Bath and England winger Ruaridh McConnochie says the recent debate on the playing style of international rugby is in the hands of the law makers.
The 29-year-old said, “the issue is the laws, it is not within the way people are playing because of how good everyone is nowadays and how good defences are.”
McConnochie’s comments follow criticism of England’s performance in the inaugural Autumn Nations Cup with many labelling their performances boring with defence being a core component of their game.
“Fans are voicing their opinions about the game going boring and that is not England’s problem. They are there to win international rugby games.” Said the winger.
“You have got to breakdown the opposition whichever way you can and for England it is their defence and their kicking game and to build pressure and wait till the other team cracks.
“You look back to the World Cup final and that is exactly how south Africa beat England. South Africa were better at winning that gain line and their kickers on the day and that is what won it.
“People seem to forget about that, but I think it is just where the game is now unless there are law changes. “
England coach Eddie Jones has proposed the concept of reducing the number of replacements recently to reduce the amount of injuries as well as open up matches later in the game.
“I can’t remember who said it in the press the other day but they made a point about you get 16 fresh athletes coming off the bench at about 50 or 60 minutes so no wonder it is still so hard to break it down.
“There are people that are built to run for 80 minutes that are only getting 30 minutes. Their engines are completely full.”
Despite criticism, England secured the Autumn Nations Cup title with a 19-16 sudden death victory over France and remain second in the World Rugby rankings.
