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With the 2026 FIFA World Cup underway in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, one of the more interesting developments hasn’t been a side’s performance, but rather a countdown by referees that has stood out.

We saw it in Scotland’s 1-0 victory against Haiti in Boston on Saturday evening. It’s a five-second countdown that has got the footballing world talking.

Perhaps the rugby world may also take more notice as well. This is because FIFA has introduced this countdown to eradicate time-wasting in matches.

It comes into play before goal kicks and throw-ins, during which a player has 5 seconds to release the ball. Referees signal five seconds; punishment follows; the opposition regathers possession; and, more often than not, it is in a good attacking position as well.

The aim is clear: to keep the game flowing. Albeit rugby has the countdown around the breakdown, and officials move players quickly at lineout time, it’s less authoritative and more lenient.

World Rugby should be paying attention to proceedings in North America.

It’s rare to see officials sticking to the five seconds, where you hear them talking to the scrum-half with the warning of the time limit, but still, a lot of the time, the ball remains on the floor and time disappears. Those five seconds turn into 10, 15 seconds.

Inconsistency is the word to best describe this scenario.

Watch any match in any league across the world, and several examples of this instance always emerge. Scrum-halves aren’t always the guilty ones; you can perhaps find a case from everyone in an XV.

Supporters watching know what is happening. Teams that lead in matches know what they are doing. The clock continues to go down.

World Rugby have implemented new rules to increase the speed of games, but is that enough?

60 seconds now is all kickers have to take a conversion following a try. That works.

There’s a 30-second countdown to form line-outs and scrums, which should get players into position quicker. But this is where the inconsistency comes into play, as well as tactics.

Resets in these areas of the game keep the clock clicking. It’s tactical game management, but officials have little to no practical solutions other than verbal warnings.

They sometimes call for the clock to be turned off when giving these warnings. But the seconds continue to fade. It leaves teams and supporters frustrated, as there are rarely any penalties for doing so.

It’s clear time-wasting, which should always be penalised. The new approach we’re seeing at the football World Cup is refreshing, to say the least, for supporters and teams who grow frustrated when sides purposely run the clock down.

No ambiguity, once the five seconds hit zero, punishment follows. Can you imagine if that’s the same case in rugby, with sides being penalised, and these grey areas start to fade too?

Frustrations don’t mount, and sides clearly running the clock down lose possession. It should have been happening, but warnings are given, but actions don’t follow a lot of the time.

In the past, rugby has shown a willingness to embrace changes to its laws. The shot clock for conversions has been successful.

The ‘Use it’ call at the base of rucks has similar intentions but isn’t well enforced.

Supporters crave consistency in officiating, and if that’s truly the case, officials should be more ruthless and pragmatic to get players to restart games quickly.

This new ruling introduced by FIFA shines a light on the struggles rugby faces.