PRINCIPALITY Premiership coaches have given the Welsh Rugby Union the thumbs-down to World Rugby's points trial, writes Chris Kirwan.

The WRU agreed to an experiment that, along with some other tinkering to the laws, saw tries rewarded with six points rather than five while kicks at goal were downgraded from three to two.

The aim was to improve ball in play time and encourage attacking play but instead it merely saw teams turning to the driving lineout as a prime weapon.

Wales was not alone in trialling the changes but WRU head of rugby Geraint John admitted the feedback from Premiership clubs was not glowing.

"We've done a review for World Rugby and other countries have done the same," he said.

"From our point of view, ball in play hasn't really increased, tries haven't gone up much and the big thing that has come out of it has been that there have been more driving lineouts.

"The feedback from coaches hasn't been as positive as we'd have liked but we will give our results and reviews to World Rugby and in the end they will be the ones to decide the way forward."

The Premiership has been increased to 16 teams and will be ring-fenced for the next three seasons while a mid-season split – a Warren Gatland-inspired idea unpopular with many clubs – is still set to be introduced.

There are fears of a higher number of dead rubbers but John will work with coaches to push standards up in the top flight.

"It's ring-fenced and there is a little bit of safety but we don't want to take competition away," he said.

"Whatever team sport you play is about winning and losing, you want to keep that mentality going."

He continued: "We need to help and support these coaches to make sure they are aware of the trends in the game, beyond the Premiership as well.

"We have a duty as a Union to support them and help them. If we can do that hopefully the product on the field gets better, the players get better and the competition gets better.

"We've made a pledge that we will bring coaches in a minimum of three times a year and will spend time with the Premiership clubs on Tuesday and Thursday evenings to try and look at what they do and deliver.

"There are a lot of very, very good coaches in the Premiership and we need to support them as we do with players."