7s and Rugby League

Do 7s and rugby league provide any challenges for Rugby’s future?  Definitely.  7s inclusion in the Olympics has to be seen as a positive for the proper version of the game, even if only 5% of the people who get drawn into 7s move on to 15s Rugby is in need of every boost possible outside its traditional base of 10 or so countries.  But there are some worries that come with this as well.  Sport Canada (their version of Sport England) has stopped “carding”, essentially government funding, for tight 5 forwards, in America there is a similar worry that the traditional college path ways will become blocked or clogged up with the big colleges focusing on the shorter version of the game.  The last thing 15s need is to lose reasonably strong countries like Canada.  But then Russia seems to be using 7s inclusion to drive standards and interest in the 15s game.

Rugby League also provides a challenge, as make no mistake, they will try and piggy back on the Olympic Inclusion just as much as Rugby proper.  That might not be a problem in established countries, even ones with heavy League history like England or Australia, but in countries where neither code is particularly popular League is as likely as Rugby to take advantage.  Beyond 7s though does League provide any challenges to Rugby?  The weakness of northern English clubs due to the defection almost 120 years ago is an ongoing challenge but that shows no signs of getting worse. 

Leicester v. Leeds ... Rhinos!?! - A Cross-Code Challenge?

Cross Code Hybrid – the best of both or worst of all?  This week a cross-code challenge between Leeds Rhinos and Leicester Tigers has surfaced in the news reports championed by none other than ex-Leicester head coach Bob Dwyer.  Both sides are positive but wary, and so they should be as the two main cross code games attempted so far have been mixed affairs at best.  Wigan disposed of Bath over two legs in 1996 where Bath felt uneasy at going full tilt in the scrums amongst other things, whilst Sale and St. Helens had a very close game which was literally a game of two halves with one half league the other union; Sale came out on top by just 2 points.

Leeds and Leicester are in many ways natural bedfellows, both are largish cities with a century long tradition of support and have the largest fan bases in their respective sports.  Some form of partnership between them seems a very good idea in principal, but a Frankenstein match of neither and both codes at the same time seems very odd indeed.

The proposed rules are that League is played in the attacking sides own half whilst Union rules are in place once the attacking side has passed the half way line.  All this with a 60 second “shot clock” similar to Basketball in place of League’s 6 tackles.  Several sticky areas immediately come to mind, first that 60 seconds isn’t long enough to build an attack with Union rules in the attacking half, also scrummaging and line outs for the League side when attacking, whether League’s 40:20 rule would be in place, and how exactly a referee would be expect to rule when a player had crossed half way and such when stripping the ball would be allowed combined with League’s voluntary tackle rule should a team prefer to take a league phase?

Will this achieve anything for anyone involved?  That is perhaps a more pressing situation for messers Cohen and Hetherington.  What are each looking to gain?  Union has an international game League can only dream of, whilst League is better run domestically and gains significantly better viewing figures for Sky.  This would be a massive spectacle and gain huge viewing figures and sponsorship; it might gain some more national fans for both sides but the fundamental issues that limit League’s overall presence and Union’s effectiveness will still be there and will still inhibit both codes.

Could this be the first step towards a reunion?  Well under the proposed rules the answer is no.  A merger of the two games would be possible in theory and at amateur level but the investment in the pro games makes this a pipe dream at best and the current Frankenstein rules are far too complicated for a regular series of games.  The idea of a league containing Wigan, Gloucester, St. Helens, Bath, Leicester and Leeds is, of course, very appealing and will be mooted again and again but the ingrained hierarchies will never let it happen.