The Death Of Rugby Or The Emergence Of The Springboks

After a whirlwind three week rugby extravaganza, a period of gaiety and rugby joy, I have come to one conclusion. A game where the winning team wins through scoring one try, and kicking eight penalties and five drop goals, is a dead game, the losing team on the other hand scored two tries. In soccer this is similar top the losing team scoring one more goal then the winning team, something doesn't add up.

Let's face the facts. The stellenbosch laws haven't helped heal a dying game, instead the international game resembles a kick around between three players, and a bunch of confused forwards milling in the centre of the field, gouging each others eyes, while their coach spends his days promoting violence.

This was supposed to be the glory days of Rugby, a high level of competition between supreme athletes who delighted in thrilling the crowd. Instead we have a guy...kicking a ball...through the posts...for 80 minutes.

You see my dilemma? Rugby, I want to love you, but like a girl  who tells me the intimate details of her period. You turn me off and give me the idea that death by boredom could replace lethal injection.

The Springboks, however, seem to delight in this wasteland of excitement arguing that winning outweighs everything else including: The growth of rugby and, the idea of fair play.

Why, a few weeks ago a coach tried to argue to millions of parents, that eye-gouging is an accepted part of rugby, which completes the list of "Why My Child Should Play Soccer."

This crisis needs someone, and I intend to be that someone. My Eureka Moment is this, a penalty should be worth two points, a drop goal one point and a try seven points. 

This means that a drop goal should only be used to break a deadlock, a penalty still punishes dirty play, and everyone wants to score a try.

Look at rugby league, everyone wants to score tries, and drop goals have become like an egg slicer, only ever used when you have a boiled egg and a need to slice it, which is never. I also propose that deliberate dirty play, for example eye gouging, testicle grabbing, producing fake blood etc., should result in a sin bin for the whole game.

In the meantime, I await the Rebirth of Rugby.