Thirteen ELVs are being tested in a move to make the game faster and more visually appealing to spectators, including a requirement for defending players to be five metres away from the back of a scrum.

Other rules suggest a team can use as many players as they wish to defend a line-out, while players are allowed to bring down a maul, but Sale ace Sheridan is not convinced the changes are necessary.

He told the Stockport Express: "I think they are messing about with the game a bit.

"I’ll have to see how they go and just adapt to it but I hope it doesn’t change the game too much.

"Personally, I think it’s quite good that we’ve got all different shapes and sizes in rugby but you can see it going the route of everyone having to conform to a certain size if the rules keep progressing as they are."