SANZAR extend olive branch to IRB
November 30, 2000

International Rugby Board members have been invited to next week's annual SANZAR conference in the hope it can bring the northern and southern hemispheres closer together.

Allan Hosie, chairman of the IRB Laws Committee, and referees' official Steve Griffiths will attend the meeting in Perth where Australian, South African and New Zealand delegates plan the direction for the game in the southern hemisphere.

"We have invited some of the IRB officials to this conference because we don't want to be at loggerheads," ARU Chief Executive John O'Neill told Australia's Daily Telegraph.

"We don't think we have all the answers, equally we don't think it is healthy to have polarised opinions north verses south - it just doesn't make sense. We want to try and show them how the game is run and administered in this part of the world - how we bring together coaches, referees, administrators and broadcasters," he said.

"I think we are hellbent on using our powers of persuasion to show our colleagues in the north there is another way."

"We want to maintain a fair and even contest for possession, we want to enhance continuity and maintain the game as a game for all body shapes and sizes," he said.

It is feared within the Australian Rugby Union that although both hemsipheres aim to improve the game, they differ on the best way to implement their ideas. Amongst the sticking points is the suggestion of banning tackling above the waist.

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