Thursday, July 9, 2009

40/20

Here's an idea. You see, in rugby league there is a rule called the 40/20. That is, if a member of one team kicks the ball from within his own forty metre zone and it lands inside the field of play and rolls over the sideline within the oppositions twenty metre zone, the kickers team gets the feed to the ensuing scrum. That scrum must be in line with where the ball went out, and be twenty metres in from touch. Now, someone recently said that the best place to have a scrum feed on attack is either by the sideline, or nearer the middle of the field. Fair enough. Can't argue with that. Makes a lot of sense.
So, how about this. If a team gets a 40/20, they get to choose where they have the scrum. They can have the scrum anywhere from the sideline across to the middle of the field, in line with where the ball went out. This gives a team added incentive to use the skill of kicking and would encourage teams to come up with attacking plays from the scrum. At the moment there is very little blindside. Giving them the option of having a scrum towards the middle of the field gives them more room to work with and more attacking options. And, it would encourage teams to look at their options, in terms of which side of the field suits them best to achieve a 40/20.
This all has got to be a good thing, especially in the modern era, when league defences can be all encompassing at times.

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