New laws ‘put ABs at a disadvantage’
Top international refereeWayne Barnes believes the All Blacks and the rest of the southern hemisphere sides will be at a disadvantage on their end-of-year tours because of the newWorld Rugby law trials.
Barnes and fellow England RFU elite referees have been working with national coach Eddie Jones, as he looks to take full advantage of law changes to the scrum and ruck, which will be unfamiliar to the touring sides in the November internationals.
The World Rugby law trial came into force for the European club season, but did not apply for Super Rugby or the Rugby Championship, and will only start down south from January 1.
‘‘Unfortunately for the southern hemisphere [teams], come November they’ll be playing under our laws so they’ve got to get used to them,’’ Barnes said. ‘‘We all know that Eddie has a keen eye for detail and he will be keen for us [referees] to just add to that. If we get a small advantage up here, I’msure the coaches will try to use it.’’
The six new law amendments were announced in July. Three relate to the scrum in a bid to make it a fairer contest, including allowing all members of the front row to attempt to ‘strike’ for the ball after it has been fed. The other three law trials are at the tackle and ruck.
At the tackle, instead of the tackler being able to play the ball from any direction after getting up, they must now only play it from their side of the tackle ‘gate’.
A ruck is now formed when at least one player is on their feet and over the ball on the ground, creating the offside line. This differs to the previous requirement for one player from each team to create the ruck. Players on their feet will now be able to pick up the ball on the ground as long as no opposition player has joined the ruck.
Players may also no longer kick the ball out of a ruck, but can ‘hook’ it back towards their own side.