Change the maul rule to get brighter rugby

Bedford boss Mike Rayer believes laws relating to the maul need revising after statistics showed that nearly as many tries are being scored by forwards in the Championship as there are from backs.
A Rugby Paper survey reveals that forwards have accounted for 149 of the 312 tries scored in the second tier competition this season to date, with five back row forwards heading the division’s try-scoring charts.
Doncaster’s Latu Makaafi leads the way with 11 tries, Olly Robinson of Bristol and Nottingham‘s Paul Grant boast 10 apiece, while Yorkshire‘s Josh Bainbridge and Mark Bright of London Scottish have each weighed-in with seven.
Bedford wing Dean Adamson is the league’s highest scoring back with just five tries, along with Yorkshire’s Jonah Holmes.
Worcester fly-half Ryan Lamb last week spoke of his frustration with the style of rugby on offer in England‘s top two divisions, insisting he would: “rather watch Sumo wrestling than people driving and pushing hell out of each other.”
Rayer, whose own side are bucking the trend, with over 80 per cent of their 32 tries   scored by backs, sympathises with Lamb’s trenchant view.
He told The Rugby Paper: “Defences are set up extremely well in both the Premiership and Championship and that’s where the challenge is, isn’t it? But where are all the attacking coaches? That’s what you want, for these guys to start breaking defences down.
“Trends would suggest that sides are set up to win penalties and take advantage of the driving maul, which is now extremely hard to stop.
“The laws probably need looking at. You can still sack a maul, but it’s a lot more difficult now and sides are really well drilled in this area.
“The law was highlighted where the transfer of the ball was supposed to be a bit more subtle, but that seems to have been waived and even if you do manage to stop a maul initially, they’ll shift the point of attack and start again.”
Bedford, meanwhile, are living proof that good attacks can still prosper by confounding pre-season predictions of another basement struggle.
Sitting handily in fourth place after nine rounds, having beaten leading pair Bristol and Yorkshire Carnegie, Rayer insists there is more to come.
He said: “We’ve always wanted to play through our backs first and foremost and that has continued this season.
“Our forwards have given us good ball to work off, especially at scrums, and we want to use the ball and entertain our fans.
“We’re enjoying where we are at the moment but we’ve not put in a full 80-minute performance yet, which is one of our goals.”
NEALE HARVEY