Wallabies star lashes ‘men in suits’ for controversial 60-second scrum clock idea which could put players at risk: ‘We’re asking these blokes to compress their spine for a living’
- Andrew Kellaway has blasted a new proposal made by Rugby Australia
- Rugby chiefs want to speed up the game with a 60-second scrum clock
- However, Kellaway says the concept would put his teammates at risk
- Rugby Australia want changes to the game in order to win back its popularity
Andrew Kellaway has blasted rugby union chiefs after reports suggested that a 60-second ‘scrum clock’ was being considered in a bid to speed up the game.
The Sydney Morning Herald claims that the clock was requested by Rugby Australia, with chiefs desperate to revolutionise the sport having seen its popularity fall in recent years.
The idea was put to Wallabies prop Allan Alaalatoa during a round of media interviews ahead of the Rugby Championship Test this Saturday, with the Brumbies captain expressing reservations about the new concept.
Andrew Kellaway has blasted Rugby Australia chiefs for putting his teammates at risk
His national teammate Kellaway – an outside back – then stepped in, launching an impassioned plea to protect the pack.
‘We’ve got to be careful, don’t we?’ he said. ‘It’s a niche area of the game where you’ve got guys doing a specialist skill.
‘Outside backs, everybody else, we’re asking these blokes to compress a spine for a living. And someone in a suit has the nerve to ask them to hurry up.
‘If I was Al, which I’m not fortunately, I’d be pretty filthy about that. I think there’s so many other areas we can pick up in the game. The breakdown is another one before we have to start going picking on the scrum.’
Rugby chiefs want to introduce a ‘scrum clock’ that would speed up the game in the future
However, Kellaway says his teammates are ‘compressing their spines for a living’
However, the 26-year-old did give his support to some other ideas on the bargaining table, including a more relaxed approach to failed intercept attempts, while opening up a transfer market between Super Rugby teams.
‘If you’ve got a bloke who’s slapping the ball down really clearly, trying to kill the ball, kill the game like we see in rugby league sometimes, I don’t think there’s a place for that,’ he said.
‘But if someone’s going for an intercept and they get it a little bit wrong can we really punish them by sending them off?
‘I don’t agree with it. I don’t make the rules, we’ve just got to deal with it. We have to be better at adapting to that and playing to those rules, unfortunately until they change, if they ever do.’
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