All Blacks flanker and captain Richie McCaw says that he is excited about the changes at the breakdown in the Super 14 this season but adds that he hopes that referees will be consistent in their application of the laws throughout the competition.
McCaw is world renowned for his skills at the breakdown and has been a master as adapting to whatever changes have been applied in one of the most troublesome and contested areas of the game, but is looking forward to the new emphasis.
"It's going to reward players who are really accurate." he told SkySports.
"Perhaps when players are almost on their feet, or getting up there's a wee bit of grey area there and some refs would allow you and some wouldn't."
"They've said they're going to be pretty strict on it so unless someone who is really accurate gets in and contests the ball, the team with it will keep it and be able to play.
"It's all good in theory it will just be interesting to see how it goes," he said.
"Technically, it would require the ball carrier to do everything right, and that should allow some good rugby to be played, he said.
"Teams that are really accurate and figure that out to get their breakdown right will be the ones that do pretty well."
McCaw also noted that the number of turnovers in games could be reduced to only one or two but that they could be the one or two that made the difference.
"They have either got to be right or not," McCaw said.
Looking at how the early games have gone McCaw felt that the rugby teams that have done best that he had been associated with had been those who had been able to create space and the Crusaders for 2010 had players who were big and quick and able to exploit that.
"There's times when that's not possible but you have got to have other things up your sleeve. I think if all teams have that sort of attitude and I know all the guys in teams around New Zealand certainly want to play like that."
"If they can do that, it is going to be good," he said.
.jpg)
