Penalty rate will fall as teams adapt: Lawrence

Time is needed for new rule interpretations to be bedded in but referees are just doing what top coaches wanted.

And the stricter interpretations will be rolled out across all levels of the game, NZ Rugby referee manager Bryce Lawrence said yesterday.

The opening round of Super Rugby Aotearoa brought plenty of penalties — upwards of 30 each in the two games.

Many were at the breakdown, while others were for offside.

Lawrence made no excuse for that.

"We are asking coaches and players to do things slightly differently and we are asking referees to do things slightly differently. What did please me is we went out and did what we said we would," Lawrence said.

"Having six or seven penalties for offside instead of the average of two, that really pleased me because that is what the coaches asked us to do.

"Did I think it was perfect? No, but I didn’t think it would be in the first week of the competition."

He was confident teams would quickly adapt. Coaches and referees met every week and clarity was given over decisions.

In the Highlanders game against the Chiefs, there were 11 penalties for holding on to the ball at a breakdown.

"I think the challenge when you have got the ball, you have to be really accurate, and you’ve got to be quite dominant with your ball carrying. If you’re not, the defender is getting their hands on it and being rewarded for it."

He was confident it would get better quickly and teams would adapt.

Lawrence said not getting the balance right between attack and defence was a risk but 10 games needed to be played before any judgement could be made.

"If you have not got support players and get isolated, you will get penalised."

He said the changes were driven by World Rugby and top coaches who wanted the game played this way.

"We made an agreement to keep working on it over the competition and review it at the end of the 10 weeks."

But the changes are going to be rolled out right through the game, from juniors and Mitre 10 Cup to right across the world. He described it as "the new norm".

"The intention is this is going to be here to stay. We just have to work together to make it work."

He was confident the penalty count would come down in the next few weeks.

"I don’t think potentially it is going to be the issue that everyone thinks it will be."