Australia, New Zealand and South Africa will look at introducing experimental law variations (ELVs) for this year’s Tri-Nations tournament.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) said on Thursday that 13 of the 23 ELVs, many of which are being trialled in this year’s Super 14 competition, would be adopted for a 12-month global trial from August 1.
The main aim of the ELVs is to reduce stoppages and promote more free-flowing rugby, while also making the game simpler to understand for spectators.
The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) and Australia Rugby Union (ARU) said on Friday they would discuss the introduction of the new laws for this year’s Tri-Nations within the next month.
”We’ll discuss the Tri-Nations options with New Zealand and South Africa,” ARU chief executive John O’Neill said in a statement.
The NZRU also said the introduction of the new rules would be discussed shortly, with chief executive Steve Tew suggesting a decision could be made within a week.
The Tri-Nations begins on July 5 with New Zealand hosting South Africa in Wellington.
The NZRU added it would play its Tests against Ireland and England in June under the existing laws, though would introduce the IRB’s approved ELVs to its domestic provincial competition.
Both O’Neill and Tew welcomed the IRB’s decision, particularly since there had been suggestions in local and European media the nothern hemisphere’s unions would block their introduction.
”What is important … is that there was widespread acceptance to many of the ELVs when the perception in some markets was that a number of northern hemisphere countries would seek to block almost all of them,” said O’Neill.
”The outcome is, in many ways, better than we expected.
Tew, who held a conference call with New Zealand reporters from Dublin, said the level of antagonism in the British media towards the ELVs had been frustrating.
”They haven’t trialled these ELVs, they haven’t seen them face-to-face,” he said.
”The good thing is in 12 months’ time we’ll have a whole lot more statistics, a whole lot more analysis, and have a whole lot more people sitting round the table who have actually trialled it, watched some games live and seen how it works.” – Reuters