Rugby Bars

No home club house today, instead it's down to a local pub for refreshments. Some loitering got me an excellent pint ofSpitfire.

Scrum Debate

Is it time for a shake-up in scrum laws? | Scrum Five

Lets get this straight. This is only a problem at the top of the game. Down the leagues most props scrummage, scrummage illegally and refs will have a stab at what is going on. If the ref is unsure, as long as its safe he will guess or let them get on with it.

At the top of the game it is not about a contest for possession but a contest for the quality of possession. If a prop has lost the hit and feels he can not dictate the quality of his own or opposition possession then he will drop it in some way. There is very good chance he will get another go because the ref is on the wrong side to see what he has done.

It has nothing to do with the surface, again look at the lower leagues, it has something to do with the shirts but it has much more to do with props cheating and preparing tactics based on analysis of the ref and the opposition.

There will be a change before the next RWC, the call of pause will be going but the length of the pause should still be varied, especially if there is a problem.

I am coming around to Brian Moore's view that managing the crooked feed and early engagement and the rest looks after itself. There is a good case for the "ball in" call being ref lead rather than the engagement as all problems stem from dictating the hit.

Bang to the Head

I am not surprised, a bit of tape to stop your ears getting roughed up, that is all you need

Headgear won't protect players from concussion | Stuff.co.nz

Brian Moore's advice on Managing the Scrum

This article needs to get more exposure .

The Rugby Referees' Forum - Scrum

The Laws, they are a changing?

Just when you thought it was safe to look at the Law Book

Points experiment in Varsity Cup - SuperSport - Rugby

Mind Games

Its not just sportsmen that are using sports psychologists, last night the Society had a presentation by Dr Raj Persaud on the psychology of officiating. It was an entraining and informative meeting but sadly Dr Raj didn't know enough about rugby to make it truly relevant to his audience. 

The most interesting to thing to come out of it was the concept that motivation drives perception, what we see will differ from others because our motivations are different. He illustrated this with a experiment with basketball players and a gorilla. By setting a skewed pre-condition he was able to demonstrate that many of us would miss the gorilla.

He was able to show us that we do see a different game to players, coaches and spectators because are motivation is to create a fair and safe game, whilst the other stakeholders are looking for something different, a win at all costs. When a player asks me' "did you see that ref?", I know that I didn't see the gorilla. Clearly, as referees, we need to keep as broad a focus as possible but we will never see the game in the same way players.

There were some other pointers to help us, the most important be the power of positive focus, when you need to do something well, concentrate on why it will go well rather than worrying what can go wrong. When you make a decision that may have been wrong don't dwell on it, reset the counter, focus on getting the next and every other decision right, each one is a independent event.

LSRFUR video

A behind the scenes look on match day..