Watching these games, live back then and videos now, there are so many differences, many not good. A couple of the things that annoy me with the current game;
First one, the Forwards used to pack into the scrum and the backline was exactly that, the backs lined up in an attacking formation, with space to show their skills. The halves running the plays, the fullback chiming in, the centres running the lines, run around, wingers out wide or cut back in. Now every one stands flat, almost always level with the lock, who is often the fullback FFS. There’s no back line, no spacing, there’s forwards cluttering up the attack, it’s bloody annoying.
Second one, these days a winger often brings the ball back after a 5th tackle kick from the opposition, then the other winger takes a hit up, then a centre, then the other centre, bingo it’s tackle 4 and a forward gets to have a go (that’s annoying on its own) if the fullback hasn’t joined the rotation. Watyaknow it’s the 5th tackle and our turn to kick, rinse and repeat. It far kin annoys the crap outa me, set after set. Wingers are now just glorified second rowers, hopefully with a bit of extra speed, purely as a result of the fixation on them taking hit ups. Maybe next year we should play Thompson on the wing in attack, he’s big enough and displays some pace.
Some day, hopefully soon, a smart coach is gunna work out that just duplicating what everyone else is doing simply means that the team getting the best out of their Cap wins. Try something different FFS, for example these big wingers don’t turn and chase very well and seconds rowers clogging up the backline are prime targets for the chip and chase.
Go Dogs