Source: Radio New Zealand
One of the major talking points around the start of Super Rugby Pacific next weekend are tweaks to the laws, designed to make for a better viewing experience. While it does seemingly push the competition just that much farther away from the rigours of test rugby, the changes are being warmly received by the players themselves.
“I think it’s going to be good for the game,” said Brumbies and Wallabies fullback Tom Wright, at the competition launch in Auckland.
Tom Wright of the Brumbies. Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
“Those two rules in particular, the ‘use it’ and the 50/22, you have to do your own homework and have to be switched on. Does it take one or two (penalties) early in the season where it pulls someone’s pants down? I hope it’s not mine or someone else in the Brumbies’ pants that get pulled down.”
The changes include a new sanction for joining a ruck after the referee has called ‘use it’, which should mean the ball is cleared quicker. Accidental offsides and teams delaying playing the ball away from a ruck are now free kicks, with quick taps given more room to occur.
It’s no longer mandatory for the referee to issue a yellow or red card to a player on the defending team when awarding a penalty try, while teams can pass the ball back over the halfway line when attempting a 50/22 kick.
Highlanders and All Blacks lock Fabian Holland said he reckoned the changes were “exciting”.
Fabian Holland (Highlanders) and Patrick Pelligrini (Moana Pasifika). Alan Lee / www.photosport.nz
“It speeds up the game, it brings a different way of thinking around the way we play the game.”
Holland had sympathy for the officials and the job they do in controlling an increasingly confusing game. He said that the other change that sees the TMO’s influence further reduced was a positive.
“Everyone’s just trying to do their job, the TMO’s are just trying to do their job. No one is intentionally interfering with anything, they’re just trying to make the game better. But it’s good to see some laws coming in to speed up the game again and play fast footy.”
While this is not the first time a Super Rugby season has included law variations, these latest ones seem to be going down positively with fans. The same can’t be said about former test referee Mathieu Raynal on Sud Radio this week.
“They want more passing, more tries, less time spent in mauls and scrums, whereas we defend these specific elements and are against directions being set by the Southern Hemisphere,” he said.
Mathieu Raynal. Inpho / www.photosport.nz
“Our [French Top 14] championship works. Our stadiums are full, rugby is more watched than football in the country. We don’t want to follow directions coming from countries where stadiums are empty, where they are trying to recreate spectacle at any cost, even if it means sacrificing fairness and the principle of player safety.”
Ironically, Raynal is most remembered in this part of the world for his highly controversial call at the close of the 2022 Bledisloe Cup test in Melbourne, one that was justified as an act to punish time-wasting. With the Wallabies ahead and time up, Raynal awarded a free kick to the All Blacks after Bernard Foley was adjudged to have taken too long to kick a penalty to touch. The subsequent possession saw the All Blacks score a try to win the match 39-37.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
