ARU predicts try-fests from Super 14 law changes

ARU predicts try-fests from Super 14 law changes
NZPA | Saturday, 26 January 2008
ARU predicts try-fests from Super 14 law changes - Rugby news & coverage - Stuff.co.nz


Super 14 rugby's experimental law variations (ELVs) get their first airing in trial matches this weekend amid predictions scores will double in a frantic final quarter.

Just three weeks out from the new, and hopefully improved, 2008 competition, franchises on both sides of the Tasman get a chance to test drive the changes designed to make the game more entertaining.

General manager of the Australian Rugby Union's (ARU) high performance unit former Wallaby Pat Howard predicted early season try-fests.

"The game may be the same score it has been for the first 60 minutes, but with a war of attrition that post the 60-minute mark there's so much more ball in play and the players are more fatigued," he said.

"What we're hoping for is the score to effectively double in that last 20 minutes."

Main changes include free kicks rather than penalties for offences other than offside and foul play, and requiring each backline to stand 5m from the hindmost foot at the scrum.

Also, if the ball is passed or taken back inside the defender's 22m line, then kicked out on the full, the lineout is in line with where the ball was kicked.

Another variation was to create an offside line when a player is tackled, requiring defenders to retreat behind the line before they can contest the ball.

"Every time you make a line break, the chances of you converting that into a try are a lot higher," Howard said.

"A player can go to the fullback, take a tackle, throw the ball back 30m and no one else can touch it."

Howard and ARU referees manager Peter Marshall spruiked the ELVs to Sydney media yesterday as they prepare to be trialled in the highest profile rugby competition to date.

Governing body Sanzar is yet to decide if the ELVs will be used in the Tri-Nations, with that decision largely dependent on the success of the Super 14.

One thing for certain is the All Blacks' June tests at home against Ireland and England will be played under the old rules.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) asked Sanzar to trial the ELVs in Super 14 but haven't decided when they might be implemented in the Northern Hemisphere.

In the Super 14, referees will be harsher on defenders killing the ball in the tackle, an ELV which Howard said saw tries increase by 50 per cent in last year's English premiership.

"You're giving advantage to the attacking side, more continuity, more help for the coaches to say `let's not kick it away'.

"Turning the ball over is a real contest and not a technical version of looking for a penalty."

At the lineout, the non-throwing hooker is now banned from lifting to make it easier for the throwing team to retain possession.

Marshall said the nightmare of constant scrum resets had also been looked at, with referees now applying a four-second rule in the scrum engagement to try to speed it up.

He said cynical play by defenders, knowing they might only concede a free kick rather than a penalty, could be punished by immediate yellow cards.

Howard acknowledged there was some cynicism in the Northern Hemisphere about widespread changes.

"I don't think we're that far apart. In the Northern Hemisphere the game is seen very positively, and we need to address our part and try to get our supporters loving the game.

"All of the Sanzar unions are very keen to look at it, and we're confident and positive about it."