some of my earliest sporting memories as a child include watching my father play cricket on Saturday afternoons.

The highlight for me was usually the sumptuous afternoon teas put on by the wives of some of the players – not my mother, I hasten to add.

So, to see the front cover of the law book featuring goal-line action of women players and match officials shows how much the game, and indeed society, has evolved in those intervening 60 plus years.

Some things have changed and some have not during that time.

The first few pages of the book are devoted to the playing charter – which includes the principles of the game such as conduct, spirit, integrity, passion, solidarity, respect and discipline.

I suspect some if not all of these have been an integral part of the game since William Webb Ellis allegedly picked up the round ball and began running with it a long time ago.

I doubt they were written down in any of the early law books though.

A few incidents in recent matches locally and on TV have given me cause to pause for thought.

Take the paragraph on "spirit" for instance.

"Rugby owes much of its appeal to the fact it is played both to the letter and within the spirit of the laws.

"The responsibility for ensuring that this happens lies not with one individual – it involves coaches, captains, players and referees."

The word spirit is a somewhat nebulous concept which is difficult to apply with consistency and fairness in the context of a game of rugby.

Playing within the laws of the game is relatively easy to observe and adjudicate on.

But when one Wanganui rugby Senior team questions why the opposing team are fielding some players from that club's Premier team, because that side received an unexpected default on the day, the word "spirit" takes on more importance.

While such an action is allowed within the Wanganui Rugby Union rules, one could question whether or not it is within the "spirit" of the game.

There are clear guidelines for referees on what actions are not allowed in the game.

Most of these fall within Law 9 which refers to Foul Play, especially the Dangerous Play segment and I want to talk about some of these because people will have seen plenty of examples.

Point 11 notes players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others.

Some specific dangerous actions are outlined in further points, but the referee has the power to make a judgement on whether any action, such as a clumsy tackle, is reckless.

Players must not physically or verbally abuse anyone.

Physical abuse includes, but is not limited to, biting (remember Sean Fitzpatrick and the ear-biting South African Johan Le Roux in 1994?), punching, contact with the eye or eye area, striking with any part of the arm (including stiff-arm tackles), shoulder, head or knees.

Feet are not allowed to be used to stamp on, trample on, foot trip or kick an opponent – we have all seen examples of these, I am sure.

I have actually seen a couple of examples of players punching or kicking a team mate.

The first was in a schoolboy team I was coaching when a player was very unhappy about his team mate passing the ball forwards to him, but the kicking incident actually involved an All Black.

Don Clark from Otago played No 8 for the All Blacks against Australia in the early 1960s.

In the first game I played for Cromwell in 1969 we were short of a lock, so drafted in Jim Scott, a tall, gentle giant of a player from the junior team, to play against Tarras.

Unfortunately, Jim wasn't getting any lineout ball, mainly because he was failing to get off the ground when the ball was thrown in.

While his head was buried in one of the many rucks in the game, I was witness to Don giving him a hefty size 12 boot in the part of his anatomy sticking outwards from the said ruck.

Jim was incensed an opponent had kicked him in a tender place and proceeded to leap like a gazelle from that point onwards.

Scott came from a famous bowling family in the Cromwell-Bannockburn area and went on to represent NZ at bowls.

Players are not allowed to tackle early, late or dangerously.

Dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the shoulder line, even if the tackle starts below it.

It also includes where a ball carrier slips or falls into the tackle which would otherwise have been below the shoulders – this is just bad luck for the tackler.

In deciding whether or not a tackle is dangerous referees now have to consider three points – where the contact was made, the type of action (eg swinging or stiff arm), and the amount of force involved.

Get it wrong on all three counts and a red card is certain, on one or two counts, a player may get away with a yellow card or even just a penalty.

Another example of physical abuse includes charging into or tackling another player without attempting to use the arms.

This also includes charging into a ruck without binding onto another player (of either team), this type of action all too often goes unpunished, especially at higher levels of the game.

This season I have witnessed players jumping on top of other players in a maul in the hope it will collapse and they will get the scrum feed – this is also dangerous or at least reckless play but is not specifically referred to in the law book.

Lastly, verbal abuse has crept into the game at all levels.

Like sledging in cricket there is always a bit of banter between players on the field but sometimes it can go a bit too far and a local referee recently yellow carded a player for racial abuse during a game.

That is definitely outside the spirit of the game.