The driving-maul try machine - why rugby's steamroller gained traction

Back in March, leading Italy by two points and with a penalty just outside their 22m, England captain Maro Itoje pulled rank.

"Don't argue with me, take the three!" he told fly-half Fin Smith. Who duly did.

It is an age-old tactical call: kick or twist? Whether to call for the tee, go for the posts and a likely three points, or aim for touch, an attacking line-out and five or, potentially, seven.

Chris Robshaw, one of Itoje's predecessors, was haunted by those decisions.

A clutch of them turned out badly under him, most memorably when England chased possible victory, rather than taking on a potentially match-tying kick, as they trailed Wales 28-25 late on in a 2015 Rugby World Cup pool game.

Now though, it seems a no-brainer.

Across six Nations Championship matches last weekend, teams opted for goal just three times. Instead, the corner called on almost every occasion.

The change in mentality reflects shifting probabilities. The line-out odds are no longer so long. There is a run on driving-maul tries across the game.

Analysis from stats company Oval Insights comparing the past seven seasons of November Test rugby and the English top flight, show that mauls are delivering tries more consistently than at any point since they began collecting the metric.

So what's changed?

Partly the laws.

Rugby's regulations were tweaked in the summer,, external so that defending players can no longer 'swim' up the side of the maul. Previously, so long as they maintained their bind, individuals could work their way round, pulling apart the attacking team's momentum and threatening to steal possession.

Now, once defenders are past the ball and no longer in a position to push, they have to detach and rejoin from behind the back foot.

England forward Alex Coles says the change has made the set-piece stakes higher and more immediate.

"The maul now is so much about who wins that first second," he told BBC Sport.

"Under the old laws, there was more of a chance for a defence to try to rescue and recover the situation.

"Now, essentially, that opportunity to swarm up the side and make it a mess from behind has gone.

"The law change hasn't completely changed it, but it has shifted the balance towards the attack."

As the maul has become a more reliable route to the line, more attack coaches are heading that way.

Maul tries are more than twice as common in this November window than the last, with 0.67 per game compared to 0.3 in 2025.

The story in the Prem is similar. There have been 0.42 per game this season, compared to 0.23 over the opening five rounds of last.

But defence coaches adapt too.

"I'd be interested to know the stats, but I feel like there's more aerial competition now," says Coles.

"Teams are going harder after that because if you can win the ball back at source, it makes such a difference."

Alternatively, if you don't go up in the line-out, you have to win the ground war.

"You can stay down and try to beat them to that punch with your speed and physicality," says Coles.

"If you get them going backwards immediately, then the referees are likely to get the ball moving or you can try and find some seams and break up the setup, make it look a bit more messy through that, rather than swarming around the sides.

"I think we'll see that balance shift back towards more of a 50-50 as teams evolve."

The ripples from the law change reach other parts of the pitch.

The heightened threat of a pushover try can open up space on the opposite wing.

New Zealand's Beauden Barrett had a stroll in for his second try in the win over Scotland last weekend as the hosts, admittedly a man down, were caught horribly narrow.

The premium on discipline, always high, has risen another notch. Concede a penalty on halfway and you are rolling out the red carpet into the red zone.

Whether encouraging a tactic that, to the casual fan at least, is a relatively unspectacular try-scoring method, a year out from a World Cup is the best move by the game's authorities is another question.

It isn't one that Test coaches will be concerning themselves with though.

Calculating the new threats and opportunities and their best chance of landing the biggest prize is where they show their worth.

England made hay in 2025 with tactics and personnel designed to exploit a change in the kick-chase laws, outlawing defences running blocking lines and opening up the aerial contest.

With Jamie George and Maro Itoje's decade-plus club-country partnership and head coach Steve Borthwick's previous specialism in the set-piece, there is a formidable line-out brains trust in camp. Their Red Roses counterparts have long had a formidable driving maul as their calling card as well.