“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot”
Cedric Heymans did not hold back this morning. The former France winger went on RMC’s “Grandes Gueules du Sport” to attack World Rugby’s habit of changing the laws while a season is already running, and the Top 14 is about to live through another round of it next weekend.
“You change the rules mid-season, under the influence of the southern nations,” he said. His target was the way the sport keeps piling on layers. Rugby is already hard to follow, he argued, and a league that fills its stadiums can’t afford to confuse the newcomers it wants to attract.
He had a recent example ready. Last weekend Vannes lost 27-26 to Clermont, and the referee wrongly refused to let Vannes bring on a replacement for a player who had failed a head-injury assessment. The club had already used its eight permitted changes, so it finished the match a man short. Heymans said the officials did not even seem to know the concussion-protocol rule.
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Eight replacements, and a tackle problem
The league has moved back to a maximum of eight replacements instead of twelve, and Heymans is not convinced it makes anything safer. His reasoning is blunt. Concussions tend to arrive around the hour mark, he said, and tired players cannot position their heads as well as fresh ones. “Be careful not to kill the toy you are playing with,” he warned.
The next round of changes lands on the tackle. Pivoting tackles and tackles made with one or two knees on the ground will be outlawed, and Heymans expects referees to suffer. Leaving the call to interpretation is a recipe for arguments, he said, and judging a tackle will be “hell” for them even with video help.
The three-time Six Nations winner (2004, 2006, 2007) has company in the grumbling. Officials, players and staff around the Top 14 have openly questioned the new laws, and with another batch arriving in a few days, the debate is unlikely to cool before the weekend fixtures kick off.
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