It has now been confirmed, by no less than the British Lions and Wales head coach, in the Telegraph.
"Warren Gatland insists that the sport in its current guise promotes negative play, and believes that the recent Rugby World Cup proves his point. The Wales head coach was writing in his Telegraph column and revealed a statistic which showed that teams were disproportionately rewarded by kicking the ball more. Gatland is worried that sides are becoming negative in the way they approach the game, preferring to play without the ball, rather than with it.“Through the World Cup in France, the team that registered the most kicking metres enjoyed roughly an 80 per cent win rate,” he wrote.