
IN recent years, the crossover between rugby union and rugby league appears to be getting bigger.
The likes of Andy Farrell, Jason Robinson and Sam Burgess have all made their names in both codes whilst England rugby union head coach Eddie Jones has repeatedly spoken of his desire to coach in the 13-man game.
Now, there appears to be a potential rule crossover as well, with BBC Sport reporting that “a countdown ‘shot clock’ timer on scrums, line-outs and kicks at goal could be introduced to help speed up the game before the Rugby World Cup.”
The ‘shot clock’ timer was introduced in rugby league back in 2019, with an initial 35-second restart for a scrum and a 25-second clock for a drop-out which was reduced to 30 seconds and 25 seconds respectively for the 2020 season.
It is hoped that such a move in rugby union would alleviate some of the pressure on referees but also reduce the ‘faffing’ around at set-pieces which has led to calls that the ball is not in play enough in the 15-man code.
Rugby union pundit Matt Williams told Rugby Pass: “Across the globe, in all rugby matches, outrageous amounts of time are lost to long periods of nothing as all 30 players stand about, waiting for the packs to begin to bind for scrums.
“Rugby desperately needs to adopt the 30-second shot clock for the assembly of packs prior to engagement to stop the ocean of deliberate time wasting that has infected modern scrummaging.”
It’s always good to see league influencing union!