Rugby’s international governing body, World Rugby, has indirectly squashed a story in a French newspaper that alleged Australia and New Zealand are pushing for radical changes to rugby’s laws — notably the replacement of scrums with mauls.
The story in L’Équipe quotes France’s former referee Mathieu Raynal, who was an attendee at World Rugby’s Shape of the Game conference held this week in London. Raynal, now the manager of French Top 14 and Pro D2 referees, says: “They’re targeting time-consuming phases to increase actual playing time.
“In some cases, they want to replace scrums with mauls. In the long run, the rugby that New Zealand and Australia advocate will homogenise player profiles,” continued Raynal, who is clearly unimpressed with any proposed tinkering with the set-piece. “We’ll end up with only loose forwards or centres. This will have an impact on the democratisation of our sport.”
The L’Équipe story swamped sports websites around the world, with most readers crying foul at the suggestion that rugby could lose the scrum and become little more than “touch rugby.”
The good news is that the story seems to be clickbait; World Rugby issued a release at the conclusion of the summit which essentially says: “The game is in a strong, positive place and no changes to the laws are required.”
The week-long Shape of the Game conference was attended by union and competition chief executives, players, coaches, referees, and commercial and fan experts. While the southern hemisphere remains keen on increasing “ball-in-play” time, it appears the traditional scrum is safe for the foreseeable future.
The key themes identified in the World Rugby report are:
No changes to laws: There was universal agreement that the on-field game is in good health across global competitions.
Celebrating the sport: A shared commitment to better explain, market, and celebrate the game across broadcast, digital, and social media — building stars and generating greater collective value.
Closer alignment of laws and refereeing: A focus on aligning laws and referee directives across elite competitions to improve fan understanding. This includes evaluating the optimal scope and use of technology for the Television Match Official.
World Rugby Chair Brett Robinson further poured water on the away-with-scrums story. He said: “The feedback from around the world is that the game on the field is broadly in a positive place. This week’s message is to focus on better explaining, selling, and celebrating our sport.”
