All Blacks assistant coach Neil Barnes doesn’t believe the laws governing the rolling maul need to be adjusted again despite his team’s struggles to defend against it.
New Zealand conceded two tries from mauls in their 43-21 Nations Championship victory against Scotland at Murrayfield last Saturday.
World Rugby’s revised law application guidelines, introduced in June, have made it harder for defenders to disrupt mauls by coming around the side or pulling attacking players out.
The All Blacks had difficulty adapting to the new interpretations during the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series against the Springboks, and Barnes admits they still have work to do.
“There are some finer details that go on in your maul defence that we honestly believe we can be better at,” he said.
“Good on them [Scotland]; they set them up well. We’ve got to learn to accommodate the fact that the referees over here let it go forever – where back home that would have been a ‘use it’ call.
“But 100% we know we’ve got to be better there and we’re not proud that we let Scotland in for those tries but good on them, they brought three backs in and exposed us in that area.”
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Despite calls for World Rugby to act following a surge in maul tries – five of the Springboks’ nine tries against Italy in Turin last Saturday were scored in that manner – Barnes insists teams must adapt rather than seek further changes.
“At the end of the day, it is what it is. We can only do what we do, so the rules are pretty clear on what’s legal and what’s not, so …
“It had nothing to do with the refereeing on the weekend, it was our own stuff that we need to get fixed up.”
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Barnes also rejected suggestions that the maul changes had given attacking teams too much of an advantage.
“No, not at all. I think if you get your job right, you can prevent them,” he said.
“Every time you bring about some change, we all have to adjust how we go about our work. So, it’s just created a little bit of anxiety for the defensive side of it that you can’t control the sides as well as we could, the edges, and so people are mauling more nowadays.
“Tactics change, you have to adjust your defence to suit it.”
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Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images
The post Barnes: All Blacks must fix maul defence appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
All Blacks assistant coach Neil Barnes doesn’t believe the laws governing the rolling maul need to be adjusted again despite his team’s struggles to defend against it.
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