The flame bearers for the game need to encourage a meaningful contest for possession at the scrum and after the tackle, according to Eddie Butler in The Observer.
"It was the terrible autumn of rain-drenched rugby, when it was gloomily confirmed that what had been eating into the domestic games of the European countries was now a worldwide pandemic. On two brief Heineken Cup weekends in October there had been a glimmer of hope, that cross-border competition might somehow create a resistance. But no, the rot has spread to all corners.
"It is a sneaky menace, for it strikes on two fronts: the scrum and the breakdown. It only needs to infect the line-out and we shall remember, remember this month of November as the twilight of union and the dawn of global rugby league. Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with league. Love it to bits. But the bearers of the flame of rugby union are charged with offering a sport for all shapes and sizes, and that specifically includes a meaningful contest for possession at the scrum and after the tackle."
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