Australia's Super Rugby coaches are using the coronavirus shutdown to join forces and table some suggestions on ways to innovate in rugby.
The four Super Rugby teams generally operate fairly independently, with little time to collaborate or catch up for development opportunities as a group.
With the increased use of technology and less face-to-face commitments, Dan McKellar, Dave Wessels, Brad Thorn and Rob Penney have been having semi-regular discussions about the on-field state of rugby.
Discussions between the group have included suggestions on ways to reduce time-wasting in games, including scrum clocks and speeding up resets, Brumbies coach McKellar said.
"It's just really the four of us bouncing ideas around on where the game’s at at the moment and we all agree that rugby's a very good product when played in the right spirit," he said.
"There are areas that may need tweaking and looking at the scrum resets and the time taken to pack scrums, that's been an issue for the game for a long time, pretty much since they changed the lat and technique for safety reasons at the end of 2013."
McKellar was quick to point out that the group wasn't expecting to make swathes of change but said they felt it was an opportune time to table
"It’s just internal discussions about things we think could be discussed by the decision makers and just start a conversation with the GMs and CEOs," he said.
Then it's up to the powers that be to take ideas to broadcasters potentially.
It's about discussing change without losing respect for the game.
"It might not even be possible for this domestic competition, which is still aligned with super rugby and with Super Rugby administering the laws in place.
"All we’re doing is having a conversation about possible adjustments, could they be implemented in a domestic competition in 2020? I can't really answer that.
"It could be an opportunity to trial a couple of things that are not going to take away from the game as a contest."
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McKellar has been vocal about the need to have more influence from current coaches and players about changes to the game and said these discussions were part of that view.
"I’ve said a number of weeks back, if you're having think tanks around how the game’s played and the direction the game's heading in the future that players and coaches need a seat at the table.
"They're at the coal face, players know exactly what’s happening and it's our job to coach, so it's important to be having these conversations.
"While we're not the ones making the law making decisions, where it's at a World Rugby level, I think we need to make sure current players and coaches are involved in these discussions."
The four coaches have also been part of professional development during the shutdown, hearing from high-profile coaches in other sports and discussing their own approaches with each other.
It is hoped that a domestic Super Rugby competition could be up and running in July but McKellar said he hoped the season resumption wouldn't spell the end of the coaches' conversations.
"I think it’s certainly something that needs to be ongoing couple of months," he said.
"The conversations the four coaches been having around the direction of the game moving forward have been a really good thing
"We’re all ongoing regular communication and building relationships there so everyone feels comfortable sharing ideas.
"I think it’s a positive and you don’t want to, when things go back to normal you don’t want to forget about the good work that's been done.
"Everyone is time poor within the season but once the season's finished, you'd like to continue quality conversations with high performance staff."
