World Rugby has announced that, with immediate effect, it will no longer be possible to score a try by grounding the ball against the post protector.
The minor amendment to Law 8 was approved by the World Rugby Council during its special meeting held via teleconference today and follows a recommendation by the international federation’s Rugby Committee and specialist Laws Review Group.
With defending players currently legally obliged to stay behind the goal-line and post-protector shape and size increasing for welfare reasons, it is increasingly difficult for teams to legally defend this area.
In some extreme cases, post protectors have been lifted or moved by defending teams, leaving the posts exposed and therefore increasing the risk of injury.
The amended law will now read: The post protector is no longer an extension of the goal-line and therefore Law 8.2 (a) will read: A try is scored when the attacking player is first to ground the ball in the opponents’ in-goal.
LIST | The three temporary law changes we could see when rugby returns
Discussions about the Gallagher Premiership’s return are ongoing, but it seems likely that in the short-term changes will have to be made to get rugby going again.
With nine rounds of regular matches left to play, RUCK.co.uk understands that Premiership Rugby is working towards a July start date, which doesn’t give players much time to prepare.
Here are three possible law changes we could see temporarily moving forward.
1. Shortened halves
There hasn’t been much discussion about this possible law change, but with the majority of players currently some distance off adequate match fitness, it could be a practical one in the immediate future.
Shortening halves from 40 to 30 minutes would give the games a better opportunity of being high-quality, entertaining spectacles and at the same time would protect player safety. It would make complete sense.