Steve Hansen

All Black coach Steve Hansen has been girding his team for a rolling maul onslaught from South Africa in Saturday’s Castle Lager Rugby clash between the old rivals at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg.

Although the Kiwis scored a good driving maul try of their own against Los Pumas in Christchurch last week, the Pumas momentarily got themselves back into the game with 2 of their own in the 2nd half. The look on All Black skipper Richie McCaw’s face told a story after the South Americans easily got over for their 2nd try. In short, he wasn’t happy.

But while that opened up a perception of possible All Black vulnerability to the driving maul, and let’s face it the New Zealanders are so good that opposing teams do need to make the most of even the slightest chink, Hansen made it clear to a press conference in the build-up to the game that he thought it was the laws that were vulnerable, not his team.

“We’re not too bad at the rolling maul ourselves these days,” he quipped. “There were 3 tries scored through driving mauls last week, but is that the game we want?”

What Hansen questions is the huge advantage the attacking team now has in terms of the minimal amount that the defending side is allowed to do in trying to circumvent the intentions of the opposing pack. He thinks the laws should be reviewed and that defending teams should be able to redress the current imbalance by being able to collapse the maul.

“It’s becoming 1 of the most predominant ways of scoring tries. If you are looking at the future of the game, you have to ask whether people will be drawn to the sport by wanting to watch that. Of course the former tight forwards would love it, and it is becoming an art. You have to be really clever and good to stop it.

“However, I think it should be a more even contest. Everything in rugby surely has to be contestable. My worry is that the rolling maul isn’t fair and isn’t contestable. Teams are taking advantage of it and we did show vulnerability there last week. I think there needs to be an adjustment to give the defending teams more of a chance.

“Being allowed to collapse the maul would be the easiest way to stop it. It’s a complex thing. I can’t think of any other way to make it fairer. It’s good to have a great driving maul but at the same time it needs to be fairer to the defending team and most teams will now kick for a 5m lineout and back themselves to score from there. That’s the way the game has developed. But I think it has to go back to the defending side a bit.”

Hansen added that having said all that, his team didn’t defend the driving maul well against the Pumas, and it was an aspect that had received a lot of attention this week.

Hansen’s words shouldn’t be seen as an attempt to negate what some see as the traditional strength of nations like South Africa and Argentina, for he is right when he says his men have become good at executing the driving maul themselves when they are the attacking team. Several of the Kiwi sides in Super Rugby have become masterful at it, and in the end Hansen is probably right, the dice is just loaded too heavily against the defending team given how hard it is stop a driving maul without conceding penalties.

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