Nucifora satisfied with ELV conference

With Australia at the forefront of the battle between the northern and southern Hemisphere over the Experimental Law Variations (ELVs), the Australian Rugby Union's High Performance Unit General Manager David Nucifora says he is happy with the outcome of the two-day conference in London.

With Australia at the forefront of the battle between the northern and southern Hemisphere over the Experimental Law Variations (ELVs), the Australian Rugby Union's High Performance Unit General Manager David Nucifora says he is happy with the outcome of the two-day conference in London.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) meeting recommended that ten of the thirteen ELVs currently being trialled in the southern hemisphere should become full-fledged laws, though it allowed for the return of mauling and equal numbers in line-out.

“We were pleased with the outcome .. if someone had offered us 10 of the 13 global ELVs up front, you'd have to be pretty happy with that,” Nucifora said.

“The ones that we felt were important did get across the line.”

“It's fair to say the hardcore of the Six Nations countries were the ones that really struggled to get their heads around it but there are other countries in the north that are a bit more open-minded about them,” he said.

The northern hemisphere unions were crying foul over the maul issue, but Nucifora denied it had disappeared from the game in the South.

“The frustration from our point of view was that the maul was never gone, and part of the charter of the game is for there to be a contest for possession and the maul in it's old form, from our view, is an obvious obstruction whereas being able to pull the maul down makes it a contest,” he said.

“It doesn't mean the maul is dead and that is what they have missed up there.

“If they let things evolve as we have down here, they will see the maul is coming into the game more and more as people get their head around the skills to create a maul now, and it will only become more prominent in a game as teams adjust.”

Nucifora added that relations between the two hemispheres are not strained despite the “robust” discussions at the conference.

“Everyone is committed with what the result ends up being we are all not happy with the process that it's gone through and the way it's been managed,” he said.

“But when the final decision is made in the middle of May through to 2011, then we will just accept it and get on with it.

“The important thing to understand from this meeting is that it is only a recommendation onto the next level and it doesn't guarantee anything either in or out.”

The final decision on which laws will be retained will be made by the IRB next month. They will come in to force from January 1 next year in the southern hemisphere and on August 31, 2010 in the north.