Old games on Youtube

The forwards rucked out quick ball and hardly seemed to run into their opposite numbers deliberately.

You could acuse the game of being more scraggy, more off the cuff and referees trying to let the game run and offences were probably missed but did it matter?

The scrum penalty plus rolling maul rewards teams with poor backs. Mind you, so did the constant kicks to touch from anywhere before the rules changed whenever it was, decades ago.

The most exciting rugby I watched was the University of Cape Town in the mid to late sixties when HO de Villiers was full back. He used to run through the opposition with ease.

It is difficult to judge the standard,as you would get quite ordinary players mixing with internationals in a competition called the Grand Challenge. Next step was provincial rugby, then Test.

Did the legalisation of lifting in the line outs in 1999 suddenly make the line out slow down or did that come later?

Are the multiple changes to the scrum laws the cause of the current scrum farce or the symptom?  

From the clips I have been watching, the ball went into touch, the forwards got there - as fast as they could and the hooker threw in. 

No waiting for calls, no props turning their backs, then going back the same way, no player changing position in the lineouts, no delaying to get to the line for either a breather or tactical.  

Line outs were aesthetically ugly but they got the job done - returned the ball into play quickly, with a fair chance that the other side could win it.  Do we need to anything more fanciful to get that job done?

Sometimes were can't see the trees because of the Forest. 

It's a separate debate around the safety of the scrum. 

One question to be asked is it a lack of technique that makes the scrum dangerous rather than weight and size?

Proportionally I would argue that scrums have always had weight behind them, it's just now heavier, but is that on its own a reason for the issues we have with scrum safety? 

Rewatching internationals, the Haka has improved a lot, but I think that it's well past it's sell-by day and could do with being ditched. There are different tv channels available if you want to watch a dance-off.

As for the modern game, some bits you can watch on fast forward and all you'll see is a flat defensive moving up, then back, then up, then back, then up, then.... you get the picture... some elements of the game need a rethink to keep it exciting for the paying punters...

YouTube channel is taking a real hit though. The amount of stuff on there is incredible.... I'm about halfway through.....  

No it doesn't - it rewards teams with good forwards. 

There's no correlation between scrum penalties and 'poor' backs. 

Sorry to be curt, but this whole thread is nostalgic nonsense. I've watched games from the 70s and 80s and find them virtually unwatchable. There is no structure, no strategy, just 30 blokes chasing a ball and making umpteen mistakes. Games from that era remind me of what I see when I watch junior or mini teams playing. 

You can't fight progress.