Halftime adjustments?

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by bellnier

I'm trying not to be judgmental, but I find it odd (not necessarily 'bad') that so many of you don't make adjustments during the game at at half time with your partner(s). In rugby, the level of play, level of control, level of athleticism, etc. can be vastly different from age-to-age, boys games-vs-girls games, new team-vs-experienced team, etc. Sometimes I might begin a game refereeing at the 'wrong level', requiring me to make some adjustments upwards or downwards. Reading this, you BB folks might rightly respond to this by saying 'then the kids don't know what to expect'...but this is mitigated by the fact that a good (IMO) rugby ref always informs players, even at the pro level, of impending infractions...you'll often hear a ref saying things like '...your coming in offsides #11...' or '...hands out of the ruck #4...'. Is this kind of preemptive talk practiced in BB? some of you do and some don't? Bad idea?

You'll hear stuff like that a lot in my games: "Out of the key" or "Straight up" or "Hands off." But you probably won't hear it all game. Either they'll react to my warnings and clean it up, or I'll just penalize the infraction and they'll be forced to adjust.

Rarely will I make major adjustments at halftime. I start the game with a basic game plan and an attitude of letting the game come to me. Any necessary adjustments are usually made within the first few minutes of play. After that, my goal is to keep it consistent right on through to the end of the game.

My basic game plan has been refined over the years to incorporate the many hard-learned lessons of the "if we had done such-and-such earlier, this wouldn't have happened" variety. That usually precludes the need to make major changes at halftime.