Law discussion: The crucial reason why the All Blacks’ opening try against France was legal
Cam Roigard scores against France and an inset of the maul.
In our latest law discussion, we take a look at the All Blacks’ opening try in the second Test match against France, set up by a smart bit of play from the forward pack.
Rassie Erasmus and his Springboks stole the spotlight on Saturday with their innovations, but Scott Robertson’s All Blacks showed some ingenuity of their own against Les Bleus.
This led to the first try of the match, with scrum-half Cam Rogaird benefiting from the sharp execution of his forwards, notably Ardie Savea.
Cam Rogaird’s try unpacked
In the 13th minute of the match, New Zealand had a lineout just outside France’s 22 with hooker Codie Taylor throwing to the front of the set-piece. Tupou Vaa’i claims the ball with the French pack bracing for a maul.
The All Blacks set the ball before both number eight Christian Lio-Willie and flanker Savea break off, the former going right and the latter left. In possession of the ball, Savea offloads in the tackle to Rogaird, who is unchallenged as he races away to the try-line.
Now, this try has proven to be controversial in some quarters due to Lio-Willie’s actions with the back-rower faking as if he had the ball in his possession.
This is because Law 16.11 states that Players must not:
a. Intentionally collapse a maul or jump on top of it. Sanction: Penalty.
b. Attempt to drag an opponent out of a maul. Sanction: Penalty.
c. Take any action to make opponents believe that the maul has ended when it has not. Sanction: Free-kick.
Cracking lineout move from the All Blacks! 🥵 pic.twitter.com/eIMgfe5smZ
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) July 12, 2025
However, much like the Springboks’ open-play lineouts, the execution and timing of the All Blacks’ ploy needs to be on point and it is.
The crucial wording here is that a player must not ‘make opponents believe that the maul has ended when it has not’. Had Lio-Willie dummied his run as he did and Savea remained attached to the maul, then yes, France were deserving of a free-kick.
However, the two players’ movements are simultaneous, meaning that the All Blacks never misled the French into thinking that the maul was over when it was not.
Overall, it’s a clever move that is perfectly executed once the maul is set.
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Nit-picking
If we do some nit-picking, the try could have been denied because of the actions taking place before the maul is set.
As seen in the image below, several All Blacks forwards have left the lineout before Taylor has thrown the ball into the set-piece.
The likes of Savea and Lio-Willie could be found guilty of contravening the following laws around the lineout:
Law 18.16: If a team elects to have a receiver, the receiver stands between the five-metre and the 15-metre lines, two metres away from their team-mates in the lineout. Each team may have only one receiver.
Law 18.17: Once the lineout is formed, players: a. From the team throwing in may not leave the lineout other than to change positions with other participating players.
Additionally, because the lineout only commences when the hooker throws the ball, they are unable to leave the lineout yet.
As per law 18.29: Once the lineout has commenced, any player in the lineout may: d. Leave the lineout so as to be in a position to receive the ball, provided they remain within 10 metres of the mark of touch and they keep moving until the lineout is over.
This has blown regularly in the World Rugby U20 Championship recently, but is often overlooked if it is not overly blatant.
READ MORE: Law discussion: The real genius behind Rassie Erasmus’ new ploy to enforce an early Springboks scrum