All Blacks hooker Anton Oliver, who sat on the sideline as a spectator during the All Blacks’ victory over the French on Saturday, has bemoaned the state of the scrum in Rugby Union – and Oliver is sympathising with the referee.
On Saturday, in the Auckland Test, 28 scrums were awarded and 14 had to be reset.
“I must admit watching the scrums being reset over and over again – and I’m supposed to like them – is really mundane and it’s a danger for the game actually,” he told New Zealand website YahooXtra.
“It’s probably something that League (Rugby League) has got over us because there is a far more continual feel about it.
“I don’t know whether this Test was just an aberration in terms of them falling down all the time.
“I can’t tell what’s going on in some scrums at times. It happens so quickly that both parties are at fault sometimes … it’s difficult to tell. The ref gets under pressure because the game’s not moving.”
Oliver believes both the French and the All Blacks were not at their best on the weekend.
“It was quite frustrating as an impartial sort of spectator as to how often both teams dropped the ball,” said Oliver with his usual dose of honesty.
“The game failed to become anything significant because neither team could sustain pressure because they couldn’t keep old of the ball. So it just became a stop-start affair.”
On Saturday, in the Auckland Test, 28 scrums were awarded and 14 had to be reset.
“I must admit watching the scrums being reset over and over again – and I’m supposed to like them – is really mundane and it’s a danger for the game actually,” he told New Zealand website YahooXtra.
“It’s probably something that League (Rugby League) has got over us because there is a far more continual feel about it.
“I don’t know whether this Test was just an aberration in terms of them falling down all the time.
“I can’t tell what’s going on in some scrums at times. It happens so quickly that both parties are at fault sometimes … it’s difficult to tell. The ref gets under pressure because the game’s not moving.”
Oliver believes both the French and the All Blacks were not at their best on the weekend.
“It was quite frustrating as an impartial sort of spectator as to how often both teams dropped the ball,” said Oliver with his usual dose of honesty.
“The game failed to become anything significant because neither team could sustain pressure because they couldn’t keep old of the ball. So it just became a stop-start affair.”
365 Digital
