Is anybody else sick of this rule?

E.g: Briers was booting it out tonight and his side were benefiting from an automatic start on our 20m line. All our players then have to get behind the 20m line before play can resume.

Why should we be rewarding such poor skill and such negativity. It's not just tonight, but it's a rule that annoys the hell out of me.

Just adopt the union ruling.

If the kick is within the last 20 I'd kept the rule as it is. If you're over the 20 I think scrum to the defending team from where ever it was kicked from, even though I'm a Wire fan I agree it's a terrible tactic and rule.

Tony Rea got London Broncos to the play-offs in 2005 pretty much on the back of that tactic when playing "bigger/heavier" packs. Making the forwards turn around and jog back 50 yards or so takes it's toll in the end.

What the hell's wrong with some people?

It's yet another technical facet of the game that teams can use to gain an advantage.

We could of course stop all such plays and end up like basketball with two teams trading points

Kick it from your own half and it goes dead just make it a 40m tap instead.

How about the receiving team actually catch the thing and run with it? They could always put more players back there if they have trouble covering all the field. Don't look for ways to reward them letting the ball go out of play.

As usual the Championship Club fan has the logical answer

I see what you mean, but it's just so frustrating to watch.

It's not a good skill to boot it long. If it was it would be a great advantage for the kicking side, like the 40/20 rule which requires a high level of skill, so it's a good rule.

I like the 40m tap suggestion or maybe the defending team doesn't have to all be back behind the line before they can tap it?

How many of those kicks actually see the defending fullback watch the ball go dead? And you want to give him even more encouragement to do that rather than pick up the ball and run with it?

I agree, the defending team need to field the ball better to nulify the tactic. It was only as it was Briers that it was so effective, Wilkin could not do that.

I'm sure it will get changed for next season.

Every time you kick it dead the opposition should be allowed one shoulder charge

There are a lot of RL people who are proud the game is tough and fast, but sometimes that can lead to calls for good footballing tactics to be driven out. The game needs to be careful about what is stopped or discouraged using rule changes.

Sticking more to the thread topic, as others have pointed out, if a team is being disadvantaged by their opponent kicking the ball dead, they should position players to prevent it. If the defending team does that, the team in possession might see an opportunity to run the ball.

As for 20m restarts, are the controlled ones enforced just to help the match officials? If I recall correctly, currently, you can have a quick restart if a player runs it back from out of play to the 20m line but not if they pass or kick it ahead to a player closer. I prefer to see the quick ones for obvious reasons and because I think it's a good balance to the kick dead tactic.

So why did the defending team not put their full back fully back to field the kicks?
I'm not sure why you seem adamant to want to reward poor defence.