Trial.

Revolutionary new tackle law changes are set to be trialled with amateur rugby clubs in France next season which include lowering the height of a tackle and banning tackles by two players next season.

The French Rugby Federation’s (FFR) technical director Didier Retiere said on Tuesday that they’ve been given the “green light” for amateur competitions and are hoping to bring it into academy competitions on the not too distant future.

“We’re going to work on lowering the height of the tackle down to the waist and we are aiming to prohibit two-man tackles,” Retiere said at a Player Welfare and Law Symposium organised by the FFR and World Rugby in Paris.

“We have been given the green light for amateur competitions with youngsters and adults and we’re waiting for the green light to eventually bring the changes into the academy competitions,” 

Retiere says he believes the trial may result in a better quality of play.

“Tackling around the shorts allows the ball carrier to off-load and allows them to break the line,” Retiere added

“Defensive lines will have to put two or three players in the back-field so we could have less players in front line of defence.”

World Rugby boss Brett Gosper said outcomes of the trials could be released in 12 months’ time.

“Relatively quickly in the first half of next year we can already get some results, hopefully positive on some of these changes,” he told AFP.

“Those law trials will go through the Laws Review group and the Rugby Committee before being discussed and maybe even improved in some aspects of it.”

[via The42]