General Rugby Discussion 3

You mean the women's rugby league world cup.

Some big things in here.....brought in at grassroots in England so far.

Hi all please find attached a summary of the law changes for 2021-2022:

Summary of Law changes 2021-2022

50:22

If the team in possession kicks the ball from inside their own half indirectly into touch inside their opponents’ 22, they will throw into the resultant lineout. The ball cannot be passed or carried back into the defensive half for the 50:22 to be played. The phase must originate inside the defensive half.

The basic idea here is to ensure defending teams drop more players into the backfield to guard against potentially conceding line-outs inside their own 22. That would naturally mean fewer defenders in the frontline and more space for the attack. The trial law came about with safety in mind – if there are fewer defenders in the frontline, the defence’s line speed may be reduced and collisions might be less frequent and less impactful.

GOAL LINE DROP-OUT

If the ball is held up in in-goal, if there is a knock-on from an attacking player in in-goal or an attacking kick is grounded by the defenders in their own in-goal, then play restarts with a goal line drop-out anywhere along the goal line.

FLYING WEDGE

The three or more player, pre-bound pod, or flying wedge, is now outlawed. The sanction will be a penalty kick.

1 MAN LATCH

The one-player latch will still be permitted, but this player will now have the same responsibilities as a first arriving player (i.e. must stay on feet, enter through the gate and not fall to the floor). The sanction will be a penalty kick.

CLEANOUT AND SAFETY OF THE JACKLER

Any player who attempts a clean out which targets or drops weight onto the lower limbs of another player will now be penalised.

Scrums

A scrum will only be awarded for a knock-on. For a knock on over the goal line, a goal line drop out will be awarded.

No pre-engagement / axial loading. Hookers must have a “brake” foot on bind to help stability. Sanction – Free Kick.

For an offence where a scrum is normally awarded (e.g forward pass) a TAP and PASS is the mandatory action to restart.

Teams must be given time to retire 10 metres. A scrum cannot be chosen at any penalty or free kick.

LINE-OUT

A lineout will consist of a thrower, a maximum of 7 players in the line and a receiver.

Lineout / Maul – No players can join the maul who are not already in the line-out.

Players must stay back 10 metres until the line-out finishes but cannot join the maul. Sanction – Penalty.

For ‘Not Straight’ at a line-out there will be no scrum option.

RUCK

When referee calls “Ruck” no other player can join the ruck​.

When the ball is playable referees will immediately shout “use it” and the attacking team will have 5 seconds to move the ball away from the contact area​.

MAULS

Only one movement in any direction.

Referees will shout “use it” when the maul stops.

There are 5 of the changes coming into the pro game, the rest are amateur only for now. Not sure if it's just England yet as only heard about the above this morning.

The 5 changes coming into the pro game are:

50:22

Flying Wedge

1 man latch

Goal line drop outs

Protecting the jackler

The 1 man latch is possibly a big one. Up to now multiple players could latch and flop to the ground when the ball carrier did. This was effectively a legal way for multiple players to seal off. Thats now gone. Only 1 can latch and he must stay on his feet when the ball carrier goes to ground. This can open more of a contest at the ruck which should encourage teams to play the ball more rather than getting caught out at the ruck.

I knew of the 50:22 and goal line drop out ones but the scrum and maul changes are good (in my former FB view😝) . No option to select scrum from a pen is sensible in my view

The 1 man latch was penalised in the NZ vs Australia game last weekend.

I like the sound of a lot of those rules but really can't see how the new rules for being held up over the line encourages attacking rugby.