Northampton boss Phil Dowson calls for referee clampdown in key area

Northampton Saints Director of Rugby Phil Dowson has called for the offside law to be policed more strictly this season, to help the Gallagher PREM become even more entertaining.

Speaking to RugbyPass this week, Dowson believes some teams are taking liberties in defence and illegally cutting down the space available to the side in possession.

As a result, teams like Saints, who like to play high-tempo rugby based on quick ruck speed, are not getting full reward for their efforts.

With every new season comes different initiatives to make the game more free-flowing. But instead of tinkering with the law book again, Dowson believes a clampdown in this area would help immeasurably.

Offside penalties have accounted for 14% of the overall total of penalties in the PREM over the last two seasons – compared to 23.5% for scrums, when some calls are 50:50 at best. The vast majority (70%) of offside penalties are given for indiscretions at the ruck.

“I am not a massive advocate of bringing in a ton of new laws. But the one thing I would go super hard at is the offside line. I get referees talking to me – Tony Spreadbury in Europe and Paul Hull (RFU) saying we want the game to move, we don’t want the defence ot always be on top, we want to make sure we create space in the game … the best way to create space in the game is with the offside line,” sais Dowson.

“I send clips to them and they say, ‘he is not clearly offside’. I would go the other way and say, make sure people are clearly onside and referee it that way because you would get daylight in the defensive line, it would slow down that press, and you’d actually get more space in the game. That’s what I think personally. So rather than bringing in new laws, I would referee some existing laws a lot tougher.”

While Dowson is sympathetic to the plight of the referee in enforcing every law there is in the book, he feels the offside law would be relatively easy to enforce.

“I think one of the hardest things, and I feel for the referees when it comes to this, is refereeing the breakdown. A hundred different things are going on – the tackler, the ball placement, the second tackler, the clearout, the entry, all this sort of stuff … there are a myriad of things.

“But, as for the offside line, I don’t know what else the touch judges look at, but that is actually a basic one you can go after.”

Saints used their opening match in the Premiership Cup against Saracens on Friday night as a final warm-up before the real business of PREM Rugby begins at home to Exeter on 28 September.

Frustratingly for Dowson, he wasn’t able to get more bodies on the pitch, with PREM Rugby insisting 23-man squads rather than an open bench be used.

“I spoke to a few of the DoRs down at the launch on Wednesday, and I think most people would treat it as a pre-season game in so much as giving guys minutes and trying to find combinations.

“Looking at the welfare of the players as we manage them back in, one of my frustrations has been that if it is a pre-season game, and every DoR wants to treat it as a pre-season game, we could have had extended benches for these two rounds and allow people to come off and give guys an opportunity rather than having a strict 23.

“Some players going into pre-season, especially if they have been on tour and stuff, may only need 20 minutes, but some lads will need 60. So it just gives you a bit of freedom, and you can take people off if they are carrying a knock, whereas in games like this, you have to keep them on.”

However, Dowson is adamant that English rugby shouldn’t follow the model adopted by the French leagues this season, and have eight replacements plus four swaps (not counting HIAs, blood injuries, etc.).

“I think once the league starts, I am very happy with how it works at the moment.”