What has happened to Rugby Union? Just watching the Ireland vs New Zealand game and its fast flowing, high scoring and plenty of tries. The ball is visible most of the time and they’re not kicking it backward and forward or into touch. They're running angles, off loading, cut-out passes - everything, apart from the number of penalties the game has some momentum.

I’m surprising enjoying watching it.

So what have they done that has drastically changed the sport?

Two things. When they changed the try to 5 points that helped, and they now have a number of ex RL players both playing and coaching.

Oh and you are watching the most expansive Northern Hemisphere team against the most expansive Southern Hemisphere team which helps.

International RU (and whisper it quietly, top level club RU) is a great spectacle to watch these days.

I watched the first 15 mins and turned off coz it was naff??? Sounds like I turned off at the wrong time.

You clearly didn't see the Wales Vs Fiji game on Friday evening then .... Yes folks, let's puff up a cushion for ten soild minutes of scrums, punctuated by penalties which led to more scrums, 'final warnings' about the scrums from the match official and finally the cop-out of a penalty try.

TBH mate this is the first time I've watched a RU game in about... forever - are you saying they're not all like this?

Nope, that's what it was like, it was a shocker.

You only need look at the couched terms of the BBC to know how bad it actually was .... "Disappointing", "Lacklustre" etc.

Clearly whilst they've got Edwards on the coaching staff, he's teaching them nothing about handling or running on to the ball.

It helps if you remember rugby league before Sky took over too.

RL has been stripped down to its absolute bare bones for the Sky dollar, every year we see tinkering with the rules and the usual reason given is to speed the game up, open the game up or make it simpler for spectators to understand - here's a good idea (but whisper it in case Eddie Hemmings is listening), Tag Rugby League would be even faster.

If you are capable of reading and then understanding the rules of possession, competitive scrummaging and the folly of being a full back caught in possession in your own half (you can't just take a tackle and wait for your team mates to join you later) then its very possible to enjoy rugby union - one tip though, just remember its not rugby league, so stop trying to compare the two.

You know I think that two "developments" in SL have actually helped my appreciation of RU recently, namely;

Dummy Half Scoots and Flat Attacking Lines.

In the name of improvement, SL has restricted the ability of ball playing scrum-halves by pushing the game towards a "bust and offload" game. This in turn has incentivised failed scrum-halves to be scooting hookers because the game is now so fast.

I would like to see a slightly slower ptb, which would mean that defences would get another second to get set, and as a result we would need to devise better attacking structures to break down defences.

As a side benefit, we would also develop players with a better attacking skill set and improve our international chances.

I enjoy playing RU, but as a rule can't stand watching it. NZ and possibly ireland are the only real exceptions

Top level RU has been good for a while, and pulls in the crowds. 70000 for todays England game, a fair bit of incisive running, awesome tackles and a bit of biff.

A good Saturday afternoon.

it has, the super 14 stuff is good and internationals can be, there was one hideous passage of play in the england game, where it was collapsed scrum, wheeled scrum, slipped binding or whatever for a good few minutes, that is what irritates the hell out of me, ridiculously complicated restarts which more often than not don't restart but lead to another breakdown, these are not a spectacle.

I also don't understand some of the restarts - at one point the ball went out of play and a NZ player simply passed it back to a player in the field of play and the game continued. Then later in the game the ball went out of play again which instigated a line-out.

Confused???

if the ball goes out and doesn't hit another object (stand, fan, advertising board, fence) then you can do a quick restart.

One other thing I heard today, was that Shontayne Hape has been MOM for england for the last 2 weeks. Now when he left Bradford I thought his best was behind him. Has he refound his best form, or are the current standards of Englands backs that bad

A quick line out can take place only if the ball has not touched a person or an object outside the field of play and as long as a line out has not already formed (two or more players from either/both sides), it must be taken on or behind (closer to your own line) where the ball went into touch and is a quick way of restarting the game when no tactical advantage exists for the throwing team, ie you're defending a long down field kick close to your own line, its better to take the quick line out and hoof it back up field rather than wait for a full lineout and run the risk of losing possession at it.

The "non contact" rule is important too, if an attacking player is tackled into touch you'll often see him throw the ball into the crowd or at an advertising hoarding, this forces the defence to form a full line out with the opportunity for the attack to gain possession again.

I think I got that right, let me read it again.