New application of maul law to make it easier to halt ball carrier

The current Six Nations Championship will be the last under which the old law governing the lineout maul will pertain. The days of teams kicking penalties to the corner and setting up a flying phalanx of bodies are about to become more complicated.

As the graphics (inset) demonstrate the present law allows the ball carrier to immediately slip to the back of the maul behind a mass of team-mates. Under the new application, the ball carrier must start at the front of the maul, thereby giving the defending team a chance to tackle the carrier.

If he slides to the back of the maul he will be penalised. The team in possession can transfer the ball backwards in the maul, thereby changing the ball carrier. This will make it technically harder to generate momentum in the maul while playing rugby’s version of pass the parcel.

Laudable intention

World Rugby’s intention to render the lineout maul a more equitable contest is a laudable intention but a commitment to implement change on January 1st was undermined by neglecting to inform relevant parties.

Owen Slot broke the story in The Times about how an intention to have the revision in place for the current Six Nations Championship failed to materialise because senior referees in Europe were only informed on December 23rd, eight days before the agreed alteration.

In the Northern Hemisphere professional strata of the sport, coaches, directors of rugby and players weren’t told either that the law relating to the maul was about to change midway through the season.

Normally a law change takes four years from gestation to implementation having been on trial at various levels beforehand but World Rugby explained that this is not a law “change” but a law “application” and as such there is no time constraint.

There have been many critics of the unfair advantage that the attacking team enjoys in relation to the driving maul by having a buttress of bodies in front of the ball carrier, making it virtually impossible to tackle the latter legitimately.

Complaints were heeded and the sport’s Laws Review Group (LRG) – it contains coaches and administrators from several countries – directed a change in the application of the old law on September 1st. It was approved by World Rugby the following month.

The sport’s governing body insisted that the union were kept informed during the process but when it came to enforcing the new “application” on January 1st, the Northern Hemisphere cried foul. World Rugby were then forced to treat the Northern and Southern Hemisphere as separate entities in relation to the change.

The new law application came into effect in the Southern Hemisphere on January 1st and it will be place for the Super Rugby tournament while the Northern Hemisphere nations will adopt it from June 1st, before, for example, Ireland head off on a three-Test tour to South Africa. Their hosts will have the benefit of using the new application in a match environment for six months.

There appears to be no dissention about the new application between hemispheres just the timing of the amendment and the communication. It will apply to both professional and amateur rugby.