Tackle area drives Ruddock to distraction

The new ruling, which gives the defender at a ruck permission to handle the ball, has made turn-overs far more prevalent and is causing teams to regularly kick posession away rather than risk taking the ball into contact.

The idea behind the ruling was to make the game more exciting to watch, with extra turn-overs opening up play and creating more tries.

However, the result has been exactly the opposite with cautious defences fanning out across the field, leaving next to no room for the three-quarters to attack — as evidenced by the dearth of tries throughout the Premiership this season.

Warriors director of rugby Ruddock said: “Everyone is kicking more ball away and more often than they used to.

“Certainly, we’re having to kick more often than we want to. It is hard to play off slow ball nowadays and tonight’s opponents Saracens are the masters of putting the ball in the corners and squeezing you until you give away field position and then points.

“It is going to be a tough night for our back three as they’ll see plenty of the ball — it will be a tough day all round.

“I’m encouraging my backs to run the ball — particularly off first phase as that is when you have most of the forwards in one little huddle in a scrum or line-out.

“After that, it becomes very difficult to break a team down because they are spread across the field and when you take the ball into contact it is now pretty much 50-50 whether you get it back quickly — or if you get it back at all without giving away a turnover or penalty because the rights are with the defending player. He can put his hands in and you can’t.”