In a recent interview with WalesOnline, New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen spoke of his “big concerns” for the game of rugby, citing a lack of tries and the way the game is geared in favour of defences as major issues that are driving fans away.
“I’ve actually got big concerns about the game at the moment, because there are not enough tries being scored, which is turning the fans away,” said Hansen.
“We need to find more space, particularly around the rucks and the breakdown, as everybody is defending from an offside position. If we don’t start creating a bit more space there, then we are not going to be able to play the game.”
Hansen was over to take in a couple of Six Nations games, doing some homework on potential World Cup opponents later this year. What he saw will not have kept him up at night.
“There were only three tries scored in the two games I went to over the weekend,” he said. “No-one is prepared to take the risk, because they are going to get belted behind the advantage line if they move the ball.
“I think there’s a responsibility on the coaches and the players as well. We are all trying to get defensive lines up really quickly, but I think we’ve probably gone too far with it.
“For the game to thrive, it’s got to be policed. The refs and touch-judges have got to police it and we as coaches and players, we’ve got to push to have people onside. There’s a responsibility to the game. If we don’t do that, then we are not going to have any running rugby.”
The statistics from this year’s Championship would appear to back him up – there have been just 26 tries in nine games so far, and eight of those came in England’s big win over Italy. It may well be intriguing, gripping rugby for those with a vested interest, but this year’s Six Nations has hardly been thrilling for the neutral.
Indeed, while Hansen was quick to note that things like slowing the ball down at the breakdown and defences ignoring the offside line were issues in the game worldwide, he was reasonably scathing in what he had seen so far of “rugby’s greatest Championship”.
“In the games I’ve seen in this Six Nations, I haven’t seen teams wanting to move the ball because they know they can’t. It’s about planning the right kick next to win the game.
“When was the last time you saw a try being scored off a set-piece or a counter-attack? It’s becoming harder and harder to do those things in the game, whether you are a northern hemisphere side or a southern hemisphere side.”
Hansen pinpoints the breakdown as the key area that needs to change. While the scrum is obviously an issue that needs to be sorted out, the sheer number of breakdowns that occur during a game mean it must become a priority, opines the Kiwi coach.
“There’s a massive emphasis at the moment on the scrum, but there’s probably about 18 scrums in a game. How many breakdowns are there? 300?
“I find it ironic that we are made to go back five metres from the scrum, ten metres from the line-out, but in the breakdown we allow people to slow the ball down and allow the defensive lines to be in front of the last man seen.”
It is easy to blame the referee in these situations; to argue that the men with the whistle must take a harder line on breakdown infringements. But when they do that, they are accused of turning the game into a ‘penalty-fest’ – Wayne Barnes is one accused by many fans of being too whistle happy, but if all referees were similarly pedantic at the breakdown, would we start to see players standing off more and a more open game develop?
Certainly, Hansen believes the players and coaches have just as much of a responsibility, if not more, to enforce a change.
“You keep hearing players say, let’s see how far they can push the law. So it’s too easy just to blame the refs. Somewhere along the line we’ve got to say look, the game is more important than this and we’ve got to do something about it.”
What do you think of Hansen’s comments – has rugby become boring? How do you think things could be changed for the better? Leave your thoughts below.
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
17 replies on “Is Hansen right to lament the state of modern rugby?”
A lot of value in what he says, but you have to wonder how much of this is mind-games, designed to make referees more lenient towards his team.
The issue is you can’t have teams standing back from rucks like league. How would you then join the ruck if you wanted to counter? Plus, it would be a lot harder to police than it is policing the offside on a scrum or a line-out as a ruck is more dynamic and occurs in open play, it’s not a set-piece. It would be especially hard at amateur level without assistant refs.
Referees are already more lenient with players on the attacking team going off their feet and I think that is right for the game. The trouble is, teams don’t want to fling it wide and attack in case they get turned over, but you can’t referee defences out of the breakdown or you will just get rugby league style defences where players do not compete at the breakdown and just spread the width of the pitch and increase their linespeed even more.
