Eddie Jones has taken issue with certain unions and governing bodies over their attempts to depower the scrum.<\/p>\n
The move was kick-started by World Rugby, who prevented a scrum being taken from a free-kick, before Super Rugby Pacific introduced new measures for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
That involves accidental offside and delaying the ball being played at a ruck both being a free-kick sanction rather than a scrum.<\/p>\n
Backing France and Springboks<\/p>\n
There are reports that two clear factions emerged at the Shape of the Game conference with France and South Africa<\/a> on one side, who seek to defend rugby\u2019s traditional values, and Australia<\/a> and New Zealand<\/a> on the other.<\/p>\n But it appears as though Jones<\/a> is backing Les Bleus and the Springboks with this matter.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a north-south thing. That\u2019s like the old communist, capitalist type breakdown. Countries have always got self-interest \u2013 you go to these meetings, it\u2019s self-interest,\u201d he said on the Rugby Unity podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are very few people who can see outside of it, I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s anyone that can because we\u2019ve all got a bit of self-interest.<\/p>\n \u201cThe scrum is such an important part of rugby and it\u2019s one of the differentiations of the game. We shouldn\u2019t go anywhere to depower, I think we need to try to get it to be set quicker and I think it\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it will take the referee to be consistent to do that but that\u2019s one quick change we could make straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked for his thoughts on the law changes for the 2026 Super Rugby<\/a> season, Jones said: \u201cI don\u2019t like it, I think the scrum\u2019s there for a restart and we should keep it as a restart to the game. The more you go to free-kicks, the more chance we\u2019ve got for a lot of kicking.\u201d<\/p>\n World Rugby confirm \u2018universal agreement\u2019 over law changes following Shape of the Game summit<\/a><\/p>\n The Japan head coach warned of the ramifications it could have should the sport continue along its path of depowering the scrum.<\/p>\n Jones also argued that it fundamentally goes against what rugby union is about.<\/p>\n \u2018Game for all shapes and sizes\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThe charter of the game is to be a game for all shapes and sizes. Whether that\u2019s still important is for other people to decide,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you depower the scrum then just have a look at the consequence of what happened in rugby league. It will change the players you pick \u2013 why would you pick props?<\/p>\n \u201cDo we want a game where everyone\u2019s the same size and shape? It does change the charter of the game. Is that too important? If not, let\u2019s get rid of it, so we don\u2019t care about that and we\u2019re happy to go with a continuity game with no contest.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones is a big fan of rugby league but he worries that the sport is trying to become too much like the 13-a-side code and ruin what makes union unique and brilliant.<\/p>\n