New laws invite fast paced Rugby
The All Blacks will enjoy an even fast game which they naturally play. Photo by Ruby Wolff /Rugby15.
Morgan Piek – The All Blacks will be using their Northern Tour to trial run the new IRB law regulations. The New Zealanders believe the new “shot-clock” ruck law would benefit them as the law intends to speed up the game.
The new five second ruck clearance law and shorter scrum engage sequence are two of the IRB’s new trial regulations.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen believes the new laws are to the benefit of the game and should help his men extended their Northern Hemisphere winning streak which dates back to 2002.
The newly appointed All Blacks captain Kieran Read said :
“I don’t think the five-second rule will alter us too much.”
“We want to play a pretty quick game. It’s more getting used to the scrum call and making sure we can adjust to how we’re going to attack the scrums. Hopefully the new laws will be a good thing for the game.”
It is believed that teams such as England and Italy who prefer a slower game will battle to adapt to a more up tempo game. A faster game suites the World Champions as they play a natural brand of fast paced Rugby.
Should the new regulations be successful we will see teams having to be fitter in order to compete. This will have a massive impact on the dynamic of the game.
The new laws might invite South African players to move away from the slow structured play we have become used over the years. This may just see our men start playing they natural game which some belief they are restrained from playing.
Shortening the scrum engage sequence is one of the best proposed laws changes in many years as referees are too inconsistent in with the timing of the sequence. Having timed it before, some referees take as long as 8 – 10 seconds to set a single scrum, even this waste of time does not prevent the scrums from being reset.
Scrums have unfortunately become a problem in the game due to many factors. In some cases it could take up to 3 minutes to get the scrum over and done with, time much better spent trying to score tries.
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