As the race to the Nations Championship finals takes place, behind the scenes it was noteworthy to know that despite all the public protestations and hand wringing on the behalf of Dave Rennie, the London meeting of referees and coaches - the World Rugby get together that would look at the state of the game, went off without a glitch.
While it wasn’t widely reported, the meeting that Rennie so publicly trumpeted to try and sort out the scrumming issues his team had in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, which prompted his assistant Neil Barnes to say that the referee in the Baltimore test had given penalties for “bugger all”, turned out to be a “discussion forum” rather than allaying any of the fears.
The one or two British newspapers who were at the meeting - or reported on the London get-together - were more bemused that Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus attended the entire day and that Nick Berry - the subject of Rassie’s famous video - was in the same room.
It isn’t surprising to see that aspect being highlighted, but Erasmus has attended these meetings precisely to prevent the laws of the game being changed without consultation and to make sure that South Africa has a voice.
SCRUM DISCUSSION HAPPENED
The discussion between referees and coaches is essential to clear out issues in the game, also let everyone know what directives are being given and why decisions are made. Rennie made a big point of this London meeting, but it seems that while he did lead the discussion on the much-vaunted “Brake foot” law that he is so against, he never got his way.
Ironically it was the All Blacks who seemed to have changed tack against Scotland this last weekend and were a lot more pragmatic, using their scrum to good effect after spending most of the RGR series complaining about scrum calls.
The assault on the scrum and the maul - the newest focus as the law clarifications have led to more maul tries - is certainly going to continue, but for now, it is up to the referees to ensure that the game is officiated properly, and that both areas are given more scrutiny and not being influenced more by rhetoric than on field performance.
That will come as a relief to the Boks, who feel their scrum is an important part of their attack, and who were personally aggrieved by Rennie’s attacks, and while the All Black scrum looked the part against Scotland, don’t be surprised if the maul is given a good working over now in their media - especially as Scotland scored from the lineout and troubled the All Blacks.
Trying to influence the game, and the belief that the All Blacks are the only ones who have a hold on how the game has to be played, seems to be a constant from Rennie, but it is also good to know his views are not in the majority.
TUCKED SHOULDERS
In the London meeting Warren Gatland and World Rugby’s scrum consultant Jonathan Humphreys demonstrated the correct setup - noting that looseheads tucking their shoulders behind the hooker creates a wider gap. The consequence of that can be overbalancing and early engagement. It also means the loosehead is tighter to his hooker and then aligned head-on with the opposition tighthead, leaving him no target.
While the All Blacks complained about the Boks scrumming in, the Boks made similar claims about the All Blacks shifting before contact. The worst moment was in the second test when Angus Gardner abdicated his responsibility to ref the scrum, and it ended up being a mess, with Gardner lecturing World Rugby Player of the year Malcolm Marx as if he was an errant schoolboy.
The meeting seemed to suggest both sides were wrong and referees will now police the engagement and brake foot a lot more. Rennie may be satisfied with bringing up the issue, but he didn’t get what he wanted. Only time will tell where the discussion leads.
There were other interesting aspects. Rassie teamed with Steve Borthwick to lead the discussion into the maul, and tried to see the correct reffing of the law as a good thing and not a bad one, like some countries would believe.
IRONY THAT SUPER RUGBY WANTS MORE STOPPAGES
Other interesting aspects were on time wasting - another Rennie issue - although another irony is while the French top 14 had cut time for conversions to 45 seconds, Super Rugby wants to extend it to 90 seconds to sell ads to their broadcasters. Strange times indeed.
There are on average now eight tries per test match as opposed to six in the past and the ball in play is inevitably up.
In the drive to get the game better, the TMOs were also warned not to “chase perfection” when intervening in the game, something that can only make the game better.
Referees should only be interrupted if something is “clear and obvious” with the mantra being adopted to “if in doubt stay out”. Infuriated fans will hope this plays out more often.
But all in all there were no winners and a lot of discussion at the game, and Rennie will claim he made progress in - as the All Black consultant Graham Henry said on a podcast - changing the laws to suit the All Blacks.
In reality though, the status quo remains. And Rennie will have to buckle up and coach, and leave the mind games for the next time he faces the Boks.