Super Rugby eyes rules changes to revive Australian game

A raft of changes aimed at returning rugby to its free-flowing glory days are designed to reboot the Super competition.

Time wasted by setting scrums has become a major problem for rugby union.

The four Australian Super Rugby coaches have joined forces to come up with new laws to help make this year’s rebooted competition more appealing to spectators and broadcasters, including putting a shot clock on the scrum to prevent time wasting.

The extraordinary initiative, unprecedented in Australian rugby history, has seen the four coaches — Dan McKellar (Brumbies), Dave Wessels (Melbourne Rebels), Brad Thorn (Queensland Reds) and Rob Penney (NSW Waratahs) — pooling their ideas to form what they consider to be “a conversation starter” at a time when the game is struggling in this country.

Kurtley Beale and Quade Cooper contest a bomb during last year’s Super Rugby season. Picture: AAP

The exact format of the inter-provincial tournament to start in July, COVID-19 restrictions permitting, has not been finalised yet but if the Western Force are involved to make up a five-way competition, Force coach Tim Sampson would also be brought into the group.

The four Super Rugby coaches believe there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the modern game but acknowledge that the ball-in-play statistic must be improved to make rugby more competitive in the cutthroat Australian sporting marketplace. Research during the knockout stage of the World Cup in Japan last year showed that the ball was in play for only 36 minutes and 4 seconds out of a possible 80 minutes.

“The article yesterday (in The Weekend Australian) on scrum resets and time-wasting … as a coaching group, we certainly discussed that area,” McKellar, the group spokesman, said on Sunday. “Through a simple adjustment, can we take the whole scrummaging issue and scrum resets that we currently have within the game, and try to eliminate it?

“It’s a matter of getting in there and getting set, being in position to pack the scrum within 30 seconds. The scrum won’t be completed in 30 seconds.”

What the penalty will be for sides that fail to form up in scrum formation in time is still to be determined, although given that their coaches will be the ones drafting the proposed amendments, it’s not likely any players will intentionally drag the chain.

“We recognise it (time-wasting) is in the game and what can we do as coaches to come up with some ideas that help solve the problem. That’s what we have to do, find solutions. We can’t sit here and complain about things. Scrummaging laws and techniques were changed for safety reasons, which is great, but now how do we provide the solution to make sure the safety is still there and at the same time make the game more attractive by having more ball-in-play time.”

The coaches have tentatively labelled their work “Rugby Re-imagined” and that is precisely what they have set out to do.

Their initiatives, which are yet to be approved by Rugby Australia and the broadcaster, Fox Sports, are likely to be fairly basic to begin with but it is believed the coaches are thinking not just about 2020 but next year as well when international travel restrictions may well make “normal” Super Rugby again impossible.

In the initial phase, it is believed the coaches are considering doing away with the mark, meaning every kick will become a contest. Theoretically, that could see the “rebirth” of players such as Wallabies centres Geoff Shaw and Greg Shambrook who during the 1970s terrorised opposition fullbacks by chasing through on Paul McLean-kicked garryowens that dropped in front of the goalposts.

Changes to laws governing sin-bins could be introduced. Picture: Getty

But there are also likely to be rewards for the defending side, with play to restart with a goal line drop kick after a player has been held up over the line rather than a five-metre attacking scrum.

Repeated infringements could see a player sent to the sin bin for five minutes, while each side would have one TMO referral per half to use whenever a try is scored against them. A correct appeal, as in cricket or tennis, would see them retain their referral but it would be lost if the try is upheld.

The coaches — who are expected to relocate to the sideline — are likely to make themselves more available to the broadcaster, allowing themselves to be “mic’ed up” for regular comments, while they are considering giving Fox access to the GPS tracking data on all players. But they also are thinking longer term and more expansively, with things such as two referees to control matches — one to manage the breakdown/tackle area and the other to monitor the offside line, club games to be played as curtain-raisers to Super Rugby contests and a likely reduction of seven reserves to only six to introduce more fatigue into the game and help make smaller players more threatening.