Rugby: Top ref positive about breakdown rules

New Zealand's most experienced referee Bryce Lawrence has a week's respite before his rulings on the Super 14 laws are put under scrutiny.

However, he will be a keen observer as touch judge this Friday, when the Blues host the Hurricanes in the start to the latest series under the refereeing watch of Australian Stu Dickinson.

Officials have been primed to be much more stringent this season, with the scrum and the breakdown fingered as the major areas for attention.

"Tidy scrum tidy game, tidy scrum tidy second-phase, it just all seems to flow together, they are the two keys," Lawrence said yesterday.

Referees have been told to be much tougher on tacklers, insisting they release the ball carriers completely before they make their bid for possession. The concept has Lawrence's approval although he has been able to road test his ideas in only one pre-season trial game.

"I am positive about it but reluctant to say it is going to be a great success," he said yesterday.

"We hope it is going to be but won't know until the product is totally tested and pre-season is not always a great test for that. It can get you a feel for it but until the whistle blows to start this weekend's opening round we won't get a proper feel for it."

Lyndon Bray, New Zealand's high performance referee manager, has spoken separately to officials in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa about the changes in law interpretations with the great interest now in the officials' consistency.

Lawrence has spoken to cross-border colleagues Jonathan Kaplan and Steve Walsh to get a feel for their ideas on how the changes will pan out.

"I think we will be firmer and referee more technically than tactically," Lawrence said.

"We will try and set the standards earlier and stronger. If we don't get the changes we require, that might bring more punitive measures which may come across as harsher. All the coaches are saying the changes will improve the product."

Administrators wanted to create more time and space for players and it was felt that cleaner scrums and more breakdown help for teams in possession would create a better game.

As a referee, it was difficult at times to get into the right position - it was tough to clear traffic. If his view was obstructed, Lawrence relied on some help from his assistant referees.

"In the modern game it is impossible to run a match otherwise. You can't see everything and I find, when you work with guys you have in the past, you always work better as a team and you also sense when they have seen more than you have."