It’s not just the tweaks themselves that have caused such frustration amongst a cohort of players, but there are many who feel that introducing them mid-season is far from ideal, to say the least.
Last weekend saw the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup implement four of World Rugby’s global law trials – 60-second conversion limit, 30-second set-up for lineout, play-on rule in uncontested lineouts when the throw is not straight, and scrum-half protection during scrums, rucks and mauls.
As someone directly impacted by the alterations, especially when it comes to not being able to go after the nines as hard, it’s fair to say Beirne is not a fan of the changes.
Like Beirne, Doris and Stuart McCloskey, who is currently injured, had also mastered the art of disrupting the scrum-half by grabbing their arm as they attempted to pass from the base of a ruck, but as the Munster captain outlined, World Rugby’s tweaks have not been welcomed across the board.
“They may as well wrap the nines up in cotton wool at this stage. It’s becoming ridiculous in my opinion,” Beirne said.
“I was joking, I said to Murr [Conor Murray], there’s another five years left in his career yet!
“I showed a few videos to referees last week and it was a bit like, ‘Hmm, I’m not sure on that one’.
“It’s making life more difficult for them in terms of that law, in terms of you can’t touch the nine within a metre of the ruck. When’s the ruck over, when’s the ball out, when can you come through the ruck?
“It’s worse for me because it’s something I like to do, so obviously I’m not going to like it. The nines are probably delighted with it so look, not straight in the lineout, people will like that, it brings more flow into the game but I just think they just don’t want scrums in the game.”
Beirne (33) also feels that it was unfair to change such significant laws halfway through the season, particularly as players were already adjusting to the ‘escorting’ tweak that has seen referees clamp down on denying fair aerial contests by impeding chasers.
“With the new rules, leaving better access to the catchers, it just becomes a bit of a slapping match to knock the ball backwards and you’re going to get a lot of knock-ons that way,” Beirne continued.
“I think it’s just feeding into teams kicking a lot more now as well, so that aerial battle has become massive for every team and you’ve seen that again [on Saturday].
“Games are going to go that way going forward if it stays that way – it’s going to be a lot of kicking and a lot of battles in the air.
“We’re just adapting to the law change for the access to catchers and then they throw another curve ball at us with four new laws halfway through a season and give you a week to get ready for it.
“It doesn’t make it easy. It makes it harder for fans to understand as well, learning all these laws which are continually chopping and changing.
“They’re trying to make the game quicker. I see it as they’re trying to protect the nines and they’re trying to get rid of scrums as much as they can as well, that’s the way I would look at it.”
And that’s the crux of the issues for many supporters, who are struggling to keep abreast with rugby’s ongoing law changes, while a newer audience would obviously find it even more difficult to stay up to speed.
“Look, everyone is entitled to their opinion,” Beirne maintained.
“Obviously one law affected me so I’m not going to like that. The nines are going to be happy with it. Every team is on the same playing field. They all have to adapt to these new laws.
“It’s not just us. So it’s up to you whether you adapt to it quickly enough or not. I think we’re prepared as best we could for that this week and I don’t think those laws affected us in that game [against Saracens last Saturday].”
The law changes are also set to be in place for the upcoming Six Nations and beyond, which means that the likes of Beirne and Doris must continue to strike that balance between being a defensive nuisance and staying on the right side of the referee.
Players and coaches have been put on red alert. It will be interesting to see how everyone adapts over the coming weeks and months.
For now, Beirne’s more immediate concerns are centred on ensuring Munster back up last weekend’s crucial Champions Cup pool win over Saracens, as they travel to Northampton on Saturday aiming to secure home advantage in the knockout stages.
Beirne was to the fore of a big effort from the pack, which the Kildare native believes will stand to them as Munster look to shut down Northampton’s slick attack.
“Every win in this competition goes a long way,” he added.
“The way it’s set up, you can lose three and win one and then you can still qualify but you win two or three all of a sudden you’re looking at home last 16 and home quarters, so a win was huge.”
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The post ‘It’s becoming ridiculous’ – Tadhg Beirne fumes over new rugby laws first appeared on Rugby 247.
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Author : rugby-247
Publish date : 2025-01-14 04:23:13
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