WHILE RUGBY FANS heard all about shot clocks and 20-minute red cards coming into this Autumn Nations Series, a new directive to referees concerning the laws around kicking has flown in under the radar.

Basically, match officials have been told by World Rugby that they needed to clamp down on ‘kick escorting’ this autumn.

A ‘kick escort’ is a player who retreats downfield after the opposition has kicked, impeding chasing players and allowing their team-mate to have a better chance of catching the ball cleanly.

This has become a common sight in top-level rugby, with kick chasers often blocked from getting into the air to compete for the ball.

Referees have always been looking out for obvious penalties like the one below, where Australia’s Harry Wilson clearly changes his line to block the chasing Makazole Mapimpi after a Springboks box kick.

This kind of obvious change of line has always been a penalty but we had reached a situation where escorters were allowed to run back downfield, impeding kick chasers, as long as they made a beeline for where the ball was going to land and didn’t notably change their line to block the chaser.

That meant we ended up with scenarios like the one below, where New Zealand scrum-half Aaron Smith retreats towards the ball and ends up standing in front of where team-mate Richie Mo’unga catches it, impeding the chasing Kurt-Lee Arendse.

World Rugby’s new directive is that this should be a penalty against Smith.

We can see that Arendse shoves Smith but World Rugby has told referees the obstruction from Smith should be penalised first.

The idea is to clear these escorting players out of the situation completely, allowing kick chasers to compete to win the ball back.

World Rugby wants more genuine one-on-one aerial contests, a thrilling sight, and also the increased broken-play situations that can arise from teamd winning these contests. It’s very difficult for defences to adjust when they’ve lost an aerial battle.

Furthermore, World Rugby feels that escorting players ending up in front of the catcher leads to a dangerous situation for both the chaser and the catcher.

For the chaser, because they have to have their eyes up tracking the ball, so can be caught off-guard by escorters suddenly stopping in front of them.

And for the catchers because the chasers had started to shove escorters towards them at high speed – as below – or because the chaser was being knocked off balance by escorters and therefore connecting with the catcher in an uncontrolled fashion.

The above was given as a penalty and yellow card against Samoa’s Duncan Paia’aua for pushing, but the new directive means it will be a penalty against Argentina for obstruction ahead of the catcher.

World Rugby has told match officials that escorters can support the catcher but not “protect” them. And there was a reminder that pushing opponents off the ball is not acceptable.

Teams were served notice of this change in refereeing focus ahead of the Autumn Nations Series and warned that obstruction would be strongly penalised. 

From the opening exchanges of New Zealand’s win over England last weekend, the change was obvious.

Below, we see New Zealand out-half Beauden Barrett kicking a diagonal bomb with his side’s very first possession of the game. Mark Tele’a wins the ball back.

In the past, England left wing Tommy Freeman [red below] would almost certainly have made an effort to deny New Zealand right wing Mark Tele’a [yellow] a chance to compete in the air against his fullback George Furbank.

But now – having been told he cannot take the space in front of his fullback – Freeman moves away to the side as Tele’a chases.

Furbank and Tele’a go up in a one-on-one contest and the All Blacks wing pulls off an exciting win.

Tele’a instantly offloads to centre Rieko Ioane.

Suddenly, England are on the ropes as Tele’a then steps in at scrum-half to shift the ball to the left where prop Tyrel Lomax passes out the back to Barrett.

Losing the aerial contest has left England exposed.

Note below how Freeman [red] and Furbank [blue] are underneath the initial high ball, while right wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso [pink] is tracking across from the other side of the backfield to cover behind.

That means that when New Zealand regain the ball, England have no cover on the other side of the backfield.

We can see them trying to scramble below as Tele’a passes to his left.

Feyi-Waboso [pink] is moving back across to his right as out-half Marcus Smith [purple] drops into the backfield.

Even with Feyi-Waboso’s pace, he has a lot of ground to cover.

Barrett is well aware of the opportunity for the All Blacks and attempts a cross-field kick to left wing Caleb Clarke, who is in acres of space.

A blockdown by Maro Itoje saves England.

If the ball clears Itoje, there’s a high probability that Clarke scores.

So this example in just the second minute of the Autumn Nations Series shows how a tweak in the refereeing of the escort has suddenly changed the game.

New Zealand instantly go to the aerial battle, aren’t impeded by the escort, win the ball back and nearly score.

Later in the game, there’s a similar example as Damian McKenzie launches a bomb.

