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Offside rule tweak to end ‘kick tennis’ and ‘open up’ Super Rugby Pacific
By AAP
An overhaul of the Super Rugby Pacific offside rule has been approved to encourage teams to run the ball instead of engaging in a tedious game of "kick tennis".
Officials on Tuesday revealed a law variation that they think will close a "loophole" and encourage counterattacking rugby when the competition begins next Friday.
Traditionally, defenders in front of the kicker are put onside when a kick receiver either passes the ball or runs five metres with the ball.
But Super Rugby Pacific's innovation will throw out those two clauses.
Instead, defenders will remain offside until they have been put onside by a teammate who has come from behind the kicker, or the kicker themself.
Under the new rules, a long kick will be tougher to defend, with a fullback or winger able to glide past any would-be tacklers isolated in front of the kicker and chasers.
The law has been sanctioned by World Rugby as a trial and follows various tweaks in recent seasons designed to increase ball-in-play time.
"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'," Super Rugby Pacific Chair Kevin Malloy said.
"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 counterattack with the ball in hand, and we're confident this tweak to the law will encourage that trend and encourage exciting, attacking rugby.
"With the full support of New Zealand Rugby, Rugby Australia and our coaches we've responded with a small change we think could make a big difference."
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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