World Rugby Rule Changes for 2016

Well there has been a lot of talk lately of what can be done to rugby to increase scoring, especially as defenses have grown tougher and tougher as of late. Naturally much of the argument has come down to rule changes, and World Rugby have responded with a myriad of new rules that are set to anger the more conservative masses and delight those who do not think much of modern day rugby.

These rules will be taking place in the U20 World Championships, the NRC, Tbilisi Cup, Pacific Challenge, Nations Cup, Principality Cup in Wales, France’s academy league, and the Army Premiership in England. I’m not sure how the players in these leagues will feel about becoming World Rugby’s guinea pigs but they don’t seem to have much of a choice.

Firstly, the scoring rules have been changed. Much like American football, tries are now worth 6 points before the conversion, however the conversion remains being worth 2 points. So for all you front rowers out there, a converted try will be worth a grand total of 8 points. Here’s where things will probably get really controversial though. Penalties and drop goals will now be worth only 2 points as well, which will make a very big difference. This will certainly encourage teams to kick to the corner more often, although it does make life easier for the winning side.

Another change comes from kickoffs. Just like in Rugby Sevens, any failed kickoff, be it not 10 meters or into touch, will know result in a free kick at midfield. The crucial difference here is that teams cannot take a scrum off of this free kick, rather they must take a quick tap or kick to touch.

Steve Hansen will probably like the changes made to driving mauls (apparently he’s not very fond of the things) which state that mauls must move forward within 5 seconds, and then after that the ref can call for a scrumdown (after giving the attacking team a chance to produce it of course).

Those meddling b@stards at World Rugby have gone and changed the scrums again, this time limiting the call to just “Crouch” and “Bind”. Surely they know that thinking is not something front rowers should ever be required to do, next they’ll be asking them to call plays and kick. World Rugby do say that the current scrum setup has reduced injuries by 50%, which is impressive if true, but at what cost will this trend of interference in the scrummage continue? Hookers are now allowed to signal the scrummy when they are ready for the feed, which I assume means they will be able to pick their foot up before the ball goes in. Also scrum halves can now align their shoulder to the center of the scrum, meaning they can get closer to their own side (which most of them did anyway).

There are also changes to the advantage rule. Now in the event of multiple penalties being surrendered by one side, the other sides captain will be allowed to pick the one he wants. This prevents teams from deliberately killing the ball to end advantage. Also after the clock has hit 80 minutes, the attacking team may kick for touch and take the lineout, which will prevent defending teams from giving away penalties to end the game.

In the event of a knock on or forward pass in the try zone, the defending team will know have the option of a 5 meter drop out, which is likely to take some of the pressure off of scrums in that area. The defending team will still have the option to scrum if they so desire, but I can’t imagine why they would want to do that.

Some other clarifications have been made regarding players and whether or not they are in touch. Now regardless if a player is in contact with the ball or not, if he is juggling the ball with a foot in touch, he is in touch. Also if a player jumps and smacks the ball in bounds while in the air, the ball is live. Should a player be carried into touch by his momentum (while in the air) or literally carried by another player, he can throw the ball back in bounds so long as neither the ball nor him hits the ground.

These new laws are meant to speed up the game and increase scoring, but doubtless they will be hated by the purists. Whether or not they succeed will have to be seen, but I simply feel that many of these rules are just too much. Scrums have just gotten settled, and there is no need to further complicate things, for officials and the players. One hopes that these rules will succeed in making the game more exciting, but if the difference is not noticeable, I should think they will be scrapped.