Stellenbosch rules

As much as one would like it to be, this is not an announcement of a return to former glories of the once-mighty Maties. No, it’s a reference to the first major revision of rugby’s laws which originated in Stellenbosch.

Devised on behalf of the IRB by Rod Macqueen who coached the 1999 World Cup winning Australian side, Pierre Villepreux of France, Richie Dixon of Scotland and Ian McIntosh of South Africa the set of amendments have become known as the “Stellenbosch Laws” because the group of former national coaches fittingly started their work at the seat of one of the game’s greatest law makers, the late Dr Danie Craven.

The objectives of the committee, known as the Laws Project Group, were as follows:

To make the game easier to play, referee and understand.

To make the game more enjoyable for all.

To make the game simpler to understand and play.

To let the players determine the outcome of the game, not officials.

The new set of provisions have been trialed in Scotland and initial experiences indicate that the vexed ruck and maul area has been greatly improved and that the ball is in play for a dramatically longer time than is currently the case.

At the moment it is intended that the new laws will come into operation worldwide in June 2008, although the Australian RU’s returning CEO John O’Neill has called for them to be introduced as early as next year’s Super 14.

The Australians will be playing their new interprovincial Australian Rugby Championship – which will be shown on SuperSport – under the new laws and will therefore gain a jump on South Africa and to a lesser extent New Zealand; who will bring the new laws into their Colts championship.

The IRB’s manager of referees, Paddy O’Brien, in Christchurch recently made a presentation to the Sanzar officials on progress with the law variations and South Africa was prominent by its absence when he listed countries who have been experimenting with the law changes.

Australia, New Zealand and Scotland have introduced competitions in which the laws are being tested in their entirety while the FFR, the RFU and IRFU have adopted segments of the variations.

There are a number of significant changes included in the variations – especially the provision to allow “hands in” at rucks and mauls and to allow defending teams to collapse a rolling maul.

This is not to say that the breakdown is going to be immediately cleared up – O’Brien’s powerpoint presentation ran to four pages of key points!

With more than 30 offences to consider, the referee's job at the breakdown (the battle for possession after a player is tackled) is extremely difficult. So the new laws propose the removal of many pages from the law book by allowing players to handle the ball in the ruck.

“Everyone accepts it's a mess at the moment," O'Brien recently told the BBC’s website. “Players - so long as they're onside, have entered from the back and are on their feet - can play the ball with their hands. With these laws, players fight for the ball and the best man wins,” said O’Brien about a change that many believe could lead to the breakdown transmuting into a series of pile-ups.

The automatic penalty for collapsing the maul has also been done away with. The Stellenbosch laws allow the defending team to stop the maul's progress by dragging the whole thing to the floor.

“Some people will be horrified to hear this, but studies show it's not dangerous," said O'Brien. “Although the maul is a great part of the game, one of the problems is how to stop it legally. So we're saying the defending side can collapse it,” he added.

Key to the whole thing will be that players must come into the breakdown in an onside position, and only players who are on their feet are allowed to play the ball. The side that takes the ball into the breakdown and will not release it is penalised.

Not entering “through the gate” will lead to a penalty while, as with many of the other variations, the penalty will give way to free kicks – leading to very real fears that negative teams will be able to get away with murder by being able to stop the ball with all kinds of nefarious means without having to fear the concession of three points.

A change that needs to be applauded as it finally eliminates the anomaly that scrumhalves were, in effect, allowed to be off-sides. At the scrum, all backs except for the two scrum-halves must be at least five metres behind the hindmost foot of the scrum, instead of level with it as allowed in the current laws, while the scrumhalf will no longer be allowed to follow the ball past the tunnel to pressurise his direct opponent are simply block an attacking option.

This alteration has apparently led to the creation of distinctly more space, encouraging more attacking play, in places where the law has been tested.

The other changes include:

* Either side can use as many players as they like in the lineout, at any time, providing they fit inside the 15-metre line.

* The opposing hooker in a lineout no longer has to stand between the 5-metre line and touchline; he can stand anywhere he wishes as long as he conforms to the laws.

* On a quick throw in the ball can be thrown straight or back towards the defender’s goal line, but not forward towards the opposition goal line.

* Touch judges are to become "flag referees" with a primary responsibility of policing the offside lines.

* Long-arm penalties are to be given only for offside and foul play. All other penalties are short-arm penalties (free kicks, with the option of taking a scrum as in the current laws).

* If the ball is passed or run back into the 22 and then kicked out on the full before a tackle, ruck or maul, the lineout is taken from where the kick was made. However, if the kick bounces into touch, the lineout is taken from where the ball went into touch, as in the present laws - i.e. a player will only be able to kick out on the full from inside his 22 if he fielded the ball there himself.

* The corner flag, currently situated where the try line meets the touchline, will be removed. Under the current laws, a try is disallowed if a player touches the corner flag while attempting to touch the ball down, even if his body and the ball are not in touch.

CORNER FLAGS: If a player knocks into the flag in the process of putting the ball down, the try is disallowed even if the player's feet and body are not in touch. So the new laws have removed the flag from the equation. “At the moment tries are being disallowed when the corner flag gets taken out, so we're saying just get rid of it,” explained O'Brien.

The plan is for the new laws to come into play in June next year but Australia, for obvious reasons, are pushing hard for them to be put into play as early as the Super 14. As John O’Neil put it, “it’s a no-brainer,” and South African sides could find themselves at a distinct disadvantage at the start of the tournament; especially as most administrators believe the changes are necessary and need to be taken to the next level.