The World Cup is Here

So Rugby World Cup 2011 has finally kicked off down in the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’- New Zealand. It’s been four years since South Africa became World Champions in Paris and the rugby world has changed a lot since then. Most notably in the way in which the game is being played, gone are the endless ping pong kicking contests and defensive rugby. The top teams, Australia and New Zealand in particular, are embracing a more expansive game plan. For this reason I believe that this renewal of the tournament promises to be exciting and engaging. This is not to say that the game has no problems, issues over scrumaging and the contest at the breakdown continue to be a bugbear for fans and players. The IRB needs to rectify these issues if the game is going to continue to expand and develop in the future.

Anyone who watched this morning’s game will be aware that New Zealand looked scintillating at times yet it has to be said they stuttered through the second half as Tonga showed that they are no pushovers. The most startling aspect of the New Zealand performance this morning was how few bodies they were committing at ruck time, they were therefore able to fan out and keep a strong defensive line. A team with more tactical nous than the Tongans possibly would have been able to take advantage of this ruck policy. If the Tongans had a fly half who could kick the ball in behind the New Zealand defence then perhaps they could have gotten a few more scores. New Zealand looked comfortable with ball in hand yet were unable to make their class count. In years gone by New Zealand teams would have racked up a big score and dished out a 60+ drubbing. It’s too soon to criticise this team but did the pressure get to them a bit? Several of their players had stunning matches however. Sonny Bill Williams looked great, though I’m still of the impression that he is a one trick pony and that one trick, his single handed offload out of the tackle, may not work against big defences where he is sure to be double teamed. Expect Nonu and Smith to start in the centres when the big boys come out to play. Richard Kahui was excellent as was Israel Dagg and they will put pressure on Cory Jane and Mils Muliaina for starting spots. All in all it was a performance which merited pass marks and New Zealand will get better.

Sport Losing the War on Drugs

There are two attitudes to law enforcement. One of these, legal positivism, has the idea that the merits of a law are irrelevant, and those who break it should be punished. The other could be described as a form of utilitarianism, whereby a law is only a good one so long as the costs outweigh the benefits.

An example of this is the drug trade. It is four decades since America first declared war on drugs. At this point in time, there are around two million Americans incarcerated for drug offences. Yet there has never been an appreciable decline in the production, sale, or consumption of drugs since. For the positivist, this is irrelevant. The law exists, it should be enforced. For the utilitarian, the question arises of what to do when enforcing a law may be harmful to the greater good.

I say this by way of an extended preamble to an interesting question: Is it time to consider lifting the ban on performance-enhancing drugs? For all the work that has been done into the merits of narcotics laws, there has been surprisingly little advocacy for this point, which is odd, because it is a debate that sports really should have.

First, the obvious. The current anti-doping efforts clearly aren't up to task. In the case of baseball and cycling, in particular, neither sport enforces what little restrictions there are. A quick glance at Wikipedia's page on doping in cycling reveals that considerably more than half of the reported cases date from the past fifteen years. While this reflects in part the improved detection capabilities in place, as well as greater awareness, the fact that there hasn't been a major decline demonstrates just how ineffective the anti-doping legislation is.