USA Rugby Head Coach Lawrence Navigates New Rugby Laws Ahead of Pacific Nations Cup Semis

Eagles aim to rebound from World Cup miss and compete against Fiji in the semi-finals

Eagles head coach, Scott Lawrence said that the changes are aimed at maintaining the quality of the game on the field /

By Priscilla Jepchumba

The Eagles failed to qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and their head coach, Scott Lawrence, has stepped up to work on building the team anew. Luckily, Lawrence is the most qualified to lead the team as he possesses considerable knowledge about the game at different levels in the USA.

When asked about the new law variations introduced by World Rugby to add protection in the Pacific Nations Cup in round three, Lawrence said that the changes are aimed at maintaining the quality of the game on the field.

“The big thing is the law variations and changes. It’s kind of like shifting a car; it redlines at first, so they go all the way to the extreme, and then they realize, ‘Okay, wait a minute, there’s a middle ground here,’ and you’re seeing that happening in test rugby right now,” said Lawrence.

He added that the alterations have been rather interesting from the team strategies point of view. Lawrence was also asked how he and his team communicate with match officials to determine whether they are implementing the new scrum laws.

“They’re trying to improve the speed of the game through the law variation, so they adjust. For example, the maul. It was originally started with one call of ‘use it.

“Well, that just created more scrums, so now the referees are adjusting and saying one stop, two stop, and then using it. This is a different sort of language that encourages that dominance.

“From our perspective, we’ve been watching the games closely regarding how the referees interpret because that’s then being fed back through the referee community, and we’re adjusting more.

It will take some time to identify one strategy that will work. Based on the recent high-quality matches, teams have done well so far.

“So we’re not working as much on the referees about it as we are learning about where they’re coming from and adjusting to the new laws,” he concluded.

The Eagles are hoping to bounce back against Fiji in the Pacific Nations Cup semi-final on Saturday.