A new law or interpretation of a law to watch out for in this years six nations is:

Tacklers must now give their prone victims time to release the ball before attempting to steal possession.

What does this mean?

For players like BOD who are masters at tackling a player,getting to their feet and stealing the ball, all in one quick sweeping move, can no longer do so. Now a player who tackles an opponent must first relaese him, get to his feet then try and rob the ball.

This has its good points though. It gives the attacking team move of an advantage and we may see more players willing to have a go with the ball in hand instead of the aimless kick game.

Over the last few months players have been flopping on the tackle area and there’s been penalties given to the defender. This should prevent that as players will need to make a serious effort to get the ball.

England v Wales will be the first game to be played under these new rules

The Down side to all this.

How the ref will interpret this. The break down is such a grey area at the moment that this will either help make refs more consistent or more likely more inconsistency.

The best refs in the world are Irish so we can never get one.