Rennie: It will be refereed strongly

All Blacks coach Dave Rennie has revealed what was discussed at a World Rugby meeting in London ahead of the European leg of the Nations Championship.

Speaking after naming his team to face Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday, Rennie said the interpretation of several laws had been on the agenda when leading Test coaches met with rugby’s governing body.

Among the main talking points were hip-drop and knee-drop tackles, with World Rugby having recently outlawed the dangerous techniques.

The hip-drop technique involves a tackler using his bodyweight to pull the ball-carrier towards the ground before landing on the player’s legs from behind.

“We talked about knee-drop and hip-drop tackles and got a little bit of clarity around how that’s going to be refereed,” Rennie said.

“It’s just interesting; the whole hip drop – no one has ever talked about it. Now it seems to be a bit of an epidemic.

“From a safety point of view, it’ll be refereed strongly.”

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The meeting also addressed the contentious brake-foot requirement at scrums, which All Blacks assistant coach Neil Barnes criticised during the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series against the Springboks.

The law requires hookers to have one foot forward in the middle of the scrum tunnel during the “Crouch” and “Bind” phases to provide stability and reduce axial loading on the head and neck. The foot can only be fully withdrawn after the referee calls “Set”.

“What the referees are saying is that they’ve got a really clear process around the brake foot but seeing every other picture as well,” said Rennie.

“As we’ve seen recently, it’s been refereed pretty well, certainly in the Bledisloe Cup games. So I don’t think there’ll be a hell of a lot of change between now and the World Cup on anything.”

ALSO: Rassie hails new maul application

The interpretation of maul laws was another area of discussion.

“We just chatted around the maul and how that’s being refereed now because you can’t pull and drag and so on,” said Rennie. “I think it was good clarity.”

Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images