Wayne Smith advocates for game development and refereeing

“For the first time in my life I stopped watching a game at half-time,” New Zealand coach Wayne Smith said when invited to the microphone into a microphone All Blacks Podcast. What we’re seeing today is not the rugby I love. Alternatively, watch a wildlife documentary about Serengeti lions. »

World champion with the Black Ferns last fall, having been twice capped with the All Blacks (2011 and 2015), elected World Rugby Coach of the Year in 2022, this legendary 66-year-old coach said recently, with great freedom of tone, his displeasure when Watch the Pacific Super Rugby match between the Western Australian Force and Dunedin Highlanders.

Five yellow cards were dealt during this match, led by Nick Perry. “The quality of the current players is very good, but I am disappointed with the development of the gameSmith continues. Watched the game under manager Nick Perry. I have his arm permanently raised as a sign of preference… We’re seeing seven to eight phases of the game, and if that doesn’t work, we’re going back to a penalty kick. There, it will take you 30 seconds to shoot and find the key. Then another 40 seconds to shoot a throw-in … Then we know in advance what will happen: a compromised group will collapse. We’ll have a new penalty kick, another hit, another hit. Yellow cards will be issued. »

A follower of the action game, admitting he was inspired by Pierre Filbroux, Wayne Smith no longer identified with his sport. Far from being critical, he showed that he was proactive: “If you, like me, are tired of these constant strikes, I feel like saying the only decision that will put an end to it is that when you have a penalty kick and you hit the putt, the putt goes back to the opponent. It will curb teams’ desire to look for these Touches in the corners, these penetrating sets and their collapses. »

Smith’s new rules set by World Rugby aimed at speeding up the pace of play, such as time restrictions on scorers and on set-pieces, had a slight effect: “I don’t feel they have the desired effect.”

asked before the teamOn 22 March at the end of the Six Nations Championship, All Blacks coach Ian Foster, who had traveled to Europe to oversee matches, called for the game to be speeded up: “The tournament offered a jerky game, made up of stops and restarts with scrum or touch repositioning… We stick with the desire to speed up the game. We have to manage to keep the interest of people watching TV or paying for tickets.”

There is still a long way to go between World Rugby’s intention to make its sport more attractive and its actual achievement.