England boss Shaun Wane a big fan of the six-again rule

Drew Darbyshire

England coach Shaun Wane is a keen admirer of the six-again rule.

The six-again rule was introduced into Super League last season – a rule change which was designed to improve the flow of games.

The rule saw referees award fresh sets of tackles instead of penalties for certain offences in areas around the ruck – and Wane believes the rule was a good addition to the game.

He said: “I’ve loved it. If you look at the Wigan-Saints game last year, there were no penalties or errors for 25 minutes.

“I said it at the time, there’s not a sport in the world where you can have 26 players going at it for 25 minutes the way they did.

“You look at the GPS on how they ran, the players’ retreats and efforts. There’s not a sport in the world that can do what they did.

“It is just elite athletes going at it and it is a lot to be proud of. The six-again got rid of a lot of stoppages and it just shows you how athletic our players are.”

Wane also revealed that he isn’t fussed about whether scrums return or not in 2021.

He added: “Having no scrums has been fantastic. I really enjoyed it but I don’t get stressed about things like this.

“If the Aussies play a season where they have scrums and we don’t in Super League but they bring it back for the World Cup, it’s easily fixed.

“Our players are the best in our country, the best in Super League and they are doing great in the NRL so if we have a few sessions where we defend and attack in a scrum situation, it doesn’t take long (to get used to it).

“Our players are used to scrums, they’ve had a season where they have not had any in Super League but they can soon get that defensive and attacking shape in a scrum situation anyway.”

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