Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter has slammed World Rugby’s proposal for further law changes to attract new fans as “madness”.
Last month, World Rugby announced a five-stage plan to speed up the game and grow the fan base with a bunch of law amendments.
20-minute red cards, removing the scrum option from a scrum free-kick and amending the offsides law from a kick will be voted on by World Rugby’s general council in May.
MORE: World Rugby depowering Bok scrum?
Phase four of the plan will investigate the results of the amateur tackle-height law trials and whether it can be applied to elite rugby.
There will also be research conducted into the impact of fatigue and the number and timing of replacements in the elite game, meaning a potential future limit in the number of tactical substitutions that can be made.
“We’re trying to grow the game and there’s no sport in the world that tries to grow by confusing new supporters every 12 months,” Baxter was quoted by the Telegraph.
“We need to stop changing the laws. The game was fine three or four years ago – and we didn’t need to change it then. 90 per cent of what we do in the law changes is to redo things that have been created by other law changes. It’s madness.
“We can’t talk about growing the game… you grow the game by introducing new players and people to it, but we’re confusing new people coming to the game every year by changing laws and interpretations. We’re preventing ourselves from allowing a good product to happen.”
Baxter is particularly concerned with the potential removal of the scrum option from a free-kick earned from a scrum.
“We seem infatuated with thinking that de-powering the scrum and maul will create this game that everyone wants to come and watch.
“The more you de-power the scrum and maul, the more you’re going to create a game that people are not going to want to watch – because there’ll be no space.”
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
