David Pocock has just come through surgery in a bid to play again before a year-long sabbatical, and he is breathing a further sigh of relief with SANZAAR indicating its hesitance at a potential rule change that would make his key skill irrelevant.
Pocock went under the knife to fix a hand injury sustained during the Wallabies' 36-20 victory over Argentina, treating his Twitter followers to a rather graphic image in the process, while across the Tasman New Zealand's Mitre 10 Cup has been trialling some experimental law variations that have left some fans, players and pundits lamenting the perceived loss of the "pilfer" art - his greatest asset.
The laws, which include a change from the definition of when a ruck is formed -- meaning no hands can be used -- have received a mixed response, and SANZAAR, following a recent meeting with all 18 coaches from Super Rugby, the competition the laws will move to next should they be given the green light, is certainly across the fears mentioned above.
"The prevailing issue is to what extent is the contest still on the tackle, and if you've watched a bit of [Mitre 10 Cup] you can see how hard it is to get in and actually win the ball," SANZAAR Game Manager Lyndon Bray told an Australian media briefing recently.
"And we want to protect a little bit of that contest. At the same time the balance is making sure the attack team has got confidence to play.
"So I really like some of it, and I think our view going through to World Rugby, which will look at all of that in November from a decision-making point of view [is] what might it look like going forward; I think those two things, the tackler and [having] the offside line as early as possible in the breakdown -- and maybe therefore redefine that a ruck starts with one player rather than two -- that's working well, but [also] maintaining the contest.
"Because I think in the southern hemisphere, one of our strengths, in all our core markets, is our ability to get on the ball -- and that gives us a real point of difference if you look across world rugby. So I think that's a key factor that we want to maintain."
All Blacks great Richie McCaw made his name on an ability to win turnover ball at the breakdown, while the likes of Heinrich Brussow, George Smith and more recently Michael Hooper, Sam Cane and Pocock have all proven superb exponents of the "pilfer" role.
The law variations being used in the Mitre 10 Cup have seen a move away from the compact No. 7 to a bigger, ball-running player - as noted by ESPN columnist Craig Dowd; while the changes have helped to speed up the recycle by forcing the tackler to clear the area, they may have in fact gone too far the other way.
"I think there's two key things that have come out of Mitre 10 [Cup], as a total package, [we're] not sure that the whole experimental law is right," Bray said.
"But the issue around the tackler and his special rights we have in law, getting rid of that and making him forced to get out of the game and come back round like everyone else and [abide by] offside line at the breakdown, all of that is trying to get the support players of the attack team up off the ground.
"So in the traditional game we've got very accepting of guys in effect driving on the tackler who's on the ground, and that's what we're trying to get out of the game so that you can speed up the flow of the ball, whether that's attacking team or turnover.
"So we were really clear last week that we want to maintain the man-on-feet defender having a strength of contest, we think that's critical. So there's some really good points to come out of it."
World Rugby will review SANZAAR's findings before moving on any changes, and the laws have to be introduced to Test level at least two years out from the Rugby World Cup to give both hemispheres adequate time to adjust.