Sir Graham Henry has called for massive changes to rugby’s law book
Former Wales and All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry (Image: Getty Images)
Former Wales and New Zealand coach Sir Graham Henry believes that the game’s law book needs a complete overhaul.
The 2011 World Cup winner has become the latest to call for changes following the latest round of Rugby Championship action. On the weekend, the All Blacks were beaten in Argentina by Los Pumas for the first time, with Scott Robertson’s side picking up five yellow cards across their opening two games against Felipe Contepomi’s side.
That has led one Kiwi journalist to label the All Blacks as the “dumbest and dirtiest team in world rugby”.
However, Henry – who coached New Zealand between 2004 and 2011 – has dismissed that idea, saying the laws are far too complicated for fans and players to understand.
As such, he has called upon World Rugby to ‘blow up’ the current set of laws and start from scratch.
“I think the rule book is too complicated,” said Henry on Newstalk ZB.
“They should blow it up and start again, quite frankly, it’s a negative.”
The 79-year-old, who was Wales’ coach from 1998 to 2002, says that World Rugby have to act quickly to sort out the laws. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
“They should get some brains together and just simplify the rule book so that everyone understands, even the players are sometimes dumbfounded by the rulings of the referee,” he added.
“That’s something World Rugby needs to sort out and sort out quickly.”
Henry’s sentiments were shared by former All Blacks back-row Murray Mexted, who bemoaned the number of stoppages in New Zealand’s defeat to Argentina.
“It was exceptional that there were an enormous number of stoppages in that game and penalties. When you have a stop-start game, the best team doesn’t necessarily win that game. It’s the team that sort of got the attention to detail,” Mexted said on the Platform NZ.
“You’d have to say, all the media leading up to that game was, ‘We want to give away as few penalties as we can during this game’. They were all talking about discipline, so they [the All Blacks] were trying. They obviously didn’t achieve it. Maybe the referee was listening to the conversation before the game too, and who knows.”
Henry’s suggestion to rip up the law book comes just days after former Wallabies and England head coach Eddie Jones called for a change after suggesting Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus had used the current laws to his advantage in their 30-22 win over Australia.
Jean-Luc du Preez was originally named to start at number eight, only to be withdrawn shortly before kick-off due to illness. In his place came Kwagga Smith, with Jones believing the late change played into South Africa’s hands in Cape Town.
In his Planet Rugby column, Jones called for a change in the sport’s regulations, arguing that World Rugby’s rule requiring teams to be named days in advance should be scrapped.
“One nuance that I think played into South Africa’s hands was the enforced change before kick-off that saw Jean-Luc du Preez swapped out for Kwagga Smith,” Jones said.
“Now, I wouldn’t put it past Rassie Erasmus to have engineered this in his own intelligent way.
“But Smith’s ability in the wet conditions around the breakdown, supported by [Marco] Van Staden and [Ox] Nche, was crucial for them.”
He added: “I am against the regulation that insists on early named teams without the ability to make changes.
“It’s a law I’d remove if I were World Rugby.”