Rassie Erasmus: Mauling was ‘dying’, Springboks’ controversial law innovations were a ‘rebellion’ against World Rugby’s officiating
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus and an inset of the team's midfield maul against Italy
Rassie Erasmus says that the Springboks’ midfield maul tactics were a rebellion against the way in which World Rugby referees were officiating.
The controversial innovation debuted last year at Test level when South Africa tackled Italy in the second July international between the two nations, with the Boks taking inspiration from a viral clip from Paul Roos’ U14s.
When they deployed the tactic against the Azzurri, they did so twice in the fixture and scored two tries from the ploy. However, it was less effective later on in the year against the likes of the Wallabies and All Blacks, who had time to plan for the innovation.
Rassie Springboks were making a statement with midfield mauls
It was not the first time that the Springboks had come up with creative ways to form a maul differently; in fact, at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, they managed to create a maul after a lineout to win a crucial penalty in the final against England.
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Against Australia in 2024, they used a trick play at a lineout using a back jumper who threw the ball back to a front jumper – nicknamed ‘Twin Towers’, which also led to tries for the Boks.
However, last year’s innovation was certainly the most eye-catching, and Erasmus believes it is still a strong weapon and isn’t just a fad.
Though he says that its initial use was also part of a statement to World Rugby, as the Springboks believed that the maul was dying and were pressing for the way it was officiated to be changed.
“It was more trying to make a statement in the sense that we can’t maul from lineouts anymore because it’s becoming a dragging competition,” he explained on Tuesday.
“So to win the lineout ball, the option was to play it off the top because mauling is dying and the only place you can maul, we felt, was in the midfield maul, and now they can’t plan who swims around on what side.”
The ploy was effective because, following the World Rugby State of the Game meeting, the game’s governing body issued a law application guideline – effective 1 June 2026 – relating to players who find themselves on the ‘wrong’ side of the maul and then cause disruption.
Law discussion: Are Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks tactics legal and how can it be stopped?
The key messages of World Rugby’s guidelines are:
- The maul is a key contest for possession in rugby union in which both the attack and defence must comply with the law.
- Players must join (or rejoin) the maul by binding onto the hindmost player in the maul, not by creating a chain of two or more players and swinging up, or round, the side.
- Any player bound on the outside of the maul may contest possession with their other arm, or may continue pushing/driving on the maul, but must not be in a position to pull/drag the maul.
- Once a player loses dominance and moves to be in a position to drag or pull, they should remove themselves from the contest or will be liable to sanction.
- Players must leave the maul if they become unbound or are not in a position to push/drive.
- “Bound” means with the whole arm in contact from hand to shoulder.
Tactic wasn’t a fad
Erasmus and Springboks assistant coaches had discussed these tactics at length in an episode of the Rassie+ show before the meeting, and the head coach is clearly pleased that the maul has once again become more of a contest.
While he and the Springboks used the midfield maul to make a statement and a point to the powers controlling the game, he doesn’t believe that it will become obsolete.
“It’s difficult to plan where the team is going to do midfield mauls. So I think teams are still going to do it because it’s tough to stop, but it was actually more of a rebellion against the way mauls were refereed,” he added.
“It was to almost say, ‘Okay, if we’re not going to be able to maul there, we will in the midfield’. That was the thinking behind it, but I’ve seen the clips about it. The Japanese U20s did it; I saw a club team do it the other day, it’s a very difficult thing to defend.”
