World Rugby has come out strongly amid ongoing talk of de-powering or removing scrums altogether to make the game more attractive for fans.
Ahead of World Rugby’s key summit in London, chairman Brett Robinson told reporters the issue of changing scrum laws “weren’t on the table to be discussed”.
The French Rugby Federation and the body overlooking the Top 14 league in France have raised their concerns about the potential damage to the sport’s “DNA” that possible law changes could make.
They are worried scrums and lineouts are set to be diluted in attempt to make the sport simpler to a wider audience.
It has also been reported that Australia and New Zealand are pushing for radical changes which include proposals that could see scrums replaced by mauls.
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“None of those issues were actually debated this week at all, they weren’t on the table to be discussed,” Robinson said. “In no way were there any discussions about the de-powering of the scrum.
However, he did concede: “Resets in the scrum is one of the most frustrating things for fans, that dead time that we’re looking to try and take out of the game because it kills momentum and engagement with the fans. That’s probably where the conversations were.”
Meanwhile, World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin says the USA will host the 2031 World Cup despite serious doubts over the sport’s health in the country.
The USA Eagles are 16th in the world rankings, have never reached the World Cup knockout stage, and were hammered 85-0 by Scotland in November in their most recent major Test.
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The professional Major League Rugby is now down to six teams after four clubs quit the competition and reports in British newspapers claim there are questions over how the US will deliver the tournament on a commercial level.
The country will also host the Women’s World Cup in 2033.
“It’s set in stone, it’s been set in stone since that decision of the World Rugby Council in May 2022,” Gilpin told reporters on Thursday after the annual Shape of the Game summit.
“That’s not to say we don’t contingency plan, we contingency plan for everything as you’d expect.
“We’ve got an enormous number of host cities, of state sports commissions really excited about it and there’s fantastic engagement across the US.”
– AFP
Photo: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images
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