England coach Steve Borthwick has warned rugby union's powerbrokers he fears the sport is becoming more like Australian Rules Football after the recent law directives from World Rugby.
Borthwick was speaking on the day he made four changes to his England side ahead of Saturday's key clash against South Africa at Twickenham. He has drafted in Freddie Steward at fullback with one eye on the game being partly decided by the battle in the air.
World Rugby has cracked down on players forming a protective barrier around their teammate as they catch the ball. The so-called escorts, as they were known, would deliberately make it hard for chasing players to challenge for the ball in the air.
Referees are now being strict on any sign of obstruction. The aim was to increase running rugby and speed up attacking transitions but Borthwick feels the law tweak has had a detrimental effect on the sport.
"It's a pretty small sample size so far, but what we're seeing is a great increase in the number of kicks, increase in the number of contestable kicks, an increase in the number of scrums and increase in the number of loose balls, unstructured balls," he said.
"So the source of possession is changing and it's only going to increase in that sense."
Borthwick said his team got minimal notice about the law variations coming in for the autumn internationals.
"In hindsight, it could have been dealt with differently. We effectively received this information, electronically and received videos and notes the day before there was a coaches' presentation, which was I think a week before we came into camp. And so at that point in time, no players have played with them and we're now putting onto what is effectively the biggest stage of world rugby other than the World Cup, but straight into Tier 1 Tests.
"I will be really interested to see where this goes because currently I see it only leading to more kicking and more scrums. Yes there will be more unstructured possession but I am not sure everyone wants to watch more kicking and more scrums."
With that in mind, Borthwick has turned to Steward for Saturday's match, who is renowned for his ability under the high ball. He said Steward has a "super strength there" in that area, but he has concerns that the move will see it become even more a sport contested by how teams handle aerial threats.
"Freddie is always a valuable player," Borthwick said.
"That contestable kicking game means that anyone who has strengths in that area is going to be very important in this game. But I don't think anyone wants it to turn into Aussie rules, do they? As you start looking at the numbers of contested kicks, loose balls, number of kicks -- you don't want to turn rugby union into Aussie rules. I thought our game was in pretty good shape.
"There has been a fundamental change here. To be clear, it is every coach and every team's job to adapt fast. Decision made. We've got to adapt fast to it. This is our third game under it. You can certainly see how athletic players who can get high in the air bring another asset to your team."
