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New Zealand Rugby make decision about controversial law change proposals

Mark Robinson. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

New Zealand Rugby has confirmed they won’t be following World Rugby’s proposal to ban scrum resets, team huddles and upright tackles when Super Rugby Aotearoa kicks off next month.

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World Rugby announced yesterday it was considering the moves to reduce the transmission risk of Covid-19 but will ultimately leave any final decision up to national bodies.

World Rugby’s influential medical group proposed team huddles and spitting would also be scrapped while players would be required to change their kit and headgear at halftime.

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Scrums were the highest risk event, making up 50 per cent of high exposure time during a match, according to the report.

NZR chief executive Mark Robinson told Radio New Zealand that those rules won’t apply to the new New Zealand-based competition which begins on June 13.

“There don’t appear to be any signs of community transmission in New Zealand so our circumstances are quite different and we don’t anticipate the need to adopt the law proposals,” he said.

“We have been open with World Rugby about this and they understand our unique situation.”

“We will continue to manage all health risks with stringent protocols and be lead by our public health authorities.

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“The protocols including daily symptom and temperature checks, stringent hygiene and cleaning, contact tracing practices, and asking anyone who feels unwell to stay away, self-isolate and get tested.”

It echoed the sentiments of Blues coach Leon MacDonald.

“If you’re going to play the game you’ve got to do it properly,” MacDonald said yesterday as the Blues progresses towards their return against the Hurricanes at Eden Park with an internal hit-out set down for the end of next week. “We’re taking good precautions.

“We’ve changed our meeting room so we can have the appropriate spacing and wherever possible we’ll adhere to the safety recommendations but once you get on the grass and start tackling you’ve got to be ready to play. It’s a tough competition we’re going into so we’ve got to be contact ready.

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“It’s business as usual for us. We probably would have had a directive by now if there was going to be no scrums. We’re expecting everything to look like rugby when we resume.”

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Hellhound 20 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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