Again, note how the retreating Freeman clears out of Telea’s chasing route.

That allows Tele’a to get into another one-on-one contest with Furbank. He wins it again.

The recycle of possession is slower this time as referee Angus Gardner signals knock-on advantage against Furbank but the All Blacks are soon swinging the ball wide to the left.

England have regained some defensive shape but this is what World Rugby wants – teams attacking to space after winning an aerial battle.

It was genuinely a little jarring to see kick chasers have such access to the aerial contest.

Referee Gardner was highly audible throughout the game, roaring “Allow the access” or “Good access” after kicks were launched into the air.

Indeed, the chasers sometimes seemed surprised to find themselves underneath the ball.

With Gardner shouting for the Kiwis to “allow the access,” Feyi-Waboso races through under a Harry Randall box kick in the instance above and nearly reclaims it over McKenzie only to knock on.

It’s obvious how dangerous this would have been for New Zealand had Feyi-Waboso claimed the ball.

But even these knock-ons can create the kind of broken play World Rugby wants more of.

Take this first-half example where Freeman chases a Ben Spencer box kick.

Again, the retreating New Zealanders allow Freeman through and Gardner approves, “Yep, access.”

Freeman goes up against Jordie Barrett but only with one hand and knocks on.

New Zealand fullback Will Jordan collects the bouncing ball and after searching up the five-metre channel, swings the ball infield for Beauden Barrett.

Barrett then beats Ollie Lawrence with his footwork and suddenly, there seems to be an opportunity.

Barrett chips ahead and though it’s well covered by Henry Slade, this shows how the game can break up after a one-on-one aerial contest.

Another aspect of this change is how catchers are now more exposed to huge tackles from chasers as soon as they land.

There’s no doubt that big tackles are an appealing part of the game and this example may have been among some supporters’ favourite moments of last weekend’s match, but catchers will definitely be less pleased about it.

England launch a box kick from Spencer and initially, we can see three New Zealand players retreating in what looks like a classic kick escort in front of the ball to protect catcher Beauden Barrett.

But watch how Jordie Barrett – the most infield of the three retreating Kiwis – in particular moves pointedly away to the side to allow England access. Jordie knows he can’t risk giving a penalty away for obstruction so he moves out of the way.

That means England flanker Chandler Cunningham-South gets a brilliant “access” to hammer Beauden Barrett as he lands from catching, forcing the All Blacks out-half to spill the ball.

It’s a completely legal tackle and a thrilling one that encourages a huge roar from the Twickenham crowd.

Of course, big tackles on kick chase have always been part of the game but it seems there may be more opportunities now with the focus on escorts giving access.

Referees will want to see the chasers being disciplined with their tackle technique in such instances given that they’ll be moving at high speed to connect with a player who is coming to ground, so dropping in height.

Another interesting dimension to the change was England’s decision to launch a free-kick just outside the New Zealand 22 into the sky.

The English win a free kick at a scrum and given that the law now denies them the chance to scrum again, they have a quick chat and decide to go for a classic garryowen.

New Zealand have to be very careful in this instance to avoid giving away a penalty for obstruction metres from their own tryline.

It’s a highly stressful situation and fullback Jordan misses the ball with his overhead catch attempt, allowing Freeman to grab it.

New Zealand manage to wrap Freeman in a choke tackle and hold him up over the tryline. 

But again, it shows how this directive has quickly changed how teams are thinking.

England and New Zealand were very disciplined in this element of the game at Twickenham, with neither side penalised for obstructing kick chasers.

We did see a penalty in this area during Munster’s defeat to the All Blacks XV at Thomond Park.

Scrum-half Ethan Coughlan launches a box kick, with left wing Diarmuid Kilgallen chasing.

Kiwi centre Quinn Tupaea is the man to be penalised.

Tupaea is retreating when he steps across into Kilgallen’s path, impeding him from getting through.

Kilgallen shoves Tupaea and tackles Ruben Love as he comes down from catching the ball, but referee Takehito Namekawa blows his whistle and signals the penalty for obstruction by Tupaea.

Tupaea is frustrated and he possibly would have got away with it before, but this is the new status quo.

Referees are on the hunt for any signs of chasers being impeded, aerial one-on-ones are back with a bang, and teams are already thinking about how they can take advantage of the tweak.

This was a prominent feature of the game at Twickenham and is sure to be noticeable in Dublin on Friday night as the All Blacks face Andy Farrell’s Ireland.

Watch this space.