According to Welsh Whistleblower Nigel Owens, referees play a huge role in making rugby exciting more than ever by cracking down three key areas. Owens just retired after setting a world record with 100 tests, although he denies he’s leaving behind a boring game. Rugby has continuously faced criticism from fans concerned about the Autumn Nations Cup’s dull nature, which was dominated by field kicking.
While writing in his regular online column, Owens says the rules aren’t any different from how they were several years ago when games were truly thrilling. Fortunately, BetRivers and other online sportsbooks are also striving to bring in the much-needed thrill of enjoying rugby. It may be used for Indiana sports betting as well as a few other states. However, Owen still believes that everyone has a part to play in ensuring that rugby offers a better spectacle. That includes referees who need to clamp down offsides, the rolling maul and the contact area, and caterpillar ruck.
In his statement, Owen agrees that there's been a huge kicking in the modern rugby scene, with some players attempting to gain an unfair advantage by reaching beyond the offside line. Owens revealed that most players start to chase the ball from the kicker’s front side, resulting in an offside. That means the opposing player will have a huge wall of defenders in front of him whenever he gets the ball.
Owens says the referees aren’t properly dealing with the [players going at a ruck off their feet to get extra numbers and seal off the ball in the process. In such a situation, the defending team feels they can’t compete for procession fairly. That means players need to simply spread across the field instead of committing to the ruck to deny their opponents to pass through when defending. That leads to pick and go or the feared caterpillar ruck.
If the referees insist that the player remains on their feet while around the contact area, that might encourage the defending team to hassle for the ball and attempt to win a turnover. That will, in turn, launch a thrilling counter.
Owens further added that the caterpillar ruck is a boring rugby strategy, although the referee can use it better alongside the five-seconds law. Speaking about the rolling maul, Owens said the referees are effectively policing the fall of mauls, but they need to look at how the maul came to life in the first place closely. That includes checking the initial lineout to make sure it’s thrown down the middle to give the competing team a chance at fair competition.
