Hartpury’s director of rugby John Barnes has called for the eradication of the caterpillar ruck – and for scrums to be left alone – as part of any future rule changes by World Rugby.
The sport’s governing body has come under heavy criticism for the increasing array of law changes its initiated in recent years.
Over the last three years more than 20 laws of the game have been changed, and from the July 1 a further three new law changes will come into effect, while another six are set to be trialled in U20s competitions. Hartpury boss Barnes, whose side finished fifth in this season’s Championship, is in a unique position with the club’s university set-up heavily involved in BUCS, U20 and age-grade rugby, meaning they’re on the front line with any changes or ongoing trials.
The 46-year-old believes that while it’s correct for World Rugby to work to ensure the game “remains fluid”, it also needs to “strike a careful balance in any changes”.
Barnes told The Rugby Paper: “It’s a really difficult game rugby union, I mean there are so many laws, and that’s probably why it’s such a difficult game to watch for some.
“World Rugby are always trying to adapt the laws to make it more of a spectacle and that’s very hard, as you get into the realm of counter laws to the laws.
“Coaches and players will find ways to work around it and do different things, so it is really difficult and the worry is it just gets even more complicated.”
The former England Students and San Donà fly-half, who’s previously coached at Bristol, feels strongly that the ruck is the key area that needs to be looked at.
He said: “There’s a lot you could look at, certainly around the level of box kicking in the game, it’s too much for me. Watching games with relentless box kicking can be frustrating.
“You should not be able to add players to the ruck once it’s been called, you should just have to play when the referee says, or if you want to kick then kick quickly.
“But the time being spent to allow players to add onto the ruck slows the game down and allows a caterpillar to form. So that’s something World Rugby need to look at if they’re not already.
“The aim is to revert back to how we all know the game, that once the ball is there on the ground, you play, you can’t just stand on it like some scrum-halves do and add three or four players because the ref ’s called ruck.
“It could speed it up around the kicking, and keep it flowing. Certainly I feel caterpillar rucks, and adding players late on, is not really part of the game.”
Despite being honest that he’s “not a scrum specialist”, Barnes feels the set-piece doesn’t deserve the flack it gets.
He added: “Let’s be honest, there’s not that many scrums in the game, there’s a lot more lineouts. The scrum is fine in what it is, and we don’t want less, we just need referees to constantly stop front rows trying to cheat.”
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