Rassie hails 'invaluable' World Rugby Summit as rules set to remain unchanged

"I'm very happy that we went," Erasmus said after attending the summit in London last week. "You can get out of touch with world rugby if it's only virtual calls and emails. You want to look a guy in the eye, and that happened over the last couple of days."

Importantly, Erasmus believes there is alignment on key aspects of the game heading towards the 2027 World Cup.

"You can maybe skip one or two meetings, but you don't skip the year before a World Cup. We're fairly satisfied that we gave our opinion and that World Rugby will make decisions with proper input."

Scrums, mauls and rucks protected

Erasmus was particularly keen to address concerns around the scrum following the Springboks' dominant performances in that aspect of the game last year.

New Zealand and Australia were reportedly pushing to depower the scrum (or replace it with mauls in some proposals) to make the game faster and more appealing to new audiences.

"There were narratives that they were trying to depower the scrum," Erasmus said. "But what was agreed is that the contest in rugby stays one of the most important aspects of the game. That starts with the scrum, the maul, the ruck and the kick. Nothing dramatically is changing - definitely not before the 2027 World Cup."

He also sought to dispel the notion that referees penalise teams simply for being overpowered or driven back in the scrum.

"You don't get penalised because you're weak," he said. "You get penalised because you cop out and you fall. If a team allows another team to push them back 10m, 20m, whatever it is, they must just not collapse. That was cleared up really well at the meeting, and World Rugby backed it up with data.

"You can't say a guy gets penalised because he's not strong enough. If you tackle high because you can't stop a guy, you'll be penalised. It's the same principle at scrum time."

Refereeing simplified and clarified

Bok scrum coach Daan Human emphasized the importance of protecting rugby's set-piece traditions.

"Without a scrum, it's not rugby – it's league," Human said. "Without a maul, it's not rugby. So yes, you're always concerned when you read things. But luckily nothing will change before 2027, and hopefully it stays that way."

Former Test referee and Springbok law adviser Jaco Peyper agreed that the modern scrum is far easier to officiate than a decade ago.

"In 2016 or 2017, the scrum was probably the most difficult area of the game to referee – too many moving parts and too many opinions," Peyper said. "Then it was simplified. The laws were broken down into three clear steps. If you coach to it, play to it and referee to it, it becomes much easier."

Peyper confirmed that no fundamental law changes are imminent.

"There will be slight tweaks – we must keep making the game better – but we have to keep rugby's identity," he added.

Global perspective

Erasmus said the meeting highlighted the global perspective on rugby while maintaining its core values.

"You could hear when someone was talking about what's best for Fiji, or what suits their environment. South Africa will talk about what's good for South Africa. But it was always brought back to what's best for rugby."

On contentious topics such as red cards and TMOs, Peyper explained that current approaches will largely remain.

"Full red cards will be for non-rugby actions or clearly reckless acts – a kick, a bite, a gouge or spitting. We don't want those sorts of things in rugby, so we all accept that is a full red card. But technical errors won't automatically go to a full red."

Regarding TMOs, he added: "The protocol is not broken. We need to invest in the individuals within the system. The biggest decisions are made there, so we must make sure we've got the right people in those roles."