Rassie Erasmus says 'well done' to World Rugby on new law change

The Springboks head coach's comments come after South Africa scored two of their three tries following a driving maul in the 33-26 victory over the All Blacks, with Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende crossing the whitewash.

In June this year, World Rugby issued a law application guideline around the actions of players on the wrong side of the maul. This wasn't a law change, as such; instead, it was guidance issued by the game's governing body to assist referees with officiating the maul and making it a fairer contest.

Essentially, referees do not allow players from the defending team to remain in the maul if they have moved past the ball, meaning they have to detach themselves and go to the back before engaging again. Previously, what was happening is players who were in the maul and found themselves around the side as the opposition moved forward were allowed to stay in there, provided they didn't change their bind.

The opposition player could pull the attacking team backwards from beyond the ball, and when the maul was legally collapsed, they could flop on the ball and make it unplayable.

"There is no change in law. The guideline - which applies to new competitions starting from 1 June 2026 - helps clear up those messy situations when the contest for possession/space has been won," World Rugby's statement explained.

"Players are asked to recognise that when they get beyond the ball and out of the contest, they leave the maul. Referees are asked to identify, manage and/or sanction."

After benefiting from the guideline in the second Test match, former Springboks lock Victor Matfield predicted that the maul would once again become a real weapon for Erasmus and his charges.

The head coach agrees with that notion but added that there has been a positive change to the game as a whole and that the maul will be a strength for all teams, not just South Africa.

He believes that teams that don't maul well are benefiting from the guideline too.

"Yes, but for New Zealand as well, they're very hard to stall," Erasmus replied when asked whether the Boks have benefited from the update.

"They maul really, really well, and then a lot of times they pretend to maul, and they break into a vacuum, which is very hard to defend, and then they run onto your fly-half with big runners.

"So well done to World Rugby. When it was seven or eight-man mauls, in the past you could stop it with the four going around and dragging the maul back. Then there was no space for the backs to attack, but now you have to commit to the maul and the vacuum is open.

"So I really think the maul is a strength for all teams now because it's a pushing competition and a sync competition and a flying in a V-formation competition, where it was dragging and this technical thing which the referees struggled to sort out. I'm very glad World Rugby did that."

While the number of maul tries has increased, Erasmus says that there are higher-scoring games in general because of the shift.

"The amount of tries we're seeing currently is not just from all tries; it's actually that vacuum that it creates because two loose forwards and the hooker can't stand out; they must join them all, and now there's space for the backline again," he explained.

"Just an interesting thing: the ball in play in the previous match where New Zealand scored six tries, and we won, was 29 minutes. This weekend it was again a higher ball in play, but everybody says there's more kicking. More kicking makes more ball in play.

"Overall, I think the law at the maul is great, and it's working for all teams because even if you're a team that is not mauling well, at least it's like a scrum as you commit the eight opposition guys to stop it. Now there's more space for the backline; that's one of the big reasons we get high scores and a high number of tries."

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