France have declared themselves \u201csatisfied\u201d following World Rugby\u2019s Shape of the Game conference during the week, despite rumours of a rift.<\/p>\n
The great and good of the sport met in London to discuss the future of rugby union where various matters were discussed.<\/p>\n
Head of referees at the French Rugby Federation, Mathieu Raynal, was one of France\u2019s<\/a> representatives and he went in looking to defend the game\u2019s \u2018traditional values\u2019.<\/p>\n Raynal has been a critic of the move, driven by Australia<\/a> and New Zealand<\/a>, to reduce the impact of the scrum.<\/p>\n Law amendments<\/p>\n A World Rugby<\/a> law amendment now prevents a scrum from being taken after a free-kick sanction, while Super Rugby Pacific have introduced more law trials which could further depower the set-piece if adopted globally.<\/p>\n But the former Test referee believes that discussions at the recent Shape of the Game event were positive.<\/p>\n \u201cWe leave satisfied that we were listened to, heard, and supported in our vision for the overall well-being of our sport. World Rugby created the conditions for this exchange, and they demonstrated a level of attentiveness that is a credit to Brett Robinson and his team,\u201d he told RMC Sport.<\/p>\n \u201cBringing together more than 200 people from all the world\u2019s federations to find common ground is a real strength for the future of rugby.<\/p>\n \u201cWe exchanged a great deal of information with them, shared a lot of data about our work, and experimented with rules in our championships. So they see that we\u2019re working, and they also know that we will remain very attentive to preserving the overall interest of our sport.\u201d<\/p>\n There were reports by L\u2019Equipe of two factions emerging at the conference with France and South Africa on one side, and Australia and New Zealand on the other.<\/p>\n However, by the end of it, Raynal felt that they were all on the same page as to how the sport can move forward.<\/p>\n \u201cWe went to London to defend our positions but also to listen to other opinions. We know they want continuity of play, a more dynamic game. We\u2019ve never said we were against it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re also in favour of a very spectacular style of rugby [but] we simply don\u2019t want continuity of play to come at the expense of player safety or fair play. As long as this principle is respected, we\u2019re very much in favour of discussing continuity of play.\u201d<\/p>\n