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Rugby

Brian O'Driscoll on how widening rugby pitches could encourage a change in Northern Hemisphere style

Brian O'Driscoll feels widening the pitch could be one way to encourage a wide-wide game in North...



Brian O'Driscoll on how wi...
Rugby

Brian O'Driscoll on how widening rugby pitches could encourage a change in Northern Hemisphere style

Brian O'Driscoll feels widening the pitch could be one way to encourage a wide-wide game in Northern Hemisphere rugby.

The difference in approach between the more attritional Northern style and more expressive southern way has been a major talking point since the Rugby World Cup.

Off The Ball's premier rugby correspondent was on tonight's show and we asked him whether there were any tweaks to the rules that could encourage a change in this hemisphere.

"Do you know one area that I could see - but it's going to create a massive issue because space is pretty restricted because of the size of the stands and the close proximity - but widening the width of the pitch or the size of the pitch kind of makes sense," he said.

"We'd find ourselves back in Croke Park because of the enormity of the park there. But it just immediately means players don't automatically look for the contact zone. They're looking to create space because it's much easier to get momentum and get go-forward if you run into space rather than run through bodies. I think that is one very easy fix, albeit because of atmosphere building, the size of pitches in current rugby stadia around the UK and Ireland, you're going to be limited on that."

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