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Turner welcomes new law

Turner welcomes new law

Newport Gwent Dragons head coach, Paul Turner has welcomed the IRB’s new law interpretations and believes they will help his side in the long run.

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The Dragons have got off to a mixed start in their Magners League season to date; losing to Connacht on the opening day before beating Glasgow and then falling to defeat at the hands of Cardiff Blues last weekend.

And Turner has admitted that although the Men of Gwent have struggled with the changes so far he is confident they will ultimately benefit them in the long-run.

“I think with a little bit more time we will come to terms with the rules”, said Turner.

“But they should benefit us because we are not a particularly big or powerful team. 

“The coaches have worked hard on developing a playing style. We like to run the ball and these changes should help us with the way we like to play.

“With the new rules you have to look after the ball.  If you are in control of the ball, you usually get the result and we didn’t do that against the Blues.

“But it’s a long season and we will get better with time.”

Tacklers must now immediately release the player and ball while there are a number of other changes to what the defending team can and can’t do.

The changes were designed to tackle growing problems within the game. In recent years the advantage had been with the defending team. This led to less attacking play and the ping-pong kicking that was so familiar last year.

The new IRB law directives have handed the ascendancy back to the attacking team and have allowed for a more open game. There have already been 19 more tries than at this point last year, with an average of 6.6 tries per team compared to 5.1 last year.

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