World Rugby dents Boks’ armour

Well, well, well… it seems like someone, somewhere didn’t like the idea of the Springboks scrumming so often that they decided to take away one of their opportunities for exactly that by outlawing scrums from the awarding of free-kicks.

World Rugby on Thursday announced teams would no longer be allowed to choose to scrum when awarded a free kick, nullifying, to some degree, one of the Boks’ biggest weapons.

ALSO READ: World Rugby’s new free kick rule a blow to Boks

From 1 July, teams will have to tap the ball and play, or kick it when awarded a free kick. It is one of three law changes that World Rugby have brought into the game.

The other two changes involve a tackle situation in clearing out a player at a ruck and players being offside from a kick.

But it is the free kick, scrum option that has angered South Africans because of the Boks’ all-powerful scrum, which they often use to win penalties.

Was the decision taken to change this part of the game due to the Boks’ scrum strength? It’s unlikely.

World Rugby say by outlawing it, the game will speed up and be safer… and we can’t argue with that.

It’s no big deal and we’re sure Rassie Erasmus will come up with something else to ensure the Boks stay on the front foot in future.