Revealed: Which ELVs will stay
At a meeting in London on Monday and Tuesday with lots of administrators, including referee administrators, coaches and a referee recommendations were made for changes to the Laws of the Game in the wake of extensive testing of experimental law variations since the first impetus to change in Auckland in 2004.
The next step is a discussion at a meeting of the IRB’s council in May when a decision will be made about the acceptance of ELVs into the Laws of the Game.
The most obviously important decision on the mode of play was that the pulling down of the maul would not be allowed.
After the meeting in London, Bernard Lapasset, the chairman of the IRB said: “We held a positive and constructive meeting at which all stakeholders were able to share their opinions on each of the ELVs. This was an important milestone for the ELV programme and it was crucial that robust discussion was entered into and that all positive and negative impacts of the ELVs were raised.
“Naturally opinions differed in several areas of the ELV programme. The IRB regards this as a healthy and positive state of affairs as the Game’s Laws have always and should continue to allow coaches and players to interpret Law so that different styles of play can be employed.
“The Unions tabled detailed research and analysis to support their views. Everyone had the opportunity to air their views. What was clear was that there was agreement on many aspects of the ELVs and a collective will to see a return to one set of Laws to govern the Game as soon as possible.
“This conference was not a decision-making meeting but at the end of the day the conference provided a set of collective recommendations on the ELVs to assist the IRB Rugby Committee in formulating its final recommendations for the IRB Council meeting on 13 May. Council will then decide which ELVs, if any, should be fully integrated into Law.”
Attendees were presented with game analysis and statistical surveys from over 800 matches, involving more than 3 000 players, coaches and referees at the Elite and Participation levels of the Game from 15 IRB Member Unions.
From the meeting, the following are recommended to the Rugby Committee for adoption into Law:
Law 6 – Assistant Referees allowed
Law 19 – Kicking directly into touch from ball played back into 22 equals no gain in ground
Law 19 – Quick throw permitted in any direction except forward
Law 19 – Positioning of player in opposition to the player throwing-in to be two metres away from line-out and the line of touch
Law 19 – Pre-gripping of line-out jumpers allowed
Law 19 – Lifting in the line-out allowed
Law 19 – Positioning of the receiver at a line-out must be two metres away from line-out
Law 20 – Five-metre offside line at the scrum
Law 20 – Scrumhalf offside line at the scrum
Law 22 – Corner posts no longer touch in goal
The following were not recommended to the Rugby Committee for adoption into Law:
Law 17 – Maul – Head and shoulders not to be lower than hips
Law 17 – Maul – Pulling down the maul
Law 19 – Freedom for each team to determine line-out numbers
The matter of sanctions – penalties and free kicks – has been left to further examination.
Extending the area of the TMO’s jurisdiction was not recommended.
There are other experimental law variations to be allowed to unions wanting to adopt them:
* a 15-minute break at half-time
* rolling substitutions in “community games”
* the Under-19 law variations be adopted in
At the conclusion of the Conference the French Federation tabled its proposal to deal with the matter of uncontested scrums. At present in France’s professional rugby teams are made up of 23 players who include a replacement hooker and two replacement props. This will be further discussed by the Rugby Committee and Unions will be able to give further feedback before the 13 May Council meeting.
Those who attended are:
IRB administrators: Bernard Lapasset (IRB Chairman), Bill Beaumont (IRB Vice Chairman and Laws Project Group), Mike Miller (IRB Chief Executive), Oregan Hoskins (IRB Executive Committee), Giancarlo Dondi (IRB Executive Committee), Peter Boyle (IRB Executive Committee), David Pickering (IRB Executive Committee), Jean Pierre Lux (IRB Rugby Committee), Geraint John (IRB Rugby Committee)
Other administrators: Francis Baron (England), Rob Andrew (England), Joe Lydon (Wales), Chris Cuthbertson (England), Roger Lewis (Wales), Phillip Browne (Ireland), Eddie Wigglesworth (Ireland), Roy McCombe (Scotland), Colin Thomson (Scotland), Johan Prinsloo (South Africa), John O’Neill (Australia), Ricardo Garcia Fernandez (Argentina), Marcelo Toscano (Argentina), Steve Tew (New Zealand), Neil Sorensen (New Zealand), Francesco Ascione (Italy), Carlo Casagrande (Italy), Jean Louis Barthes (France), Didier Retiere (France), Bill Nolan (Laws Project Group Chairman), Dr Syd Millar (Laws Project Group), Dr Mick Molloy (Laws Project Group/IRB Medical Officer), Graham Mourie (Chairman of IRB Rugby Committee & Laws Project Group), John Feehan (Six Nations), Derek McGrath (European Rugby Cup), Rob Nichol (International Rugby Players’ Association), Damian Hopley (International Rugby Players’ Association).
Coaches: Kevin Bowring (England), Frank Hadden (Scotland), Peter de Villiers (South Africa), David Nucifora (Australia), Robbie Deans (Australia), Santiago Phelan (Argentina), Steve Hansen (New Zealand), Nick Mallett (Italy), Ian McIntosh (Laws Project Group), Pierre Villepreux (Laws Project Group), Rod Macqueen (Laws Project Group), Richie Dixon (Laws Project Group), Ian McGeechan (British & Irish Lions)
Referees administrators: Bob Yeman (Wales), Owen Doyle (Ireland), André Watson (South Africa), René Hourquet (France), Bruce Cook (Laws Project Group/IRB Development Manager), Paddy O’Brien (Laws Project Group/IRB Referee Manager), Steve Griffiths (IRB Head of Technical Services), Corris Thomas (IRB Game Analysis), Lyndon Bray (New Zealand Referee Manager). (Apart from Bruce Cook these are all former Test referees.)
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
