KEY POINTS:
The players are gasping but coaches and spectators are rejoicing as rugby's experimental new laws get the Australian seal of approval.
Fewer penalties, fewer lineouts, more actual playing time and more tries have emerged from the changes being trialled in Sydney club rugby and soon to get an airing in New Zealand. In Sydney's premier club competition at the weekend, 59 tries were scored in six matches.
Warringah coach Andrew Cox and Manly coach Brian Melrose gave the changes the thumbs-up in a panel discussion on Fox Sports' Inside Rugby programme. "You've got less influence from the referee and the best team's winning. It's been a real positive for the game," Melrose said.
The experimental law variations were expected to be trialled in New Zealand this year, said former Wallabies coach Rod Macqueen, who initiated the "ELVs" 18 months ago, along with former test referee and International Rugby Board referees' manager Paddy O'Brien.
A final draft of proposed law changes will be presented to an IRB committee after this year's World Cup. If changes were approved, Macqueen said the earliest they would occur would be mid-year tests in 2008.
Melrose said fewer shots at goal and less pressure on referees, who were faced with contentious match-deciding penalty decisions, was a positive. More fitness work for players at training was now paramount.
"Last week, some of our Super 14 players came back and after 20 minutes they were gasping a bit," Melrose said.
"The laws keep the ball in play then fatigue kicks in and the more instinctive and creative players, and the athletes in the game, can be exposed which has to be a great thing."
Cox welcomed the relaxed lineout laws and the 22m kick rule.
"It's a terrific move. The ball stays in play a lot more. The quick throw-in and counter attack is more attractive to the players and the crowds."
But it has meant an adjustment in game plans. Cox said in the first game under the new laws, his team were only awarded three lineouts, the primary starting point for set plays.
With fewer lineouts, Melrose suggested this could lead to future locks being shorter and more athletic as the game speeds up.
"The set piece is always going to be part of the game - there may be minimally fewer lineouts. No doubt the ball in play may see the body shape change by a couple of kilos."
But Macqueen stressed the law variations were experimental and would be tweaked again if scrums and lineouts had less impact.
"It's important we keep the shape of the game. Behind all the decisions we're making, it's imperative we don't change the body shapes. Rugby's a game for all shapes and sizes and that's unique about the game."
Teams with powerful scrums were benefiting from the backlines being 5m further back and Macqueen said No 8/halfback moves were now more common.
The nightmare breakdown area has also seen several proposed changes but they have only been trialled in Scotland so far. It makes the tackled ball scenario less complicated and more of a free-for-all contest for possession. Hands in the ruck are allowed, as long as the player arrives from the hindmost foot.
Trial laws:
* Ball can't be kicked out on full if passed back inside the 22m.
* Minimum of two in lineout, no maximum.
* At scrum, both backlines must be 5m behind hindmost foot.
* Most infringements now free kicks, not penalties.
* Offside and foul play still penalised.
- NZPA
