Nigel Owens' position on law tweak that Springboks coaches believe makes rugby 'safer'

Nigel Owens has made his position on the law tweak after World Rugby outlawed the escort runners, which has created a greater contest for possession.

The game’s governing body implemented the change back in 2024 and has been met with mixed reactions and contrasting views.

Essentially, players are no longer allowed to run blocking lines to prevent the chasing team from getting to the ball quicker. This has led to more aerial contests for possession and, according to the Springboks coaches, fewer collisions in the air.

Springboks coaches’ viewpoint

Head coach Rassie Erasmus believes that it has been a positive change because there is a contest for possession, which is fundamental to the sport while his assistant coach Mzwandile Stick says it has also made the game safer.

“With all the law changes around the high balls, I haven’t seen any dangerous contests in the past two years,” Stick said on the Rassie+ podcast.

“I probably watched thousands and thousands of kicks when I analyse games, and usually the people who were bringing the danger into the contest were the third parties. The people around the contest area where the ball was landing, that’s where it was dangerous. I have to compliment World Rugby because the law change has cleaned up everything around there.”

Additionally, the Bok coaches believe that it has had a positive impact on the way the game is played as there is less kick tennis occurring. Meanwhile, Japan boss Eddie Jones believes that South Africa are 50% better than any other team in the world in this area of the game and has tabled a law tweak that would depower that strength.

He has urged World Rugby to introduce a ‘disruption law’ that would prevent players from slapping the ball in the air as they would need to make a genuine attempt to catch the ball.

World Rugby ‘going in the right direction’ as Springboks coaches celebrate law tweak amid England and Ireland moans

Nigel Owens’ stance

Former international referee Owens has now weighed in on the debate in answering a fan-submitted question on World Rugby’s Whistle Watch program.

The debate around the contest in the air was raised once again this past week after England’s Henry Arundell got the timing of his chase all wrong and ended up taking Kyle Steyn out in the air.

Owens agreed with Stick’s statement that those collisions are less prevalent in the game since the removal of the escorts and agreed that it is now safer. The ex-official did however suggest that referees should be mindful of how the aerial collisions occur.

“I’ve got a bit of empathy here because if you’re running for the ball and as I’m getting to you, you now decide to jump. If you’re jumping with momentum and you’re going to go into me, there’s nothing I should do,” he explained.

“Because we need to keep the game safe, what I think you need to look at is if this guy jumps up and then I sort of stop and I don’t follow through and he lands into me, then that‘s play on. The fact that you’ve just jumped before me shouldn’t matter.

“Like the Arundell one for example, if you jump and I was in no position to avoid that because I didn’t compete for the ball and I’ve just then momentum has taken me into you, then that should be dealt with as foul play. So I think that would be the fair way to deal with that contact in the air.”

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Ex-Wales winger Alex Cuthbert joined Owens on the show and added: “I do think we are seeing a lot less of this with the rule changes because we’re seeing a lot of players actually compete together now. We don’t see that very often because you don’t have that blocking anymore.”

Owens agreed, “You’ve now got a clear line of sight because there is no blocking anymore, which allows the contest and makes it safer as well.”

“Those sorts of penalties have been few and far between now,” Cuthbert concluded.

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