Nigel Owens: The one slight amendment I would make as stunning Six Nations shows there’s nothing wrong with the laws
Darcy Graham try against France in brilliant Six Nations clash and former Test referee Nigel Owens.
Former Test referee Nigel Owens believes that this year’s thrilling Six Nations Championship will show the sport’s bigwigs that the laws are working.
World Rugby have continually tinkered with the game over the past few seasons but, at February’s Shape of the Game conference, it was decided to keep the status quo.
And Owens is in support of that stance having watched some outstanding rugby in the 2026 Six Nations.
‘If it’s not broken then don’t mend it’
Referring to last weekend’s events which saw wins for Scotland, Ireland and Italy, he wrote in his WalesOnline column: “It was the Six Nations at its very, very best, where there was excitement, upsets and everything you want.
“That, to me, suggests there’s nothing much wrong with the laws of the game. If the laws are applied appropriately, balancing what matters and not chasing technicalities, you can produce a wonderful game of rugby.
“It shouldn’t be a case of changing laws for the sake of change. Rugby is a very, very unique sport. If it’s not broken then don’t mend it.”
There are suggestions that the southern hemisphere remain unhappy with the scrum and are attempting to make further changes to the set-piece, but Owens disagrees with that stance.
The Welshman claims that there are no issues with the set-piece but that referees simply need to be better at officiating it.
“I think the scrum needs to be officiated better and stronger, though. Players need to be more positive in the scrum because we’re still seeing some games where sides can be very negative, resulting in collapses, resets and standing up,” he said.
“There’s been a few games in this year’s tournament where many scrums have not been completed, or played on with collapses and needless resets.
“Referees need to be stronger at officiating the scrum and to get the players to be more positive in the scrum rather than scrummaging illegally to look for penalties.
“We must reward good strong legal scrummaging, of course, and be much stricter with the negative actions or non-compliance by individuals or teams.
“I don’t think that needs a new law. It just needs stronger enforcement of current laws.”
World Rugby confirm ‘universal agreement’ over law changes following Shape of the Game summit
Owens’ one law change
There is just one slight amendment Owens would make and that is around the ‘held-up’ law. It used to result in a five-metre scrum to the attacking team, but it now rewards the defence.
“The only law I would like to see changed is the goal-line hold-up drop-out law,” he added.
I think you should promote the attack, not the defence. What the current rule does is reward the defence, and players now just chuck their bodies on the ground close to the goal line.
“As a result, we’re seeing a lot more of these tackles where there’s no attempt to wrap, with players just diving in front of ball-carriers in the hope players will just fall on top of them so they can’t get the ball down.
“I don’t think that makes the game more exciting and if anything I think it makes it more dangerous, with far more speed bump tackles and players not wrapping while attempting to tackle low.”
