Beaumont says ELVs will win over Europe

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PERSUASIVE CHARACTER: IRB vice-chairman Bill Beaumont believes the ELVs will be embraced by the northenr unions.

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England legend Bill Beaumont, these days vice-chairman of the International Rugby Board, is quietly confident the northern hemisphere will embrace the experimental laws being trialled in the current Super 14.
How do the new laws stack up?

Beaumont is in New Zealand with the IRB heavyweights for a series of 2011 World Cup planning meetings.

But they are also using the opportunity to see how the Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) are being bedded in for testing at the highest level of their two year evolution. The IRB administrators watched the Blues host the Chiefs at Eden Park last Saturday and keenly followed television coverage of other matches in the opening round of the Super 14.

The attempts to speed up the game and make it more entertaining have had a generally warm reception throughout New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

But a cynic would suggest the IRB face a much tougher sell trying to introduce the ELVs to a decent level of competition in Europe.

Many of the northern critics have long derided Super Rugby as powder-puff stuff compared to the bump and grind favoured north of the equator. That perception will surely only increase with this latest version of the tournament. 

But Beaumont, widely acknowledged as one of the best locks in the history of the game and a unifying figure as manager of the 2005 British & Irish Lions, believes the seeds are already being sewn for their acceptance up north. He says there seems to be a new commitment to attacking rugby in Europe in 2008 even without the aid of the ELVs.

Beaumont said new French coach Marc Lievremont had spoken openly of his ambition to return some flair to the French game while Wales had played attractive rugby under new coach Warren Gatland. And Beaumont, who made an artform of the maul, noted that even in last weekend's English Premiership Wasps had beaten Bath 42-34 - an unusual scoreline between two of the top teams.

"There is massive interest in Europe as to how these new laws go in the Super 14," said Beaumont. He said the Super 14 was a big hit on TV there and these laws would be under the microscope from a wide audience.

He felt the new laws still allowed teams to play in different ways, something that was crucial to the appeal of rugby.

"Europe is conservative with a small ‘c' and the game moves on. It's the contrast in styles that makes the game fascinating and that can still be achieved."

It was noticeable that the Blues held their structure to see off the Chiefs while some of the other matches had ragged finishes as fitness and mental strength were tested by the new pace of the game.

"I would have to be a little bit fitter," Beaumont chuckled when asked what he thought of the Eden Park match.

"But there was not a dramatic difference. Yes there were more free kicks but there was still a huge emphasis on set piece."

The IRB have pushed hard to get their new game operating at this level in the southern hemisphere and judging by the mood of Beaumont and new IRB chief Bernard Lapasset of France, they will be just as persuasive with the northern unions.

There seems to be a real determination to improve rugby as a spectacle from the men in charge at the very top.

"The game has to move forward and evolve," declared Beaumont. He said the benefit of the long trial programme being given to the ELVs was that the IRB would be able to conduct a full analysis on a huge amount of information. "Then we can make a decision based on fact rather than hearsay."

The IRB will make a decision on where next to take the rules at a November meeting. That would likely be a global trail for another 12 months before a final decision on any permanent alterations would be made in November 2009. That would allow countries to build their styles into the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

The IRB said the delay in introducing the ELVs to the northern game was because of the difficult structure of tournaments there. They all overlapped each other unlike the southern henisphere where tournaments were blocked off into Super rugby, test matches and domestic competitions. But the north is clealry in their firing line and expect to see some top-flight action for the ELVs up there in their next season.

Lapasset believes the IRB are on the right track with their innovations.

"We need to open the vision of the game and we need to be less conservative," said Lapasset.

"We need to promote rugby for young people with emotions on and off the field."