Letters: 'It is 25 years since England captain Will Carling famously called the rugby union "boring old farts" and nothing has changed'

Born and bred in Hull, I have been brought up loving rugby league and, pre-Covid, I also attended many of Mowden Park’s rugby union games at The Northern Echo Arena in Darlington.

It has always amazed me at the inordinate amount of time taken up by scrums in rugby union both in setting them and re-setting them, sometimes more than once.

The rugby league authorities have been extremely pro-active in recent years in an attempt to speed the game up with 30-second limits on goal-line drops and re-starts etc.

In particular, since lockdown in March, they have introduced a ‘percentage win’ calculation to determine play-off places to allow for teams not completing their fixtures. They have also abolished scrums completely to help reduce face-to-face contact.

Scrum situations are now replaced by the opposition receiving the ball (and having only 30 seconds to re-commence play).

It is 25 years since England captain Will Carling famously called the rugby union hierarchy “boring old farts” and nothing seems to have changd since.

Paul Turgoose, Newton Aycliffe.