LONDON, 20 January 2004 — The world’s leading rugby coaches and officials will meet in New Zealand today for the latest International Rugby Board (IRB) conference on the state of the game.
With the sport still basking in the glow of a successful and largely controversy-free World Cup, the three-day conference in Auckland is unlikely to be too contentious, with a tinkering of the laws more likely than any wholesale changes.
The corresponding conference four years ago introduced several tackle law changes following widespread confusion over interpretation during the 1999 World Cup.
The tackle area will be on the agenda again though, with delegates likely to look particularly at the role of the second tackler. Also on this year’s agenda will be the use of dummy runners, on which England coach Clive Woodward will speak.
Woodward has long been a critic of the situation where “crossing” is generally allowed in the Southern Hemisphere but ruled as obstruction in the north.
