Nick Cain: Let’s unhitch this truck and trailer for good

The truck-and-trailer maul has been the scourge of the modern game. In a nutshell, it allows a wedge of offside players to block any attempt by the defending side to tackle or grapple with the ball-if carrier, who is tucked safely away right at the back of a trailer of bodies. It is a total contradiction in a game which polices offside zealously in every other respect.
While referees allow players from the side setting the maul to either drive ahead and reposition themselves in front of the ball-carrier, or join the maul from the side in front of the ball, the defenders are not allowed to collapse or tackle players in the advancing wedge.
That usually renders the defending side powerless to stop a co-ordinated and well executed drive. A disproportionate number of tries in the pro game are now scored by truck-and-trailer drives from lineouts in the 22, and they are a favourite tactic when it comes to getting a winning edge in close matches.
The reason given by the IRB lawmakers for prohibiting the pulling down or tackling of attacking players forming the maul is that it is dangerous – although whether that is endangerment to the perpetrators or the ‘victims' is is unclear.
Watching tries scored through the truck-and-trailer method is only marginally more interesting than watching paint dry.
This is mainly because there is an inevitability about the outcome because the deck is stacked so heavily, and unfairly, in favour of the side setting up the drive.
One of the most outspoken critics of the truck-and trailer was former Hurricanes (and ) boss Mark Hammett who slammed the driving maul as “completely illegal” before a match against the South African franchise last year.
Hammett had grown frustrated by the tactic, and the number of penalty tries and tries it yielded for the Bulls, who, under Victor Matfield's guidance had turned it into a points-machine.
Cartoon“'The biggest issue isn't around the maul, it's the entry of players coming in, in front of the ball carrier and it's done continuously. The rolling maul is completely illegal in terms of how it's set up.”
My understanding is that /IRB are considering a radical overhaul of the maul in their post laws review in October 2015, which could effectively put an end to the truck-and –trailer abomination.
It will not be a moment too soon, and it is a great pity that no changes will be made before the World Cup, because it would be guaranteed to produce a better spectacle. I have argued for many years in favour of reintroducing the old maul law, whereby the ball-carrier, even if there were sentries on either side and a player driving forward to secure the ball, had to be in contact with the defending side. If it is refereed properly this eliminates the phalanx of offside blockers and instantly makes the maul a contest for possession.
This takes the maul back into the realm of forwards who work in unison as a unit and are strong enough in the arm, back and legs to retain the ball in the face of opposition attempts to grapple or wrestle it off them. In the past lighter, faster packs (especially students) employed tactical variations against heavier, stronger mauling forwards which included a snap drive before the ball-carrier went to ground with his teammates driving over him to set up quick ruck ball.
If this is combined with a return to the old principle that the side moving forward gets the scrum put-in if the ball goes to ground (but cannot be freed), we will have a revolution, with backs and back row forwards finding attacking space.
This is because in one fell swoop big forwards will have to commit to the battle for the ball in the loose instead of spreading across the field in the flat defensive lines Rugby Union has borrowed from Rugby League.
This has been a detrimental and unwanted tactical cross-over which has not only stifled the one-on-one positional contests that made the game so compelling in the past.  Of greater concern it has also led to the super-sizing of players into muscle-bound bashers with an attendant increase in concussion injuries.
The recent swathe of publicity surrounding issues like concussion and other serious injuries, but also the increase in drug abuse – especially among young players – has helped to fast-track this reassessment by World Rugby.
It is long overdue for the law-makers to restore laws that encourage a fair contest for possession, and that put a on skill over size in this game of ours.
Now all that World Rugby has to do is implement change, and not be deflected by special-interest groups – coaches among them – who would rather stick with flawed blueprints for the game that they are familiar with.

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