The new rugby season is now well underway with the EdF Cup kicking off last weekend (Ospreys get very lucky against Quins) and the Heineken Cup this weekend (good performances by Blues and Dragons, Scarlets woeful). Much of the interest from the commentary point of view has centered around the law changes being trialed this season. Termed the Experimental Law Variations, or ELVs, by the IRB, they have quickly become known as “the elves” by commentators.

These changes are not exactly the same as those trialed in the Southern Hemisphere in their last season. A full list of the ELVs, together with comments from players and coaches, is available from the BBC. Having seen several games now, I am in two minds. I like the distance from scrums law, and the new lineouts laws seems to have made that part of the game more competitive. The one aspect of the Southern Hemisphere ELVs that no one liked was making collapsing mauls legal, and yet that has been kept. (Thankfully some teams are still managing to maul for short periods.) But the things I really liked from Super 14 was making most of the ruck offenses free kicks rather than penalties. That hasn’t been kept, and worse still referees have been told to tighten up on discipline at rucks, which means they are blowing up far more often.

My view on this is simple: the game ought to be won by scoring tries, not luring your opponents into giving away penalties. Far too much rugby consists of getting into the opposition half and then recycling the ball from one ruck to the next in the hope of a penalty and 3 points. Making ruck offenses free kicks put an end to that. Tighter discipline at rucks makes it worse.

What is more, I’m not at all convinced that the supposed tighter discipline is what it says it is. I know that there used to be a lot of lazy lying around in rucks as players tried to slow the game down, but now referees are blowing up every time a player contesting the ball goes off his feet. You can now win a penalty at a ruck by pushing an opponent over. I’ve seen it happen. This is silly. I suppose that if it makes teams afraid to contest rucks then it will at least speed up the game, but in that case we’ll be left with something that looks suspiciously like Rugby League. And great players such as Richie McCaw, Martyn Williams, George Smith and Neil Back will become forgotten because winning the ball on the ground is no longer part of the game. That would be very sad.