BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Wigan boss Matty Peet supports a plea by other Super League coaches for the competition’s rucks to be sped up next season.
Catalans’ Joel Tomkins and Toulouse’s Sylvain Houles have both advocated for quickening rucks and reducing wrestling in 2026, recently when speaking to this platform. Peet agrees with them, and on the back of the Ashes series where the gap between the NRL and Super League was emphasised, would like to see the game become quicker in the northern hemisphere.
“I think a general quickening up of the game and a difference in what happens when a player gets a quick play the ball to a… if the defence dominates the tackle, then they deserve to control the game,” Peet told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
“But I think we’ve seen from the international games, and when you watch the NRL, there’s too much difference at the moment in the two games. Particularly with the World Cup on the horizon, it would be good if we were more aligned.
“What we’ve got at the moment is, rightly so, the NRL gets a lot of credit for the rugby that’s on show, but that’s because of the way it’s policed and governed.
“I think from our discussions with people that the internationals and the interactions between the two sets of officials probably highlights a few things. I’m confident it will head in the right direction.
“It’s not just a case of people want it to become tick and pass and there’s no dominance of the defence. Everyone’s on board that they want good defence to be rewarded, but likewise, good attack has to be rewarded as well.
“As long as there exists in the rules that are governed in the right way from the start of the season and there’s that consistency that Joel spoke about, then all the coaches will be happy.”
Peet believes consistency across Super League in how officials police rucks is key.
“I think every time you speak to a coach, they just want consistency,” he said.
“I know that’s difficult for referees, they are all different in their own style, which is natural and we understand that.
“But if we can try and get a bit more consistency, not just game to game and referee to referee, but within games about what an attacking win and loss and a defensive win and loss looks like, then the game is going to become naturally that bit quicker.
“Cameron Munster spoke really well after the third Test about the difference he felt in the games, and I think that spoke volumes.”