All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens comes up with a radical plan to fix rugby’s time-wasting crisis
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Former All Blacks Andrew Mehrtens believes introducing timekeepers and shortening the halves to 30 minutes of effective play could solve the problem of wasted time in rugby.
His comments came in the wake of last week’s controversial end to the Australia-New Zealand Rugby Championship in Melbourne.
The Wallabies were left furious after French referee Mathieu Raynal caused a stir in the closing stages of the game for controversially penalized fly-half Bernard Foley, reversing a penalty he initially awarded to the hosts.
French referee Mathieu Raynal’s controversial decision to penalize Bernard Foley (right) cost the Wallabies a Bledisloe win after their heroic comeback against the All Blacks last week
Raynal pinged Foley for wasting time when the Wallabies No10 were about to kick the ball within 80 minutes and Australia took a 37-34 lead at Marvel Stadium.
The All Blacks instead got a five-yard scrum and Jordie Barrett cornered for a 39-37 win to deny Australia the Bledisloe Cup.
Raynal’s decision was labeled ‘outrageous’ and infuriated Australia, with coach Dave Rennie saying he had ‘never seen a call like this, on any level’.
Wallabies skipper Nic White told the referee he “cost them the rugby championship”, while Foley denied he was wasting time on purpose and claimed he couldn’t hear the referee because of the noise in the stadium.
Foley (left) was penalized for wasting time just as he was about to kick the ball into contact with the Wallabies leading 37-34 and 80 minutes on the clock
But the All Blacks got a five-yard scrum that allowed Jordie Barrett to score the match-sealing try long after time ran out.
Barrett’s attempt took a 39-37 win for the All Blacks, as they retained the Bledisloe Cup
And Mehrtens believes a review of how time was kept in rugby is long overdue, suggesting the sport needs to ensure that the ball remains effectively in play for the duration of each half.
The game clock stops in rugby for injuries and decisions referred to the television match official, but continues to run when the referee orders a scrum reset.
Conversely, for example, AFL games take much longer than 80 minutes to ensure that the ball is effectively in play for 20 minutes in each of the four quarters.
“If you start to stop the clock here and there, the match will turn into a much longer spectacle than we have now,” Mehrtens told The Breakdown on Sky Sport New Zealand on Sunday evening.
Andrew Mehrtens (left) has urged World Rugby to implement official timekeepers
“So make the halves 30 minutes each and stop the clock every time there is a scrum set. The professional timekeeper restarts the ball when the ball is played in the back of the scrum.
“If there’s an attempt, stop the clock there and don’t restart it until kick-off.
“If you cut it down to 30 minutes per half, you basically still get the same amount of time for the people in the stadium and you get a much greater share of the ball in play.”
The 49-year-old, who won 70 caps for the All Blacks in a stellar career, suggested that rugby should take a leaf from other sports and implement official timekeepers.
Wallabies boss Dave Rennie said he had ‘never seen a phone call like this, on any level’
‘Look at tennis. One of the ways players can slow down the tennis between points, especially on the serve,” he said.
“Now they have a countdown, I think they have 30 seconds from the end of one point to getting the serve on the next.
“It has been taken out of the referee’s hands. There is a clock and you have to work on it. like a sport [rugby] could do with a little more professionalism.’
Meanwhile, Rugby Australia has written to World Rugby to formally complain about ‘overpowering officials’ in the wake of last week’s controversy.
Rugby Australia has written to World Rugby to formally complain about ‘overpowering officials’
Rugby Australia said their letter to the sport’s governing body was not specifically about Raynal’s decision, but more generally about ‘the current state of affairs and the overbearing nature of rules and officials’.
“It’s not unusual, we’ve been lobbying for this at World Rugby for some time,” said a spokesperson.
The All Blacks and the Wallabies meet on Saturday for the second Bledisloe Test in Auckland, with New Zealand needing a win to clinch the rugby championship.
New Zealand and South Africa lead the table with 14 points each, with the All Blacks leading by 13 points better than the Springboks, who will host Argentina in Durban later on Saturday.