Golden-point extra time
Extra 10 minutes played if match is drawn at fulltime
Thumbs up: It is a flat feeling when a draw comes along. No-one feels happy. Providing 10 minutes of extra action to allow someone to score a point is edge-of-the-seat sort of stuff and guarantees a winner.
Thumbs down: Anyone watch extra time played at the end of the Dunedin club final in 2018 between University and Harbour? Probably the worst 20 minutes of rugby ever seen. The players were stuffed and both sides went totally defensive. Golden-point games in the NRL just become a dropped goal fest. And what is exactly wrong with a draw?
Red Card
Players who get red-carded can be replaced after 20 minutes
Up: Games get ruined when one team losing a player and makes it a joke of a contest. The team with 15 just runs away with the game.
Down: A big part of the game is about keeping discipline. If a player cannot do that then he hase to leave the field and the side is rightly disadvantaged. Teams have won with 14 before.
Breakdown
Referees to enforce existing laws more strictly at the breakdown.
Up: Anything which improves the spectacle is a step in the right direction. Too many players slow play down in the ruck and live offside.
Down: The laws are not black and white and the breakdown is a complete grey area, no matter what the laws say. Will they apply to the Crusaders when the red and blacks are on defence? The onus should be on getting everyone onside.
Dan Carter coming back
Former All Black Carter is set to join the Blues.
Up: One of the best players ever seen is back for the Blues and will bring more excitement to the competition.
Down: We’ve had the book, we’ve had the movie, we’ve had the women’s magazines, we’ve had the podcasts, we’ve had the adverts. Perhaps we’ve just had enough.