Former Test referee Mathieu Raynal has become the latest high-profile figure to speak out against the Super Rugby Pacific law changes for its 2026 tournament.<\/p>\n
Claiming \u201cemphatic support of clubs, match officials and stakeholders\u201d for its five law \u201cinnovations\u201d, Super Rugby have issued a diktat<\/a> tweaking the laws for its referees surrounding penalty tries, rucks and quick taps. It has also recommitted to guidelines surrounding the role of the TMO.<\/p>\n The changes quickly invoked the concerns of people from outside New Zealand and Australia. For instance, Jaco Peyper, the former Test referee from South Africa who is now part of the Springboks backroom as a law advisor, joined assistant coach Felix Jones on the Rassie+ podcast<\/a> and questioned the merits behind changes designed to speed the game up.<\/p>\n \u201cThe intention here is to keep the game dynamic,\u201d Peyper explained. \u201cThat\u2019s what I think but with a free-kick, replacing accidental offsides, if you don\u2019t use the ball within five seconds at the caterpillar rock or the box-kick, give a free-kick and take the scrum away, in my experience in refereeing, if you give a free-kick to the team that\u2019s not in possession, it slows down the game because there needs to be a transfer between this team and that team.<\/p>\n \u201cOur championship works\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat means that they\u2019re not going to have the quick tap option, they\u2019re probably going to wait to organise their team and kick an up and under. So, there are a lot of people calling for less kicks. With this, we are most likely going to add kicks, unless the free kick is given to the team that has possession.\u201d<\/p>\n Raynal, a former refereeing colleague of Peyper\u2019s on the Test rugby circuit, has joined the chorus of disapproval for what is being implemented in Super Rugby<\/a>. Now working as head of the high-performance unit for refereeing at the FFR, he also has concerns with the changes.<\/p>\n Speaking on Sud Radio<\/a>, he said: \u201cThey [the southern hemisphere] want more passing, more tries, less time spent in mauls and scrums, whereas we [the northern hemisphere] defend these specific elements and are against directions being set by the southern hemisphere.<\/p>\n Jaco Peyper: Why a Super Rugby law trial will slow the game down, not speed it up<\/a><\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n \u201cOur championship [the Top 14] works. Our stadiums are full, rugby is more watched than football in the country. We don\u2019t want to follow directions coming from countries where stadiums are empty, where they are trying to recreate spectacle and bring people back to stadiums at any cost, even if it means sacrificing fairness and the principle of player safety.\u201d<\/p>\n What Raynal had to say gained traction in a translation posted on social media by David Wessels, the SA Rugby general manager for high performance, who previously worked as Melbourne Rebels\u2019 head coach before they were closed down.<\/p>\n Wessels\u2019 translation has since been retweeted by Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus<\/a>, further publicising the criticism of the Super Rugby \u2018innovations\u2019 voiced by Raynal.<\/p>\n