My solution would be to increase the ball in-play time. Stop the clock more when the ball gets out of play, especially around scrums and kicks at goal. You could even downgrade the option at a penalty so it basically becomes a free-kick with the option at taking a shot at goal to encourage the quick tap, and otherwise discourage kicking for touch (nothing slows the game down like a ball in row z).
Players will then have to be fitter to last longer, rather than built for short impacts like NFL players, and therefore they’ll be more chance for fitter, more skillful players and the game will be less dominated by lumps who are trying to win the collision and the impact. Players will also start to tire more towards the end of games and there will be more spaces available. Plus with the ball in play more, each team will get more attacks and more chances at producing a try, even if nothing else changes.
“A lot of value in what he says, but you have to wonder how much of this is mind-games, designed to make referees more lenient towards his team.”
Nail banged on head there Rob. Hansen is the man who took the Wales team that Henry left and removed Shane Williams, Gareth Thomas, Martyn Williams etc. i.e. all of our ball players. We went to the 03 world cup with two squads – his real squad and the rest of them just taken to keep the media off his back. He throws these guys in against NZ and we end up with one of the games of the tournament and the start of our revival.
He’s a wily coach and doesn’t say anything without considering it’s effect on the ABs.
Good comments Rob.
For sure players on attacking side are in front of back foot at ruck and not bound to it. It allows scrum half to kick with impunity. On defence I generally see refs getting it right. All players must be behind back foot. Maybe Hansen is arguing we ought to have at least a 5 yd space as per scrums. He has a point and not difficult to police and would open up game a bit more particularly around ruck. If you’re not bound to ruck or joining it you must be 5 yds back. I don’t think this would have changed the Irish tactics last week. But I can see how we would encourage better skilled and leaner forwards in the long run. The tackling around the ruck at moment is a joke. An attacking player barely gets a chance to take one step before hes attacked at legs. And for good reason. Its so much easier to stop a man before hes gotten into his stride. This needs to stop and 5yd rule would be perfect. Would this take defences out of the breakdown knowing that this is one of the best places to affect a turnover, I don’t think so, and this should be something we trial first. Stopping the clock and keeping ball in play longer just makes games longer, but I think rugby will have to change to accommodate this because we need to compete with other sports for benefit of advertisers. The game will have to take this path if it is to compete for air time here in USA. Don’t scoff. An ad here and there mixed amongst the game at indeterminate times will drive sponsors/advertisers to our sport. This is another topic.
Sorry to disagree Peter, but we must fight tooth and nail against advertisers getting into game time. Have you ever watched sport in the US? When I lived there I got totally sick of the flow of games being spoilt for the viewer by constant ads. I love American Football but stopped watching it on TV as I found myself unable to keep focused on the game.being played, an average NFL game has about 100 commercials, that wouldn’t happen in rugby of course but it is the thin edge of the wedge.
Hansen is playing mind games because the AB’s are nearly always offside in defense, and the rest are following suit.
Refs need to go back to basics…..ball in scrum as soon as it goes down, and straight it’s a joke now.
stop blowing up if a scrum goes down….just play the bloody ball if it is at the back of the scrum
If scrum is going forward…..stop giving penalties….just let it continue……
stop this stupid thing of number 9’s setting themselves up for a box kick, if the ball is there to play…play it immediately, and as soon as the scrum half reaches down for it he is fair game.
have only 3 replacements for injury only…..It’s pants that a fresh 7 players can come on after an hour of fat men pushing each other around in a pissing competition.
refs take control earlier.
A New Zealand rugby coach saying that teams are defending from an offside position/ignoring the offside line, that bend the laws to see how far they can go, pushing what they can and can’t get away with….the coach of the All Blacks said these things? …He does know who Richie McCaw is doesn’t he? Glass houses….pot kettle black…*cough hypocrite cough* etc.
