England centre Henry Slade and coach Richard Wigglesworth believe that the law amendment to clamp down on ‘escorts’ has had an adverse effect on the game.
Previously, teams were effectively allowed to form a protective barrier around a catcher following a box-kick or ‘up and under’ providing the players moved towards the ball and didn’t change their line.
However, that has been changed by World Rugby for the Autumn Nations Series with sides now having to ‘allow access’ for the chasers.
As a result, there have been more contestable kicks and provided sides with a real opportunity to retain possession.
Wigglesworth is not a fan of the change, however, and insists that it will lead to more kicking, which is at odds with the governing body’s stance to encourage more ball-in-hand rugby.
‘Unintended consequences’
“I think the game has changed in the last two weeks,” the England coach said. “I’m not sure it was intentional. I think they’ve tried to fix something and… they’re going to create a lot of contestable kicking, that’s for sure.
“How you structure your attack and what your possession sources will be will slightly change. I’m not sure that was the intention but it’s definitely changed it.
“You take one thing away and you now see guys shoving and getting penalties. There are always unintended consequences of anything you try and do with good intentions.
“As ever when a new rule comes in, everyone is looking for it and we are probably in that sweet spot at the minute, where everyone you see who’s in the way potentially gets penalised.”
Centre Slade agreed and also added that it could result in more set-pieces, therefore reducing the ball-in-play time.
“I’m rarely at the back contesting these balls but it makes it a lot more of a contested game in the air, which makes it a lot more unstructured. I understand they want to get rid of the escort but I feel like the objectives are conflicting,” he said.
“From where I’m sitting, there are going to be way more scrums, which I thought they were trying to get rid of? There are positives, negatives. It creates a lot more unstructured attack, but also probably more scrums.”
England players and coaches ‘not speaking to Felix Jones’ as bizarre situation emerges ahead of huge Springboks clash
Adapting
England have looked to change their game over the past year and are playing a more expansive style of rugby.
That led to them making an alteration at full-back as they brought in playmaker George Furbank for Freddie Steward, who is one of the best under the high ball in the world.
Following this amendment, it is conceivable that Steward could come back into the XV and force Steve Borthwick’s men to return to their conservative approach.
“I think the intentions were good on it, I do,” Wigglesworth added. “But I’m not sure it will have the desired effect of wanting clean contests, because a clean contest is two guys trying to catch a ball, not one guy who doesn’t have to catch it and one guy who’s got it.
“We all knew what we were doing before, we were all coaching the nice thing they wanted to get rid of. And that’s absolutely fine.
“I just think always when you bring these things in, everyone is very conscious of it, so we are going to see these marginal penalties get given.”
READ MORE: How to watch England v Springboks at Twickenham: TV channel, live stream, kick-off time
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source link
