Godless sodomites<\/a> will be:<\/p>\n21 Feb (Reds v Chiefs @ Suncorp, 15:05 kick off)<\/p>\n
28 Feb (Blues v Crusaders @ Eden Park)<\/p>\n
28 March (Reds v Drua @ Suncorp 15:10 kick off)<\/p>\n
4 April (part of Super Round @ Christchurch with Highlanders v Drua then Canes v Reds)<\/p>\n
11 April (Tahs v Crusaders @ Allianz Sydney 14:00 ko)<\/p>\n
2 May (Tahs v Force @ Allianz Sydney TBC kick off because New South Welsh people couldn\u2019t run a bath)<\/p>\n
9 May (Force v Highlanders @ Perth 14:05 sandy time)<\/p>\n
16 May (Highlanders v Canes @ Dunedin)<\/p>\n
Eight teams will have the bye in Round 11, leaving the Wallaby-depleted Reds to host the Blues on the Anzac Day weekend, the day before the maiden Bledisloe Cup Test on April 25.<\/p>\n
The top six teams at the end of the season will contest a three-week Finals Series, with the top two progressing directly to the semi-finals and teams ranked third and fourth hosting sudden-death elimination finals against the sixth and fifth teams. <\/p>\n
The Grand Final will be contested on June 26, probably at Suncorp Stadium. <\/p>\n
Jeremy Paul no fan of \u201cbrake foot\u201d and can sort \u201cwalking around\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Jeremy-Paul.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
According to Planet Rugby, former Wallabies hooker Jeremy Paul has claimed that World Rugby\u2019s \u2018brake foot\u2019 law is \u201cdangerous\u201d after an All Blacks coach\u2019s comments after Japie v Shepherd\u2019s Nemeses series.<\/p>\n
New Zealand were penalised twice early on against South Africa at the weekend for scrum infringements, firstly with a free-kick and then with a long-arm penalty. On both occasions, referee Karl Dickson was unhappy with their brake foot, where the hooker has one foot positioned in the middle of the tunnel prior to engagement.<\/p>\n
All Blacks forwards coach Neil Barnes put forward the balanced and diplomatic submission that \u201cno one gives a s*** about\u201d that law.<\/p>\n
The brake foot law was first introduced four years ago with World Rugby stating that it is designed to create more stability and reduce axial loading \u2013 the pressure on the head and neck.<\/p>\n
But Jeremy Paul, who played in the front-row for the Wallabies between 1998 and 2006, disagrees and believes that it is not safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is dangerous as hell, you\u2019ve got 900 kilos behind you. We\u2019re going to go back to 5ft 5in hookers because anyone over 6ft 2in, you\u2019re going to struggle,\u201d he told the GBRANZ podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to bring that foot back so you\u2019re on the balls of your feet because then in that way you actually go in safely.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat they\u2019re asking you to do is come up over your front foot, they\u2019re asking you to plant your front foot. It\u2019s actually an incredibly hard thing to do to leave your foot there because you\u2019re not actually going in straight and safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhichever idiot in World Rugby decided to bring this rule in about brake foot, you are up for a massive, massive hurt here where it\u2019s dangerous, it\u2019s absolutely dangerous. You can\u2019t have the hookers having a flat foot when the other seven players are on the balls of their feet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you say brake foot, I can\u2019t stop 900 f*****g kilos from coming behind me, I can\u2019t stop it by having my foot planted on the ground. Everybody\u2019s got to be on the balls of their feet and it\u2019s insane referees are penalising.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul added the extras about teams \u201cwalking around\u201d, an Al Blacks complaint about the Springboks this series.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s everything to do with your hips in a scrum. As soon as your hips start to split, that\u2019s when you start to splinter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of when it\u2019s your ball\u2026 the loosehead is channel one and they\u2019ve got to keep their hips close to the hooker. As soon as it\u2019s opposition ball, they will kick their hips out because they\u2019ve got nowhere else to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a referee to referee the walking around s***, everything else, just look at the hips. You\u2019re on the loosehead side watching the put-in, so you can see on the opposite side where that loosehead\u2019s hips are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo make a ruling, it\u2019s very simple. If the loosehead on the defensive side has broken away from the hips here (the hooker), it\u2019s their fault \u2013 it\u2019s that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve made out this whole walking around and it\u2019s because of this, it\u2019s bull****, no one ever walks around on their own ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf everyone scrummaged like they\u2019re scrummaging on their own ball, we could eliminate all these bull**** rules and get rid of this brake-foot as that\u2019s dangerous; you\u2019re going to break someone\u2019s neck.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s as simple as that and you fix scrummaging.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s World Rugby told!<\/p>\n
SA TV broadcaster might be up to mischief. Also, Catholic Pope to reveal where bears go to loo. <\/p>\n
![\"Duane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2021-rugby-championship-round6-32-620x414.jpg\")
Rugby Championship Test between New Zealand and South Africa at CBus Super Stadium on October 2nd 2021 on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. (Photo by Stephen Tremain)<\/p>\n
Brace for a shock. Eloise\u2019s favourite paper, Wales Online, reports that the All Blacks have accused South Africa\u2019s broadcaster of giving the Japies preferential treatment with match replays during their latest clash \u2013 claiming officials were shown footage that favoured the home team.<\/p>\n
New Zealand assistant coach Neil \u201cStaff Sergent\u201d Barnes made the allegation after the Springboks completed a 3-1 series victory in the Greatest Rivalry Series with a 43-28 win in Baltimore, Septictankistan.<\/p>\n
Barnes claimed the South African broadcaster repeatedly showed replays of incidents that benefitted the Springboks to the match officials, while the All Blacks were not given the same treatment when decisions went against them.<\/p>\n
He also suggested officials were sometimes shown footage they had not specifically requested.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to put up with the screens when the South Africans are running things that are showing things entirely different to what the referees asked for, and the referees see it and go back to it,\u201d Barnes told Jason Pine on Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you don\u2019t get the same luxury when something is on the other side of the coin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be in a position where we can actually control the game for longer with the speed of it, fatigue them more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut every time they keep getting penalties for bugger all and get to slow the game down, it brings them back into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stay in the loop with G&GR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wednesday\u2019s Rugby News has Les Kiss putting the \u201cbring back the old farts\u201d chat to one side, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":893102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-893101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2025-Reds-v-Lions-2-620x414.jpg\")
Harry McLaughlin-Phillips makes a break<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/7dfaee06a4010afed6a204565ed4aa26a5b35ff4-16x9-x449y209w2653h1492-620x349.jpg\")
PERTH, AUSTRALIA \u2013 MAY 24: Western Force and NSW Waratahs players scuffle after a try during the round 15 Super Rugby Pacific match between Western Force and NSW Waratahs at HBF Park, on May 24, 2025, in Perth, Australia. It\u2019s a safe bet that the Force scored and the Tah players are being grubs about it (Photo by Travis Hayto\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n