Worcester-Northampton may not go down as one of the matches of the decade but perhaps, in its own way, it was quite a landmark game. For months, ever since the glow of the Lions tour chilled in the northern autumn, we had been moaning that something horrible was happening to the game. The contest on the ground, with a distinct bias in favour of the tackler, meant that the ball was going up into the heavens. The floor was the minefield that had to be overflown, and it was not pretty.

Well, there is evidence to suggest that the problem is safely being addressed by the coaches, rather than being abandoned to the law-makers. The legislators of the International Rugby Board would no doubt think long and hard about the matter, and end up inserting a clause that would merely create a jam somewhere else. The last round of Experimental Law Variations was born of good intentions but simply proved that this is a complex sport of loopholes and knock-on effects.

The new taboo of rugby, as shown at Sixways, is the isolated ball-carrier. Drop your head and charge with no support and it leads either to a penalty for not releasing, or a turnover. Worcester had the upper hand at the scrum but were stripped at the breakdown.

Once upon a time, the scrum was king. Then, with boosting permitted, the line-out became king of the set-piece. Now, to win the breakdown is to control the match, and that offers far more possibilities than it creates problems.

To avoid individuals being collared and mugged, coaches now have to construct clusters around the ball-carrier. Units are being formed to protect possession.

The all-important element to a game of adventure is space, and if players are having to stick close together in one area of the field it means that there will be room elsewhere. No, Worcester-Northampton will not go down as a classic, but the amount of time spent on the ball by Rico Gear and Miles Benjamin on the Worcester wings and by Ben Foden in particular at full-back for the Saints was as encouraging at the turn of the year as the autumn was dispiriting.

The game is coaching itself out of its crisis. The law-makers can stand down. This is not just the turn of the year, but also the end of a decade. In general it has been an excellent time for professional rugby, and here are my 10 favourite bits from it.

1 The Marseille weekend at the 2007 World Cup, with England-Australia, South Africa-Fiji and France-New Zealand, all based around the non-stop party in the old port.

2 The scrummaging during the 2003 World Cup final, when the referee, Andre Watson, managed to make a cliffhanger out of a routine England victory.

3 The Leinster-Munster semi final in the Heineken Cup 2009, when Croke Park thundered to an all-Ireland epic.

4 The second half of France-Wales in the 2005 Welsh grand slam, when Wales, hammered for 40 minutes, put fear aside and played ... and played.

5 The second half of England-Wales in the 2008 Welsh grand slam, ditto the rest.

6 Fiji-Wales 2007 World Cup, for a glimpse of beautiful folly on both sides.

7 Munster turning the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff into a slab of south-west Ireland on the day they finally won the Heineken Cup. Just beats the Leicester-Stade Français final at the Parc des Princes.

8 Rome on a Six Nations weekend.

9 Loftus Versfeld for the second South Africa-Lions Test in 2009. Will burn brightly for all time as a truly great international.

10 The snake of camper vans going round New Zealand on the Lions tour of 2005. A truly weird rugby tour, but a marvellous band of supporters.

Heroes of the decade

Martin Johnson, for being the player and captain of the age.

Gareth "Alfie" Thomas for being the bravest bloke to have in a changing room when things were going wrong.

Richie McCaw, for being the best player we'll have seen, with the possible exception of Michael Jones.

Villains of the decade

Martin Johnson, for being so, so cautious as manager of England.

Gareth "Alfie" Thomas, for meddling in so many affairs beyond the changing room. He threatened more strikes than Arthur Scargill.

Richie McCaw, for being so good at the breakdown that he caused the ball to be booted into outer space.

Here are the weekend Guinness Premiership fixtures. Will the signs of recovery continue?

Friday, 01 January 2010

Sale v Harlequins, 5.30pm

Saturday, 02 January 2010

Gloucester v Worcester, 3pm

Leeds Carnegie v Bath, 3pm

Northampton v London Irish, 3pm

Saracens v Leicester, 3pm

Sunday, 03 January 2010

Wasps v Newcastle, 4.30pm

Why not? I'm going for away wins everywhere, in the spirit of new-found folly, bar Leeds and Wasps. With tries galore to sound in the new decade.

Happy New Year to you all.