That Wayne Smith, World Rugby’s reigning coach of the year after his exploits in helping the Black Ferns win the Rugby World Cup, should find a recent game such a turn off that he watched a wildlife documentary instead, should worry those in the corridors of power.
If the 66-year-old, nicknamed “The Professor” for his knowledge of the game and ability to transfer that to his players, is finding it tediously predictable then there’s not much hope for the rest of us, or indeed our children.
We should remember, too, that as an older and presumably wealthier Kiwi he will be categorised as part of our most avid rugby-watching demographic.
So while Smith’s comments on an All Blacks podcast (which in itself was an interesting way to air his criticisms), probably won’t resonate with World Rugby, they should at a domestic level.
“The standard is great in terms of the quality of the players that you see around the world,” Smith said. “I don’t know about you, but I'm getting frustrated with the game.
“Not the players, I’m frustrated with the game.
“I watched the game that Nic Berry refereed the other day [the Force v the Highlanders in Perth], and his arm is out the whole time. Every single play, there's an advantage.
“Then, you know, we're going to go seven, eight phases and if it goes nowhere, we're going to come back and it’s going to be a penalty.
“Then, 30 seconds to kick the ball and another 40 seconds for the lineout to happen. It's going to be a drive that's going to collapse, and it's going to be an arm coming out.
“It’s going to come back to another penalty. Kick to touch, another drive. Then a yellow card comes out because they do it again.”
Smith said he turned the game off “for the first time in my life” at halftime, preferring to watch a documentary on lions in the Serengeti.
It suggested that Smith had little interest in watching a potential Highlanders’ comeback. They were 24-3 down at the time and outscored the Force in the second half but still lost 30-17.
“I was so frustrated with it,” he said. “I don't know if it got any better in the second half. It probably did. But I just thought it’s not the sort of game I want to watch at the moment when it’s like that.”
Smith, who helped the All Blacks to their World Cup triumphs in 2011 and 2015 and was parachuted into a dysfunctional Black Ferns set-up last year before their own World Cup success earned after a nail-biting final victory over England, said the lineout drive and mauls were a blight on the game.
“I reckon one thing that would fix that is... if you get a penalty and a kick to touch the other team gets their throw-in.
“That would stop all these incessant kicks down into the corner and driving mauls and mauls falling over and then another one and then another one.
“I don't know how many people I’m speaking for when I say this about the mauls and the scrums but I bet there’s a lot.”
The lineout drive in particular has become an eyesore in the men’s game (along with incessant box kicks) but it is perhaps even worse in the women’s game.
England showed at last year’s World Cup, including in the final, that it can be virtually unstoppable at that level, with Joanah Ngan-Woo’s dramatic lineout steal in the final seconds of the final, won 34-31 by the Black Ferns, saving the home side.
The Red Roses had already scored four tries from lineout drives.
With lifting in lineouts allowed in the modern game, the set piece has become far more predictable but it’s that predictability which is now the major issue.
It's made the game less interesting. For Smith, a documentary was more compelling. For our children, any number of entertainment options would be preferable.
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