Bok brainiac Felix Jones sets the record straight on contestable kicks

The contestable kick has become a popular attacking option among many teams in world rugby. It plays into the aerial skills of wingers and can be an easy, though risky, way to make metres.

But critics claimed the 50/50 high balls often lead to knock-ons, which result in the slowest element of Rugby Union: scrums. There have even been calls for the return of 'sheparding', where players block of access to the catcher.

Jones revealed this came up at World Rugby's Shape of the Game conference last week and he pointed to the statistics, which proved the detractors incorrect.

"The numbers are pretty conclusive from what we've seen, particularly at Test level, that scrums aren't actually increasing," Jones told the media this week.

"It actually came up once or twice, a couple of discussions around the contest in general and the aerial contest, actually, in London at Shape of the Game.

"And the overwhelming sense was that it's been great. It's actually opened up the game, [and] it's created more dynamism. It's been correlated with more linebreaks and more tries, which obviously everyone loves to see.

"The thing is now, when you see a contestable kick, nobody gets bored. I think everyone actually has a sense of anticipation that there's going to be some athletic contest to win the ball back, and then usually a dynamic piece of play thereafter.

"The great thing in London is seeing how people were buying into the idea that every single aspect and part of the game is contested - the breakdown, scrum, maul or an aerial contest.

"That is one of the unique aspects of Rugby Union that we need to keep driving and checking ourselves on."

The Shape of the Game conference resulted in an agreement that there will be no significant law changes before the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.