If Cullen in his prime was dropped into today's game, would we see his talent?
At the end of the day, rugby is meant to be entertainment.
It is meant to bring excitement, joy, amazement and all the opposite emotions for two sets of fans as two teams do battle.
It seems as if the game in its modern state does more to frustrate, confuse and incite displeasing feelings for fans as the officiating overshadows the contest and we deal with the realities of a fully professional game.
The game as it is now, 20-odd years into the pro era, is played by machines built by cutting edge conditioning and training programmes. By extension, there is hardly any space on the field.
The field size has not changed but the players on the field have. Drastically.
The early era of professional rugby was almost the perfect blend. Athletes were getting better, but not too good for the size of the field, so the space to run was available. Stars could shine.
The motion of a player like Christian Cullen could be enjoyed as defenders struggled to catch one of the most graceful runners the game has seen. When brilliant players got into open space, it was magic.
If Cullen in his prime was dropped into today’s game, would we get to see his talent?
Since Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has arrived at the Blues, we have seen flashes of his incredible ability, but we are yet to really see the man in open space.
He can beat a couple of defenders with some sharp footwork, but is swallowed up quite quickly and has to resort to an offload. The game is suffocating him.
Space is in short supply, and so is attrition in the modern game. There are 130kg modern marvels who don’t tire out, and when they marginally do, they are simply replaced after 45 or 50 minutes by another one from an eight-man bench.
The games of old may not be as fast as people remember, but they did have moments of beauty that seem to go amiss today where a litany of passes strung together put together brilliant movements.
It had a different flow to it, flurries of activity followed by kicking duels. It had a chaotic and unplanned feel to it that could be mesmerising.
Today the whistle is blown so much the flow of the game in some instances the game never gets going.
In the amateur era it was not uncommon to see six or seven bodies pile into a ruck. The ruck might be slow to recycle, but there was tension building as to which side the ball would end up on.
Then, all of a sudden, with so many bodies committed, there was space out wide to attack when the ball came free.
It had much better contractionary and expansionary forces at play throughout the match. Despite a range of tempos, there was tension building all the time in phase play.
This tension and range of tempos created uncertainty, intrigue, and built excitement and anticipation.
The players controlled the flow and decided when they needed to kick the ball out to relieve pressure. Unfortunately, the ref controls the flow more than the players these days, and the stop-start nature is intolerable at times.
The rule makers have pushed to speed the game up over the last decade but failed to realise that slower tempo events, like rucks of old, brought tension as the ball was in play and created space elsewhere by bringing players inward.
Cleaning up the ruck to make the recycle laser quick had the unintended consequence of creating abhorrent ‘zero ruck’ defensive schemes, with no defensive players committed, that create nearly unbreakable 14-man walls of defence.
By cracking down on those that dared to slow the game down, rugby’s law makers introduced more and more ruck infringement penalties, but, in doing so, they got rid of this natural tension in phase play.
Tension never builds as one side is getting pinged for one infringement or another before any flow is reached. As a spectacle, excitement levels don’t peak they way they used to because, in short, they aren’t given in a chance to build.
Back then, a casual didn’t need to know the rules. They could enjoy the chaotic flow of the match, the skills on show, and understand simply that more points scored is what mattered.
Today’s casuals can’t understand the game, whilst there is limited flow for them to enjoy, and hardcore fans just argue and moan with each over the rules.
Spare us extra scrum referees and ruck referees please. One man with a whistle is enough. We don’t need three or four spotting every infringement known to mankind.
Re-opening the ruck could create some extra space the game that has been missing, while adding varying tempos of game play that add to the game’s unpredictability. A good old-fashioned pile-in at the ruck would be interesting to see and hopefully become a contractionary force again.
Any coach or player arguing for correct policing of scrums so more penalties can be dished out has no understanding of the original purpose of it.
The scrum was never meant to be a penalty-inducement machine giving your side a free out. It was meant to create space on the field so you could use the ball and restart play.
Use the ball and the space offered to you. Casual fans won’t tune in to watch scums, but they are more likely to tune in to watch a flowing contest where the stars are given space to show their athleticism.
What was a game of attacking space and evading defenders has become one about winning collisions and penalties – and that is what might be the death of it above all other things over the long term.
Because at the end of the day, the pro game relies on eyeballs and if people switch off so will the pay checks.
It used to be the game they played in heaven, will they be playing it in hell in the future? Let’s hope not.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments