Laws and Technical Issues

It is “the mentality of the players and the coaches which corrupt the product, not the way the game is set up.
Read more »

School was in today and All Blacks captain Richie McCaw gave a master class on the breakdown. He explains the law change the IRB made this week.
Read more »

Rugby, played with the ball and not the foot, is the way forward says SPIRO ZAVOS on RugbyHeaven – and then divides the rugby/football and football/rugby camps. “If you live by the penalty, you can also die by it.”
Read more »

Balie Swart, a World Cup-winning Springbok in 1995, has been given an innovative new role by SA Rugby to assist coaches and referees in the proper application of scrum law.
Read more »

THE International Rugby Board (IRB) has been widely criticised for failing to amend a set of laws that in effect punish teams for running the ball from their own half of the field. Only radical and even far-fetched law changes will be te remedy.
Read more »

All Black captain Richie McCaw on Friday welcomed the apparent backtrack by the English Rugby Football Union (RFU) over experimental law changes it had lobbied not to have adopted. “Having watched the autumn internationals, the main issue is the kicking. It’s the fear factor, particularly the fear of making a mistake in your half.”
Read more »

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced a crackdown on scrum infringements and illegal tackles ahead of this weekend’s internationals.
Read more »

Heinrich Brüssow – champion of the “Heinrich Manoever” – is so good because he is taking advantage of a change in the laws that went by most supporters and even players. DAN RETIEF explains why the Bok #6 is a real jackler.
Read more »

To those who have ever felt a little uncertain about the goings on in the scrums, fret not, you’re in good company.
Read more »

New Zealand coach Graham Henry says advancements in boot and ball technology hinders the natural running game of the All Blacks and Wallabies and its making rugby a less attractive spectacle.
Read more »

South Africa’s rugby team has been found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute and fined for protesting Bakkies Botha’s suspension by wearing armbands during the third Lions test.
Read more »

In an attempt to simplify the laws surrounding the rolling maul, IRB Referee Manager, Paddy O’Brien, has issued a list of instructions to be coached, played and refereed with immediate effect.
Read more »

A plague of silliness seems to have overcome rugby. Perfectly good tries are being disallowed, ruled out because the Television Match Official (TMO) is obsessed with using his ruler to check exact degrees and percentages.
Read more »

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is full of hope that it will be acquitted on the charge deriving from the Springbok team’s armband protest last month against the suspension of Bakkies Botha.
Read more »

The concurrence of South African rugby’s misconduct hearing by an IRB disciplinary panel and the failure to take action against Matt Giteau has yet again drawn attention to the manifest iniquities in the game’s judicial procedures.  DAN RETIEF’s viewpoint.
Read more »

John Plumtree is worried about what is rugby is coming to and I have news for him – the game has gone to ground. “The game is a mess, and it was bound to happen.”
Read more »

South Africa has just finished its splendid Craven Week in East London  in an excellent spirit and yet three matches were greatly affected by red cards for “tip tackles”.
Read more »

SA RUGBY, in conjunction with the Chris Burger/Petro Jackson Fund, yesterday took a giant leap towards reducing the occurrence of catastrophic injuries in the sport with the launch of its ground-breaking BokSmart programme.
Read more »