Bernard Jackman: Springboks ‘pushed’ World Rugby for law amendment which could ‘negatively’ impact Ireland
Ireland taking on the Springboks and former hooker Bernard Jackman.
Bernard Jackman has predicted that Ireland will be one of the countries who will be disadvantaged by World Rugby’s decision to make amendments to the maul.
While there has been no law alteration as such, the governing body, after being pressed by South Africa, are being much stricter on the defending team.
From now on, referees will not allow players from the defending team to remain in the maul if they have moved past the ball, meaning they have to detach themselves and go to the back before engaging again.
Previously, individuals who were in the maul and found themselves around the side as the opposition moved forward were allowed to stay in there, providing they didn’t change their bind.
Therefore, when it legally collapsed, they could flop on the ball and make it unplayable but, even if the referee told the attacking side to use it, the scrum-half still had difficulty to get around those players.
It is something Ireland have become masters of, but they will now have to find other ways of turning over the opposition at the lineout drive.
Ireland’s displeasure
“I think it affects Ireland negatively. Ireland didn’t feel that this needed to be changed and it suited Ireland, particularly players like Joe McCarthy and Tadhg Beirne,” he said on the RTE Rugby podcast.
“I think Tadhg Beirne’s on the record of saying they’re trying to adapt the laws to get their strengths out of the game. It was a post-match press conference about a different law but he knew this was coming up as well.
“It’s really to bring the maul back to how we would have remembered it, to be honest… There’s actually no rule change, they’ve just asked referees to follow the directives that are already there.
“It’s been trialled in the Top 14 and the feedback’s been really good on it.”
World Rugby have also told referees that players must only push or drive in the maul and not drag or pull, which has become a tactic for defensive teams.
As a result, it should provide more space for the attacking side and Jackman believes that it is a positive move from the governing body.
“I actually think it’s going to make it very, very hard to defend the maul, so when teams kick to the corner, if you’ve got your maul detail right, I think you should be scoring more often than not,” he said.
“What’s been happening up to now, invariably they’ve been made to play away from it or it’s collapsed. It’s been hard to convert those and what’s ended up is a series of pick and go’s, which can be quite monotonous really and very hard to defend.
“What you will see more of is teams being able to kick to the corner and actually score directly, which is positive if your team has a strong, technically good maul.”
Benefit the world champions
While Ireland may be distinctly unimpressed, the one obvious team to benefit is the Springboks, whose maul is one of their most potent weapons.
“I think the maul will become a weapon a little further out as well, teams will look to get some metreage and potentially play off that,” he said.
“It’s a beautiful source of possession to attack off. A good maul, particularly if you go middle or back is actually quite hard to defend.
“I think it’s a real positive, South Africans were all over it, they certainly pushed for this at the Shape of the Game and I think we will see over the next couple of weeks people like [Ireland coach] Paul O’Connell will look to be early adapters and capitalise on it quite early.”
