Rassie Erasmus has his say on World Rugby’s new rules

Rassie Erasmus has given his opinion on the changes to the regulations wanted by World Rugby. The test matches played at Twickenham last 22 June, in fact, were not only useful for the participating national teams to start warming up their engines in view of the 2024 Summer Nations Series. These matches paved the way for the new rules desired by the international body.

In particular, these are three changes to the rules that have already been definitively approved and that we will also see in action at the Summer Nations Series: players onside or offside from an “open” football situation, the elimination of the option to choose “scrum” on a free kick and the recognition of the so-called “crocodile roll” as a foul. Not only that: at Twickenham, the so-called reinforced TMO was also tested, which can intervene right from the start of the offensive action that then leads to a try.

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Rassie Erasmus has his say on the referees’ work and the new rules wanted by World Rugby

Rassie Erasmus’ South Africa were among the first teams to test these new rules during their match against Wales, which have raised some concerns among fans.

For the Springboks coach, first of all, the contribution of knowledge and experience that former referee Jaco Peyper, who has been part of the South African national team staff for a few months, has been important. These are his words reported by Planet Rugby.

“Even though we may be right, that doesn’t mean we can disrespect the referees and their assistants. I think that having Peyper on the staff has helped a lot, it makes us understand even more how much pressure a referee is under. He told us the other day that referees make around 950 decisions or non-decisions during a match, so making 20 mistakes over the course of a match is actually not that bad.”

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After these considerations, Rassie Erasmus focused on the new rules and their consequences. In particular, the one regarding the possibility of asking for a scrum after having obtained a free kick, which some have interpreted almost as a rule against South Africa, which makes the use of the scrum one of its favorite weapons. In this regard, the coach said:

“It’s not such a big deal for us, I think in the whole game there were two free kicks against Wales and one against us.”

“As far as the Dupont law is concerned, with offside players remaining stationary, we never did that when we advanced. Only France did it, so it’s not a big change for us. Finally, with the shot clock, they push you into the lineout and scrum and make sure the execution is faster.”

“But we are fine with that, we still have a lot of scrums, a lot of penalties and throw-ins are still important, so we can’t complain about any of these changes to the rules,” concluded Rassie Erasmus peremptorily.

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