NZR to tackle breakdown next

New Zealand Rugby’s desire to make the game safer, better to watch and more enjoyable to play will not stop at a reduction in the tackle height, Stuff can reveal.

The governing body this week announced a package of three law trials across the entire community game, including significantly reducing the tackle height to the belly area.

The trials were restricted to just three so as not to overburden players, coaches and officials, but NZ Rugby is already thinking about what to do about the breakdown, which has become highly contentious and dangerous.

‘‘Over the course of the next year, we will be considering what the next evolution of our game innovation looks like,’’ NZ Rugby general manager community rugby Steve Lancaster told Stuff.

‘‘To us it’s very clear that we need to be giving some thought to the breakdown. That ‘jackal’ situation is an area where players trying to secure the ball, defensive players, are exposed and potentially at risk.’’

The breakdown and the ‘jackal’ – where a defending player puts his or her head over the ball – have produced a number of flashpoints at the elite level this year.

Brodie Retallick was sent off last weekend for an illegal cleanout on Japan’s Kazuki Himeno, just days after Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said the jackal should be expunged from the game completely.

But the most contentious incident was the ugly cleanout on Quinn Tupaea by Wallabies lock Darcy Swain when the All Blacks midfielder was in the jackal position in the Bledisloe Cup test in Melbourne.

The incident reinforced the danger to players in the jackal position, and the current laws and their application are contrary to how NZ Rugby views the game’s future.

‘‘We want to look at how we can manipulate the breakdown or the incentives to create a contest at the breakdown,’’ Lancaster said.

‘‘Ideally, we’d see less players lined up in the defensive line, and we’ll get back to creating space and manipulating space for offences.’’

Similar thinking is behind the tackle trial. While a reduction in tackle height has major safety implications, Lancaster said it was also hoped that it would produce a better spectacle.

In terms of enforcing the trial laws, a tackle above the sternum will attract a penalty – in the same way that a high tackle under current laws does.