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Wallabies great and Brumbies head coach Stephen Larkham has called for the relaunched National Rugby Championship to increase the value of tries to encourage more attacking rugby.
Nine teams from around the country, including four from NSW and two from Queensland, were confirmed on Monday as participants in the NRC.
The 11 week competition will run from late August and aims to be at the forefront of experimental law changes for rugby around the globe.
Larkham on Tuesday said he’d like to see teams rewarded more for tries to promote free-flowing rugby, which is one of the many proposals being considered by the ARU for the competition.
“Changing (reducing) the amount of points for penalties is a good idea,” he said on Tuesday.
“Making it more valuable to score tries is the key.”
Other laws Larkham would like to see introduced would address the issue of teams giving away penalties inside their own 22m, time wastage at scrums or from players pretending to be injured, and making sure the ball was in play longer throughout the match.
However the World Cup winning flyhalf, who described himself as “somewhat of a traditionalist”, said it was important that any new laws didn’t diminish the technical aspects of the game.
He said it was important rugby union remained a code that required people of all shapes and sizes to play for fierce contests at the scrum and lineouts, as opposed to rugby league.
“Rugby is quite complex and there’s a contest in everything – you wouldn’t want to see that taken away,” he said.
“You can have big front rowers, tall second rowers.
“It’s a real element of rugby union and it differs from rugby league.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.