Stop giving No.9s so much protection

WELCOME to the 2025 Six Nations, and, unfortunately, a new abomination of a law trial aimed at "Protecting the 9" which will turn scrum-half - a position which has produced many of the greatest players rugby union has seen - into a sacrosanct, but diminished, species.

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Midway through the northern hemisphere season, World Rugby's hopeless laws committees have decided to dumb down our sport by turning a position which requires great reflexes and pin-sharp skills, into one which could be played by a mobility-challenged 25 stone bench prop with hands like breeze blocks.

Move over Antoine Dupont and Gareth Edwards, because your sublime match-turning talents, honed through hours of dedication, are now such that the player with half your reaction speed and physical gifts will be able to stroll around untouched until they eventually decide to shovel the ball onwards.

Welcome to the era of scrum-half snails, protected at every turn by whistle-happy referees, ref assistants, and TMOs looking to penalise the slightest attempt to snare them.

World Rugby's concept of 'protecting the 9' means the offside line for the team not in possession at the scrum is the centre line of the tunnel, and, because they cannot advance past that point, the scrum-half and No.8 of the team awarded the scrum put-in can play with the pressure gauge turned off. It means that scrum-halves are now virtually untouchable. Even if their scrum is shunted backwards it means the 9 will still be able to pick up without being sacked or dispossessed by their opposite number.

It is what you call certainty of possession, and it takes jeopardy - which gives our sport so much of its appeal to players and spectators alike – almost completely out of the equation. Worse still, the free pass for scrum-halves does not end at the scrum, because it has been extended throughout all the main theatres of contest for the ball.