World Cup-winning Australia coach Rod Macqueen has called for an overhaul of the laws surrounding the breakdown and scrums and believes rugby risks moving away from the fundamentals of the sport.
Macqueen was part of the World Rugby Laws Project Group that brought in the Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) in 2007 with some passed into full use in 2009. Among those which were brought in include the current laws surrounding the quick lineout, a player not being able to carry back into the 22 and then kicking out on the full and the corner flag not being deemed in touch in the act of scoring.
However, there are currently 19 different ways a player can be penalised at the ruck, according to the World Rugby law book, and this concerns Macqueen.
"The referees are sometimes told to work on the attacking team at the ruck but then that might be different week to week," Macqueen told ESPN. "There is an answer there. We don't need to add more laws, we need to reduce the amount of laws and make the game simpler.
"We only had six laws with the ELV's at the breakdown. It didn't look much different but you got quicker ball as the attacking team knew that if they didn't get the ball back quickly enough then they'd lose it.
"You have to be strict in coming through the gate. It's difficult to tell the difference between a ruck and a maul these days. People on their feet should have full rights to use their hands meaning the ball will be out quickly. Those simple changes would make a difference."
In addition to this law change, Macqueen would give more power to the assistant referee -- a change in terminology from touch judge that was brought in by the ELVs.
"It's very difficult to attack these days because the defensive lines are always bordering on offside. If we could get the assistant referees to ensure the defensive lines were behind the hind-most feet of the players at the breakdown, it would open up the game. The assistant referees should be allowed to come on to the field to the five-metre line to assist the referee with the offside law."
Macqueen would also change the sequence in the scrum. In his ideal rugby world, no longer would the referee call the various commands in setting up the scrum. "It's important that it's a game for all shapes and sizes, we all need a competitiveness in the scrums and lineouts. I'm a great believer that the answer in the scrums is that the referee doesn't need to say anything. The current idea of crouch-bind-set is too complicated and time consuming.
"He should blow his whistle, there's a time out, and during that time the scrum packs down. When the referee is satisfied that the scrum is steady he blows the whistle again, time on and the full contest begins with the half-back putting the ball in the middle of the scrum. That's how the game was 25 years ago.
"This would take out the struggle for position, make the game easier to follow, take out some of the danger of the scrums and consequently lead to more game time."