Rassie Erasmus is enjoying the ‘beautiful rugby’ after latest law applications

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has paid the highest compliment to the latest policing of the sport’s laws after watching this weekend’s Nations Championship matches, terming the result as “beautiful rugby”.

The opening round of six matches in the inaugural tournament produced a total of 54 tries.

“I think there were more maul tries scored in this opening round than altogether in the Six Nations, if my stats are correct,” Erasmus said.

“I want to give World Rugby credit there. I thought all the games were excellent with opening up. There’s a contest with the guy in the air after a contestable kick. It’s a nice competition there.

“I think what people thought [was] it’s going to just be all mauling, but because you can’t drag in a maul anymore, you have to put more numbers into a maul.

“And then the guys who stop the maul now have to get out and defend after that so there’s definitely more mauling, but then after the mauling there’s more tries because guys are tired of stopping mauls.

“You can’t just put four guys in and drag a maul to the side.”

Erasmus also believed the effort to police the scrum feeds was working.

“And loose forwards must stay bound to make sure their props don’t get scrummed back. So I think the product World Rugby is putting out by the law changes, adjustments or interpretations, I think that played a big role.

“I think it was beautiful rugby in most of the games this weekend.”

There was a time when rugby lost its sparkle with centres simply playing the role of battering rams when crash-ball was at the height of its popularity, with players going to ground with the ball to end a phase because of a reluctance to make so-called 50-50 passes.

But law changes and perhaps more importantly the decision to police existing laws effectively seems to have opened the game up more.

And then there are the contestable kicks that Erasmus believes have the potential to offer greater chances of possession.

After the victory over England on Saturday night the coach termed the aerial battle a new set-piece, where teams have the opportunity to fight for the ball as they do in lineouts and scrums.

“It’s another source of possession. A lineout, if the ball gets kicked out, it must be thrown down the middle. And then, although the other team kicked it out, both teams have a chance to contest for that.

We kick the ball, it’s not [simply] your ball. If it’s a bad kick, it’s your ball, [but] if it’s a good kick, it’s a nice contest. I just think it’s nice and contestable.

—  Rassie Erasmus

“A scrum — the ball gets thrown in, then same with a kickoff, same with a goal-line drop out.

“And I just feel with the way World Rugby has cleaned up now that you can actually go up for a pure contest [in the air].

“We kick the ball, it’s not [simply] your ball. If it’s a bad kick, it’s your ball, [but] if it’s a good kick, it’s a nice contest. I just think it’s nice and contestable.

“And then there is this competition for the ball in the air and if you don’t win the ball in the air because one jumped higher or jumped earlier or whatever the case may be, and then it’s scraps — everybody calls it scraps now — and then those scraps become a competition.

“And then from there, the team who can set the quickest on attack and who can set the quickest on defence? Some people might think it’s boring, but I thought the way the laws were now interpreted this past weekend, I thought all games were really contested in every single area.”