And it’s a World Cup year too. Nice try Steve but some of us are as canny as you think you are!
Let’s get the WC out of the way and then we can look at addressing these issues. Fair enough?
The point he is making is that every one is offside in all competitions, what he is saying is that refs need to get stricter and when they do we shouldn’t collectively berate them for being whistle happy. The players will be smart enough to get themselves onside if they are consistently penalised by all referees, problem solved.
Spot on. A good ref will not blow up every time a player strays beyond the back foot, but will issue a warning shout, and if players don’t retreat/there is repeated infringement, then a penalty is given.
Think there is also an issue with communication with the “assistant referees”. I’m sick of watching games where players on the blindside are about a yard offside, right in front of the touch judge. Either improve referee communication, or give touch judges the power to shout players to retreat. Again, repeated infringement and the touch judge flags for a penalty.
This nonsense SH is spouting about players/coaches improving things “for the benefit of the game” is absurd. It’s like the diving arguement in soccer – it’s foul play, but the rewards are an easy win, so players and coaches will not stop it until there is a law change.
If NZ are genuinely leading the world in rugby (not just in results), then I expect to see no All Blacks encroaching beyond the back foot for the rest of 2015. Put your money where your mouth is Steve.
He is right to a point. The focus on defence is slowly killing the game, but…. Don’t look at moving people back, look at people contesting the ruck rather than attempting to kill it.
Be stricter on people supporting their own weight, stricter on people actually attempting to play the ball rather than killing it and drawing the penalty.
None of this is a quick fix though, forget this until after the World Cup. Lets enjoy that first.
He’s a good wind up merchant. When a prop crashes over for your only try in an 8-7 world cup final there were no complaints about the lack of running rugby! The higher the pressure the more restrictive the game plan tends to become.
At least this year’s 6N isn’t blighted by playing surfaces not fit for international rugby as in recent years.
As always there’s room for improvement, I would prefer to see the offside line policed better and players not get away with going to deck past the ball and then coming back onto it.
Mind games pure and simple from Hansen, and just as disingenuous as Edwards comments last week about defence being on top.
However I echo the comments above that the game is getting too defence oriented. Not sure what if any rule changes could combat this though. As much as I find endless collapsed scrums a bore, I can’t say I find the aerial ping pong that dominates most matches to be that edifying either.
He just being disingenuous . Ritchie came out of the womb offside and the Southern Hemisphere refs rarely yellow card Back rowers for being offside. Premiership players get pinged all the time for infringements, if Southern Hemisphere refs adopted the same attitude I wonder how fluid their game would be. We all know the way to beat them is to upset their stride.
I know Ireland’s win over England was brilliantly clinical, it was utterly dull. A match I was really looking forward to but instead got territory kick fest (very well executed by Ireland). If this is the future of the 6 nations then my interest will slide. I love the tournament and it’s tradition but this kind of rugby is going to put off neutrals and curious viewers
There is a lot of value in what he says, the point of contact has become everything and Rugby is not a game for all body types. To find space on the field is increasingly difficult and risky, therefore it makes sense to choose bigger player ad batter until the other team falls over.
There has been a lot of messing around with the contact area, I would leave it alone but ask the refs to be harder on offsides, it is a rule why not inforce it.
However the longterm solution is to reduce rugby to 13 aside, Remove the 2 flankers. The second rowers act as flakers these days. It wouldn’t change the principle of the game just the dynamic. With less people on the field there will be more space.
Here’s one possible solution: any off-sides at ruck, scrum, restarts etc immediately get 10-20 yards awarded to the affringed against team. Any team with any attacking flair could then run the ball immediately (Danny Care style) running amok (literally) amongst the opposition. Kicks to touch would possibly be seen as less advantageous (particularly if the throw in was not awarded to the affringed party.) Attack and ball in hand rugby would be encouraged and more time ball in-play the result! God this American jargon is irritating!