Six Nations shenanigans highlight why Super Rugby is tweaking the law

THE NEW SUPER Rugby Pacific season, which kicks off this weekend, brings with it a fresh law tweak and this one has been greeted with seemingly universal relief in the Southern Hemisphere.

In short, tournament organisers are closing the so-called ‘Dupont Law’ loophole in a bid to discourage teams from engaging in extended territorial kicking duels and instead encourage them to run the ball back from deep more often.

If you’re not up to speed on the ‘Dupont Law,’ take the time to read our in-depth piece from last year on this loophole that has cleverly been exploited by France and their great scrum-half in particular.

Essentially, players ahead of their own kicker have been holding their position upfield, rather than retreating or being brought onside by the kicker, then pressuring the opposition team after they have passed the ball or run five metres. This has limited the receiving team’s chance to run the ball back and also pressurised their return kick.

This aspect of the game has continued to evolve and it has reached fairly farcical levels recently, most notably in Scotland’s clash with France in the Six Nations two weekends ago.

We got an indicator of what was coming in Scotland’s opening round game against Wales. Gregor Townsend, Finn Russell and co. had clearly discussed this part of the game and decided that they weren’t going to allow players in the ‘Dupont role’ to pressure them into hurried kicks.

In this example, Wales launch the kick battle by hanging the ball over Russell just outside the Scottish 22 and he fields before kicking long back into the Wales half.

Wales fullback Cam Winnett fields Russell’s kick and responds in kind.

We can see now how Winnett’s team-mates all hold their ground ahead of the ball.

Winnett himself doesn’t even chase his own kick to try and bring them all onside.

Instead, the Welsh players are waiting for Russell to either pass the ball or carry the ball five metres in order to bring them onside.

But the Scotland out-half refuses to do that. He simply stands still and even dummies a pass infield in a bid to lure the Welsh players closest to him into illegally advancing.

Eventually, after a bizarre moment of pause, Russell kicks long again down to Winnett, who has been waiting in the backfield rather than chasing his own kick.

Now it’s Russell’s team-mates’ turn to hang out upfield ahead of the kicker.

There’s just a mass of bodies in the middle of the pitch and again, little reason for the receiving player to run the ball back.

Russell is also waiting in the backfield, so Winnett opts out of the long kicking exchange and instead hangs up a garryowen.

Scotland get possession inside Wales’ half from the aerial contest and would have chalked this down as a big win in the kicking duel.

We some something a little similar in Ireland’s win over France on the same weekend.

Jack Crowley has kicked into the French half and les Bleus fullback Thomas Ramos responds with his own kick down into Ireland’s 22.

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Ramos doesn’t chase his kick and once again, we can see his team-mates ahead of the ball holding their ground as Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park scampers back to field the kick.

Gibson-Park catches the ball and turns but watch below how he briefly pauses.

While he does take a few steps, he doesn’t run five metres and that means the French players have to wait before they advance.

Four seconds after catching, Gibson-Park does pass infield, which means the French players can now advance as they’re onside.

But James Lowe has ample time and space to wind up for a thunderbastard of a kick into touch in the French half.

While we haven’t seen Ireland go the whole hog with a full-on standoff, Russell and the Scots continued with their ploy in their Round 2 clash with the French.

Anyone who watched that game would have been frustrated and/or intrigued by some of the exchanges in this area.

We join below on the seventh kick of a duel between the sides as Ramos kicks down into the Scottish 22, where Russell fields the ball.

Ramos hangs back once again, not chasing, and the French players upfield hold their ground. None of the Scottish players make an effort to get back and support a possible counter-attack, knowing that it won’t come.

The French players are waiting for Russell to move forward five metres to bring them onside but he refuses to do so.

The Scotland out-half basically stands still for a full eight seconds.

It’s a truly bizarre scene with everyone on the pitch stationary.

Eventually, Russell decides to kick and fires the ball long into touch.

There was a chorus of boos at Murrayfield as the players stood still and many TV viewers were equally annoyed at this sight.

It happens again just a few minutes later.

Ramos kicks into Scottish territory where Kyle Rowe fields.

Rowe stands still and we can see below that Russell is directing him not to move.

Russell takes five seconds to ready himself before receiving a pass from Rowe and kicking clear.

Ramos catches and immediately kicks back downfield for the French.

And once again, Russell decides not to move forward, waiting another eight seconds before he kicks.

We can see that Russell is pointing at the closest French players, highlighting to referee Nic Berry that they cannot move forward while Russell stays where he is.

Russell eventually kicks long and now the French decide to get in on the act.

Ramos fields Russell’s kick and mimics him in just standing his ground.

Ramos is pointing upfield at the closest Scottish players holding their ground and the seconds tick by, but there is a crucial difference this time.

Scotland wing Duhan van der Merwe, who was behind Russell when the out-half kicked, actually chases upfield and brings all of his team-mates onside.

Van der Merwe advances all the way up towards Ramos and so, he passes infield to Yoram Moefana, who tries to run the ball out.

But France lose possession as they run into traffic, highlighting how dangerous it can be to try to play out from deep in these situations.

Super Rugby Pacific organisers want none of this in their game as the new season begins this weekend.

They’re trialling a tweak to the laws for the 2024 competition, having received approval from World Rugby.

The tweak is simple. Super Rugby will operate with two clauses removed from Law 10.7 so that players in front of the kicker cannot be put onside when the kick receiver has either passed the ball or run five metres with the ball.

The players ahead of their kicking team-mate must be brought onside by a team-mate who has chased from behind the kicker, or by the kicker themselves chasing upfield.

“Fans have been vocal in recent times about teams exploiting a loophole that’s seen a large number of players standing still while kicks go over their heads in what some people have called kick tennis,” said Super Rugby Pacific chairperson Kevin Malloy.

“We don’t believe that’s the spectacle our fans want to see in Super Rugby Pacific. We want to open up the opportunity for teams to counter-attack with the ball in hand and we’re confident this tweak to the law will encourage that trend and encourage exciting, attacking rugby.”

It will be intriguing to see how this plays out. World Rugby will be watching closely as the governing body considers whether to implement this law tweak for the rest of the sport.

While the initial instinct is to think that kick receivers will run the ball back far more often, they will likely still kick often – particularly given that the opposition kicker or another backfield player has to chase to bring everyone ahead of them onside, therefore leaving possible backfield space.

It’s also likely that we will still see lots of players waiting upfield of kicks to be brought onside, meaning counter-attackers will have to make good decisions based on how far the kicker or onside chaser has to run to bring others onside.

The reality is that the smartest coaches and players are always trying to figure out ways of gaming the system. Rugby’s laws are ripe for creative thinkers.

France, Jérôme Garcès, and Dupont have been creative. Scotland and Russell have been creative.

But they might have to find new avenues for their invention if this Super Rugby trial goes well.