Dylan Cleaver: Latest rules tinkering ignores root of problem

Five new law amendments are to be trialled globally. Photo / Getty Images

If you see an Armani suit in the window, you've got every right to feel let down if you walk through the doors and see nothing but T-shirts.

And so it is with rugby's latest rule tinkering. More scope to throw quick lineouts; crouch, touch, set; a five-second limit to clear the ball from the back of a ruck: it offers a facade of quick rugby without going to the root cause of the problem - the tackled ball, or breakdown.

Nothing the IRB announced yesterday is silly. On the contrary, most of it makes perfect sense. One of the blights on the modern game is the sight of halfbacks furiously organising their next pick and go while the ball sits idle at the back of a ruck.

Southland constructed a Ranfurly Shield era around perfecting this dark art, which the All Blacks copied in the final 10 minutes of the World Cup final.

There is very little you can do as a defending side to get at the ball without breaking the law. Making teams clear the ball is, quite literally, the least the lawmakers could do.

It's window dressing. What is really important is the second immediately before that ruck is formed. That is a nettle the IRB has failed to grasp.

To see how fraught the tackle-ball area is, witness this year's Super 15. Sanzar made a big play this year about stopping sealing off at ruck time. Again, it was meritorious but misguided. All it has achieved is to turn rugby back to 2009, where teams like the Crusaders and Stormers have determined that it is better to hoof the ball away rather than take it into contact in their own half.

Sanzar and the IRB would have been better off looking at why players felt the need to leave their feet to "seal off" in the first place. Basic cause-and-effect stuff. It is because the tackler/s still have far too easy access to the ball.

The IRB would have been a lot braver if it had trialled a rule that outlawed the tackler/s taking any further part in the ruck.

Who knows, coaches might quickly find a way around that one too, but at least it is an attempt to address the real issue in rugby, not the fluff.

The IRB's emperors might have created for themselves a nice shiny new suit, but underneath they're wearing sackcloth.

THE FIVE LAW AMENDMENTS TO BE TRIALLED GLOBALLY ARE:

1. Law 16.7 (ruck)
The ball has to be used within five seconds of its being made available at the back of a ruck following a warning from the referee to "use it". Sanction - scrum.

2. 19.2 (b) (quick throw-in)
For a quick throw in, the player may be anywhere outside the field of play between the line of touch and the player's goal line.

3. 19.4 (who throws in)
When the ball goes into touch from a knock-on, the non-offending team will be offered the choice of a lineout at the point the ball crossed the touch line; or a scrum at the place of the knock-on. The non-offending team may exercise this option by taking a quick throw-in.

4. 21.4 Penalty and free-kick options and requirements
Lineout alternative. A team awarded a penalty or a free-kick at a lineout may choose a further lineout. This is in addition to the scrum option.

5. A conversion kick must be completed within one minute 30 seconds from the time that a try has been awarded.

In addition to the global trials, the IRB council approved three specific additional trials:

1. A trial to extend the jurisdiction of the TMO to incidents within the field of play that have led to the scoring of a try and foul play in the field of play to take place at an appropriate elite competition in order that a protocol can be developed for the November 2012 tests.

2. A trial has been sanctioned for the November 2012 test window permitting international teams to nominate up to eight replacements in the match day squad for test matches. In line with current practice at domestic elite rugby level, the additional player must be a qualified front row player.

3. An amendment to law 3.4 (sevens variation) to enable sevens teams to nominate up to five replacements/substitutes. Under the revision, which will operate from June 1, 2012, a team may substitute or replace up to five players during a match.