All Blacks legend Mils Muliaina has sympathised with current international Ruben Love after the playmaker revealed his dismay at the high ball law.<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes star plays at either fly-half or full-back, which means that it is quite often his role to defuse the bombs that come his way.<\/p>\n
However, that has become much harder for those in the backfield after World Rugby<\/a> opted to remove the \u2018escort\u2019 law, which prevents the receiving team from blocking the chasers.<\/p>\n All Blacks\u2019 struggles under the high ball<\/p>\n It is an area the All Blacks<\/a> struggled with in 2025 and it does not look like Love enjoyed it much on his first game back for the Hurricanes.<\/p>\n Having missed the start of the Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> season through injury, the creative back made his return in their 31-23 victory over Western Force at the weekend.<\/p>\n Love spoke to Sky Sport NZ following that encounter where he said: \u201cSome of the World Rugby rules right now, I mean far out. There\u2019s no support in the backfield, so World Rugby, if you\u2019re watching, change that rule asap.\u201d<\/p>\n He received support from New Zealand Test centurion Muliaina, but the 2011 Rugby World Cup did not definitively state whether the law should be amended.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s got a valid point to some degree. It\u2019s a pretty lonely place if you don\u2019t quite get it right. The amount of kicking that\u2019s happening at the moment, particularly with contestables, he could have a right there,\u201d Muliaina said on The Breakdown.<\/p>\n The former full-back was joined on the panel by fellow ex-All Black Steven Bates, who offered his verdict in the debate.<\/p>\n It is a law which has divided opinion, but Bates has seen a huge positive in the amendment, with a number of teams using the \u2018up and under\u2019 chaos as the basis of their attacking game.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only thing I would say about this is what I do like, and I\u2019ve never been back there, so I don\u2019t really care that much, is when they don\u2019t get those contestables right and the team that kicks it wins the ball back, that\u2019s when we see an open style of rugby played,\u201d the former back-rower said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as they win one of those back, they move the ball to the edge, and then we start seeing some free-flowing rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n All Blacks hero\u2019s \u2018completely left-field\u2019 NZ Rugby plea after \u2018very tough to believe\u2019 Will Jordan decision<\/a><\/p>\n France and England\u2019s kicking success<\/p>\n