Your correspondent David Reed (League rules show a better way for rugby, Letters, 2 November) could hardly be more mistaken. The key and unique feature of rugby union is that the possession of the ball is contested at all times – including after the tackle. Without that element of the game we would not have the glory of players like Richie McCaw and David Pocock, we would not have a game where players of the size and shape of Eben Etzebeth, Richie Gray or Adam Jones could shine and nor would we have the joy of seeing the way a team determined to keep the ball alive like Japan can triumph against the superior size and strength of the Springboks.
Rugby league is a great game, but it cannot demonstrate the variety that union offers – and the problems that exist in union are often the result of the lawmakers’ foolish attempts to bring the doctrines of the 13-man game into the more widespread form of rugby or to tidy up the game by eliminating the contest for the ball that makes it so special.
Alasdair Bovaird
Saffron Walden, Essex
• Yet again, we are told that rugby union should adopt rules from rugby league, while being regaled again with a reference to union’s “social class snobbery”. While dismissing the latter charge with the contempt it deserves, I would point out that the Rugby World Cup has just ended with combined ticket sales of almost 2.5m, with every game sold out or nearly sold out (despite England’s abject performance), and would surmise that the rugby viewing public, both at matches and on television, are quite happy with union’s rules.
Tim Hannan
Chelmsford, Essex
• As an avid rugby league fan I find the total involvement of the referee in union spoils the game. I have watched several matches in the World Cup and whenever a team is attacking I find myself waiting and expecting the ref to give a penalty for an infringement only he can see, usually in a ruck or maul. If he has to stand close to the action telling players what they should be doing then the game is too technical. All sport should be simple and easy for the fans to follow, hence the popularity of soccer.
League can be exciting from any position on the field, whether the attacking team is on their own line or further up the field. This does not seem to happen so much in the union games I have seen.
John Elston
Walkington, East Yorkshire
• David Reed must be joking! Not only will rugby union authorities refuse to change their laws for fear of showing that league’s got things right. They don’t even enforce their own laws. World Rugby claim their game has a “unique ethos … Not only is the game played to the laws, but within the spirit of the laws.” They then say about the scrum: “The ball is thrown into the middle of the tunnel between the two front rows, at which point the two hookers can compete for the ball.”
So how come, in the World Cup, scrum halves all fed the ball to their own side? I didn’t see one legal put-in. Teams cheated at every scrum. And how come not one commentator or reporter pointed that out? And how come I can’t get anyone to give me a straight answer when I ask what’s going on?
Robert Vant
Holmfirth, West Yorkshire
• So David Reed’s suggestion to improve rugby union appears to be to stop rugby union existing and just have rugby league. Rather than get rid of the breakdown – one of the most fascinating aspects of the game – might it be worth northern hemisphere sides getting better at contesting the area and trying to match the likes of Australia? The problem is that rugby is a winter sport, played in stodgy conditions up north that don’t really allow for the development of faster, lighter genuine open-side flankers who can match the likes of Richie McCaw, David Pocock, Francois Louw and Michael Hooper. It’ll never happen, but rugby union would be far more enjoyable as a summer sport.
Dan Lucas
London
• I greatly enjoyed the Rugby World Cup and also your analysis of the event (Glorious World Cup leaves rugby union reaching for the sky, 2 November). However, as well as England’s “premature exit” (your words), could you not have at least mentioned the greater success of Ireland, Scotland and Wales? Scotland in particular only narrowly failed to reach the semi-finals.
Paul Burton
Glasgow
• We have had six weeks of high-stakes physical rugby and, without exception, all refereeing decisions have been accepted without dissent. No swearing at referees, no crowding referees after a decision and no waving of imaginary yellow cards. Can someone explain why football players cannot treat referees with the same respect?
Rajat Jindal
London
• Now that the dust has settled, thanks for the quality and depth of your World Cup coverage, and in particular for Graham Henry’s column, a rare opportunity for an insight into the sport from one of its very best coaches and a most articulate man.
Bill Redmond
Llantrisant, Pontyclun
• England beat New Zealand in a game of proper rugby and what do we get in the Guardian? Four and a half pages of kick-and-clap and a quarter page report on page 12. Had it been the other lot it would have been headline news!
Barry Keightley
Salford
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