Super Rugby 2024: Coaches drive new rule change which World Rugby must follow

Rugby union is facing a steep climb to grow its fan base in the face of code rivalries with rugby league and Aussie rules - and coaches are stepping in to make sure their sport thrives.

Coaches drove the new kick-chase rule change for this year’s Super Rugby Pacific season and World Rugby should follow their lead to engage a new generation of fans.

While last year’s World Cup broke records for viewership, the kick-dominated final between South Africa and New Zealand will have done little to lure the passions of younger sports fans who are increasingly engaged in European football and American sports.

Add to that the code rivalry in Australia with rugby league and Aussie rules, and union is facing a steep climb to grow its fan base.

Super coaches are well aware of this, which is why they orchestrated the new law change.

It aims to stop boring back-and-forth kicking duels and encourage running rugby from each quarter.

England's George Ford slots a penalty kick during the Six Nations. Picture: AFP

Rugby’s current off-side laws include two clauses (under Law 10.7) that state players in front of the kicker can be put onside as soon as the kick receiver has either passed the ball or run five metres with the ball.

Super Rugby Pacific’s Law Innovation will throw out those two clauses, meaning defenders will remain off-side until they have been put onside by a teammate who has come from behind the kicker, or the kicker themself.

The Law Innovation has been sanctioned by World Rugby to be trialled during the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season.

While it’s commendable for southern hemisphere coaches to vary laws that entice more people to watch a better product, World Rugby must help by altering rules and ensure the game does not die a slow death in this part of the world.

Here are three rule changes that should be considered:

1. LOWERING THE POINTS FOR LONG-RANGE PENALTY GOALS

Rugby fans want to see tries, and having kickers trade penalty kicks from halfway and beyond is a sure way to turn off sports spectators whose options for viewing have multiplied significantly in the past decade.

Any kick from beyond 30m should be worth one point instead of three to encourage teams to go for touch or quick taps and keep the ball flowing.

Games dominated by penalty goals are rarely great for viewers. Picture: AFP

2. LIMIT TO TWO THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS WHO CAN PROTECT A HALFBACK FOR BOX KICKS

The ridiculous sight of halfbacks taking the ball behind up to six players to prevent defences from reaching them before a box kick takes away breakdown contests and only encourages more kicking.

If extra players are required to secure the breakdown ball, the halfback is not allowed to box kick.

Ireland's lock James Ryan (R) charges down a kick from Italy's scrum-half Stephen Varney. Picture: AFP

3. END QUICK-TAP KILLERS

Few things are more frustrating than watching a player have the courage to take a quick tap and run, only for a pedantic referee to bring the play back because the tap wasn’t taken on the exact blade of grass the penalty was blown. Allow players to tap from anywhere within a 10m radius and let the game run.

As for the latest kick-chase rule change, NSW Waratahs coach Darren Coleman explained exactly why the Super coaches were keen to differentiate themselves from the game’s global laws.

“I think Super Rugby’s done a really good job,” Coleman said. “I sit in the coaches conferences at the end of every year and it’s about how can we make our game more appealing, how can we make it more entertaining?

Waratahs coach Darren Coleman wants to make rugby more appealing to fans. Picture: Getty

“And the shot clocks are a big thing, but we do a lot of work with hustle in between stoppages so that there’s less downtime.

“I think Super Rugby has less TMO intervention. We want to make the game more entertaining, get more ball in play, get more action.

“Unfortunately, the north don’t need that, the game doesn’t seem broken up there. They get mad crowds to all their games on the product as it is, where we’ve got to compete with rugby league and Aussie rules.

“So we do have to do some things to make the game more free-flowing and all the coaches – both in New Zealand and Australia – are cognisant of that, and even as late as this week there was an adjustment to the kick-chase rule.

“There has been a trend lately where a team will kick long and leave the chase line down there, off-side, but they can’t come within the 10.

Referee Stu Curran awards a penalty during the Super Rugby pre-season. Picture: Getty

“It’s a real negative tactic around the kick-chase aspect and forces kicking duels, which isn’t great entertainment.

“So the coaches got together really swiftly when this trend emerged and said, ‘How do we change it?’

“We’ve come up with a rule modification that’s in place already and you’d like to think those stalemates of kicking duels, which are starting to happen up north, they won’t exist here.

“There’s no incentive to want to counter-attack because there’s a wall of off-side players waiting 10m outside the line ready to grab you.

“Now you have to retire back, or attempt to retire back. So I thought that’s a really good indication of the endeavour of everyone associated in the sport to make it better.”

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Originally published as Super Rugby 2024: Coaches drive new rule change which World Rugby must follow