5 Laws That CHANGED Rugby Forever!! 

lifting is a welcome edition to modern rugby. the old line outs look ridiculous nowadays. in the transition phase there was a thing called 'supporting' which was just poorly disguised lifting. big fan of short arm penalties. all attack without cheap points

I’m old enough to remember double-banking in the line out ! One change that was influential, but on the equipment rather that legal side, was simply the introduction of plasticised waterproof balls. Accurate line out throws were impossible with the old puddings. In passing, I’d be happy to see the end of the line out drive. Nearly the scores in today’s matches came from that, and it gets tedious. It’s no good coaches telling players to avoid conceding attacking line outs: penalties are a bit of a lottery.

The lineout lift and the haka are the two aspects of the sport that caught my initial interest.

My first try in 1992 was 4 points! My next was 5. Lifting also started a yesr into playing. Great video!

Lifting the shorts at lineouts is the most hilarious element I’ve ever seen on a sports field.

What about the removal of the ‘standing tackle’ law which removed in the late 1960s and all but created the development of the maul in the game? It shifted the emphasis away from just the ruck as a means of recycling attack, and put an prevalent emphasis on upper body strength in the tackle zone. Pretty seismic shift in the game.

Another major change - cards (borrowed from football) and the sin-bin (borrowed from ice hockey). Back in the day, the only available sanctions were a penalty (pretty meaningless beyond oppos' 10-yard line, as you got possession back) or sending-off (which almost never happened). Look at the build-up to the famous 1973 Baba's try; two ABs tried to take JPR's head off without even getting pinged. Nowadays, they'd have been down to 13 before Edwards ever touched the ball. A corollary to that is giving touch judges (as I still call them) the power to draw attention to foul play. Some top refs used to get around the ban by telling their TJs to stop running the line if they saw something, as a suggestion that he come over for a chat. Another trick was for resolving a possible try in the far corner - run behind the posts for a score, stand put otherwise. There';s a little--known story from the days when a try was just that; a chance to try for a goal. After William Webb-Ellis first touched the ball down (in those days it was spherical), he picked it up, trotted over to the master who was reffing the game, and asked "Please Sir, What do I do with this now?" And that's why the rugby ball is the shape it is.

Don't knock the penalty goal. South Africa are in the RWC final due to one.

the bonus points bro...

I think TMO could be added to this video too.

It's called 'football' not because you kick the ball but because the game is played on foot rather than on horseback.

The majority of the rule changes have improved the game but for me I'd still prefer the old line outs with no lifting and rucking.

Thanks to the first 2 laws, we have the following scenario. Technical penalty, kick to touch, line out maul, try. Yawn, yawn, yawn. Boring.

Rugby League is a much better spectacle

The 40-20 is a sh*t rule blatantly copied from rugby league.

It is such an elite sport

Lifting in line- outs is a disaster. It has reduced the number of areas where possession is disputed to one, namely the ruck, though rucking is illegal. The scrum is an emasculated farce with the ball going in sideways after the ref has wasted the fat end of a minute to get it together. If the other 4 great ideas are as crap as lifting at line outs, this may be the worst video on rugby ever made