The maul has become too powerful – but rugby’s tactical trend is more interesting than you might think

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On the Sunday before the Nations Championship resumed, Steve Borthwick and Rassie Erasmus became unlikely teammates. In an effort to improve transparency and understanding between coaches and officials, World Rugby invited each nation’s figurehead into their refereeing camp in Windsor for an open session of knowledge-sharing, with the hope that it would provide clarity ahead of a busy autumn.

As part of the day, top coaches were each invited to present on a particular area of expertise in the game: Borthwick and Erasmus, two proficient former lineout forwards, were given the maul.

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The lineout drive has become a hugely powerful part of the game (Getty)

The driving lineout has emerged as an outsized tactical trend within the game over the last few months. It has come after a subtle but significant shift in law emphasis before the Tests in July, with defensive players who have gone beyond the ball now required to vacate the space and retreat behind the back foot.

It was a well-intentioned crackdown designed to create more room and opportunities from which to play; instead, without the presence of those defenders to clutter and clog up the rumbling mass, or drag it away from the try-line, mauls have become increasingly difficult to stop. In one round of United Rugby Championship (URC) action in October, 20 tries were scored across eight games directly from a maul – more than 30 per cent of scores during that weekend.

The maul has been a huge weapon in the Prem, URC and Top 14 (Getty)

“When it was proposed a period of time ago, I said the maul was in a pretty good position,” Borthwick explains of the law change. “A good maul could score and a good defence could stop it. There wasn’t a huge number of mauls. I posed the question to World Rugby about why we need to change it. The maul was in a good position.

“The maul has shifted in favour of the attack. We have seen at domestic level in Top 14, URC and Prem a big jump in the number of mauls and more specifically in the success rate of those mauls. Everyone can see it being a big feature in the game. It’s going to be interesting this next Test window to see where it goes and whether we see the jump at Test level that we’ve seen at domestic level.”

The early indications are that we will. Just about every fixture of the first weekend of the northern series of the Nations Championship featured the maul as a prominent protagonist. Clues to the importance of the lineout drive could be seen in the selections – all of Ireland (Ryan Baird), South Africa (Pieter-Steph du Toit), Italy (Alessandro Ortombina), New Zealand (Tupou Vaa’i), France (Cameron Woki), England (Ollie Chessum) and Australia (Jeremy Williams) favoured a player with long limbs and lock experience as their blindside flanker.

The difficulty in defending the maul could be seen in Ewan Ashman’s first try for Scotland against the All Blacks. The visitors initially do an excellent job of stymying a surge, but end up with all of Vaa’i, Fabian Holland and Ethan de Groot beyond the ball. With referee Andrew Brace not believing momentum has been halted twice, Scotland are able to play patiently and shear to the right as the New Zealand trio are ordered away. Close to 20 seconds after Scott Cummings comes to the floor, the hosts gain momentum; Ashman, eventually, is the buried beneficiary. It’s worth noting the hooker ended up scoring a hat-trick in that game, with two of those tries coming from mauls.

When considering past changes to the maul, World Rugby’s council is understood to have contemplated reducing the number of stoppages required before a “use it” call from two to one – but that alteration was not voted through. It leaves the attacking team with little reason to extract the ball if encouraging pictures develop, particularly since the law tweak. As defenders are ordered away, their weight is lost from the defensive effort – it is becoming likelier and likelier that attacking forwards find a fissure at some stage.

Scotland hooker Ewan Ashman scored a hat-trick against New Zealand, including two tries from mauls (Getty)

How can teams stop it? Coaches wonder if competing in the air in five-metre lineouts will become more common, while an emphasis will be placed on “sacking” a hoisted catcher as he comes to ground to prevent a maul forming. Television match officials (TMOs) have been asked to look, too, for lifters preventing access to that catcher by sliding in behind him – though only in scenarios where the maul has led directly to a try, a distinction that has caused some debate among referees. One top Test official posed a scenario in which an illegally formed maul drove 20 metres and created space for a try to be scored out wide; it is not clear if the TMO would intervene.

Few in the game want the maul, a motion inherently antithetical to rugby’s offside laws elsewhere, to be an overwhelming force. But that does not necessarily mean the trend is making the sport boring. Indeed, as defensive coaches attempt to figure out ways to stop the drive, smart attacking teams are finding ways to vary their tactics and use the focus on the maul against them.

Ireland provided a good example against Argentina. They set up in a five-plus-one structure, with flanker Nick Timoney in the scrum-half position to hint at a drive. The Pumas match with a forward of their own behind their lineout in the form of hooker Julian Montoya.

Nick Timoney is the 'plus-one' player at Ireland's lineout, with Argentina deploying Julian Montoya as his defensive counterpart (ITV Sport)

Expecting a drive, and desperate to get an initial hit, Montoya piles into the back of his fellow forwards – but Timoney has bounced out, popping up to a looping Dan Sheehan to attack the “seam” at the tail.

Nick Timoney pivots a pass to hooker Dan Sheehan to attack the seam at the back of Argentina's lineout (ITV Sport)

Montoya can’t get back in time to cut off Timoney as he takes the one-two from his hooker.

Nick Timoney takes Dan Sheehan's inside pass through a gap with Julian Montoya toiling to cover. Ireland score a phase later (ITV Sport)

Though he is felled just short, Sheehan scores a phase later.

New Zealand, too, showed some lovely variety against Scotland – by pinching a play used by others in recent weeks. Watch the misdirection at the maul here as Peter Lakai and Cam Roigard spin away, making the Scottish defence (and camera operator) think that the All Blacks are playing out to the backs. Instead, Wallace Sititi bursts straight through to the line.

Their last try was a thing of beauty, too, started and finished by Asafo Aumua. The replacement hooker’s long throw is magnificently taken by Vaa’i, crucially beyond the 15-metre line – which means the lineout is over, and the New Zealand backline can move within 10 metres.

With the lineout over, New Zealand's backs are permitted to breach the 10-metre offside lines (ITV Rugby)

Lakai – ostensibly a midfield carrying threat – is employed as a surging ball-handler, darting towards the touchline to create an overload.

All Blacks openside Peter Lakai darts towards the touchline to take the ball at the back of the maul and create an overload (ITV Sport)

With Cortez Ratima and Rieko Ioane distracting George Horne out the back, Pierre Schoeman is isolated and Lakai puts his Hurricanes teammate Aumua through a gap.

With Scotland outnumbered, Asafo Aumua goes through a gap between Pierre Schoeman and George Horne to score (ITV Sport)

Like Sheehan, his outstanding athleticism is an advantage in such plays – though not really required here as he goes in untouched.

There is a balance, clearly, to be struck here.

Few would want pure pushing and shoving to be rewarded in the way it is currently, but it is perhaps creating more opportunities for good attacking coaches to play with. Expect to see plenty more maul tries and lineout variety across the rest of November.

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