Johnny 99--Your comment says it all. If you think that real rugby is a mediocre sport, perhaps you should find yourself another one. Leave rugby alone, and let us real fans enjoy it for what it is, rather than trying to change it.

Dazzer, San Francisco, USA

The englander, as always, fearful of change even though it is his best chance to change over 100 years of rugby mediocrity. Asking an english forward pack to be more atheletic & stay on their feet is like asking Marcus Trescothick to chase a ball to the boundary. They might try but........

Johnny99, London, UK

Regardless of what one thinks of either set of laws it is an absolute farce not to have one set of laws consistently applied at test level. Any trialling of new laws should be restricted to provincial or club rugby. We need better than this from the administrators. Too much sun for Kevin apparently!

Cameron, Melbourne, Australia

Dale, Denton, TX, USA - looks like someone commented on the wrong story.

I think it should be left alone, the game is good as it is with the older rules. The only good I see coming from the ELV's is New Zealand and Ireland will stop coming from offside at every scrum or ruck, "BACK 5 GREEN/BLACK!"

Graeme, Edinburgh,

I agree,Rugby should be played on your feet,and the breakdown area needs to be cleaned up with consistent refereeing.Enforce the current laws,then see if we need new ones'.Kaplan also protected the wallaby scrum.Scrums need to be a contest too.

Les Porter, Airlie beach, Aust

I thought the idea is to get the ball in hand over the line. Let's just pick a superboot , 3 points, 3points, 3points, sounds wonderful and is sure to get the people in.
New people need not apply!
Webb Ellismust be turning in his grave.

Oh Lucky man, Albury, Australia

Stuart Barnes is right. Kaplan had a bad day. It wasn't the rules at fault. However he is he best ref in the world. Rugby's problem isn't the rules, whichever set we play. The performance of the referees is the real problem.

Campbell Pope, Wellington, New Zealand

What Barnes is saying is that the award of a free kick, rather than a full penalty, gives the opposition a license to kill the ball at the breakdown to prevent or break up an opposition attack. The penalty award prevents this from happening, especially in tight games.

Robin Laundon, London, UK

For those who think the ELVs are making RU more like RL, perhas you could watch a game of RL and realise what rubbish you are talking. There is no comparison! N mauls no ruicks of the RU variety - what are you really afraid of?

Gary S, Brisbane, Australia

Playing ELVs in the tri-nations took the gloss off the tournament. Soon the SH teams tour against the NH teams and who will have to adapt , will it be old rules or ELVs? Theres a danger of a farce here. One area that should be looked at is the setting of the scrums, too much resetting & time wasting

Steve, windhoek, Namibia

Phil Mickelson needs to start playing like the number two player in the world, and Anthony Kim needs to let his golf game do the talking, instead of his mouth. If the US team doesn't have the cup securely in hand befor the final match, then the cup will be crossing the pond for another two years.

Dale, Denton, TX, USA

Fantastic game... great tussle for the ball at the breakdown, some sublime skills on display and the usual amount of controversy. Exactly what Barnes is trying to say, i don't know. He basically says nothing here.
The SH and NH are on different rules. Kaplan reffed accordingly.. Obvious

nick, christchurch,

People claiming ELV's are an attempt to 'Bring league and union together" are mindless fools. There is and always will be the contest for the ball!! thats not changing and that is the essence of the difference between the 2 codes. Lineouts and Scrums are still there. Scrums even more so than before

nick, christchurch,

It has taken 150 years for rugby union to to mature into the best sport in the world and it has taken the Southern Hemisphere dominated IRB six months to ruin it. Abandon the ELVs immediately and give us our sport back.

Malcolm Cupis, Bath, England

The IRB directive says to apply the law at the breakdown, rather than let offences slide. When playing some ELVs, this law says to award a free kick rather than a penalty. Kaplan was entirely correct.

Daniel Taylor, Aylesbury, UK

It,s amazing how quickly money can distort the sane man and in the case of rugby , a sane sport .
These ELV's are just another step towards the re-unification of Union and League.
It is just basketball on a considerably larger playing field.
No-one is saying no.

Nick Dixon, Sutton Coldfield, England

Why doesn't RU concede defeat and merge with RL? It looks to me like the powers that be are trying to change it into RL in any case. Just admit it - RL is faster and more exciting...

Kevin, Ibiza, Spain

Australia vs New Zealand in the decide - 22 penalties/free kicks in the first 25 minutes.

And these ELVs were supposed to take away the decision making process from referees?

We don' need "free-kick-a-go-go".

TomBB, Gold Coast, Australia