Lineout guru Geoff Parling welcomes new law in key area of the game

Leicester head coach Geoff Parling has welcomed World Rugby’s attempt to clean up the maul, having first identified a quick fix while working as a consultant for the governing body a year ago.

World Rugby says the maul has become “increasingly difficult to referee, hard to manage, and challenging to explain to viewers and fans”, which prompted a law application guideline being agreed at the recent World Rugby Shape of the Game meeting in London.

Referees have been asked to identify, manage and/or sanction defending players who fail to leave the maul once they’ve gone beyond the ball and/or into pulling/dragging positions once the contest is over.

It is applicable for new competitions from 1 June 2026, so won’t affect the end of the PREM/URC/Top 14 seasons, and kicks in before the start of the inaugural Nations Championship.

“I spoke to Joël Jutge (Head of Match Officials) about this over a year ago. I know him pretty well, and I did a bit of work for World Rugby and we spoke around some of the maul laws,” Parling said.

“Essentially, it’s going to be a bit like a ruck now; if you end up on the side of a ruck you can’t do anything, you need to get out. And that’s basically what it’s saying now at the maul. I think it is a positive change, a good correction.

“I think it is trying to make it a bit cleaner for officials and for teams, it is just a bit messy at the moment and there is a little bit of grey there sometimes.”

Nearly half (48.5%) of the tries scored in the PREM this season (304/627) have been sourced from lineout possession – many from mauls close to the line, either from a team’s own throw or stolen opposition ball.