Exploiting Loopholes In Rugby's Law Book

This year’s Six Nations has been a hot bed for cunning coaching tricks. Guys like Eddie Jones and Gregor Townsend spend months working out how they can manipulate the laws to gain an advantage, before drip feeding their innovative techniques against their unsuspecting opponents.

They are fine margins but they make a massive difference. Referees and officials are constantly playing catch-up to the tactical masterminds and untraditional thinkers of the game.

The most publicised of recent years was ‘The Fox’. Italy coaches Conor O’Shea and Brendan Venter almost caused one of rugby’s biggest ever upsets when they out-manoeuvered England at Twickenham.

Italy avoided creating an offside line around the breakdown by the tackler reloading to his feet and not being a part of the ruck. Whether you disagreed with or enjoyed the tactic, it was a master plan – implemented through training, analysis and involving the match day officials prior to the game.

Watching this year’s Six Nations in between playing for Nottingham and coaching the Wasps Academy, I have been impressed by some of the other subtle tactics which often go unnoticed.

Referees are well aware of them and have started to try and manage some of these tactics but, moving forwards, it will be intriguing to see whether the governing bodies reward them as good play and lateral thinking, or highlight them as not being in line with the spirit of the game.

Tackling Defenders

We saw Mike Brown try to get away with this against Scotland at Murrayfield last weekend.

One of the biggest changes to the way attacking teams approach the breakdown over the last couple of years is their attempt to tackle defenders around the ruck. World Rugby changed two key laws around the breakdown which, in turn, made it significantly harder to steal the ball at the tackle.

First, the tackler has to make sure he enters ‘the gate’, rather than simply pop back up and poach the ball. Second, as soon as a single attacking player is bound onto the ball carrier on the floor, a ruck is formed and there is an offside line (thank you, Italy!).