Eddie says it ain’t rugby, the protectors of the game disagree.
England got the win and the bonus point in Twickenham on Sunday but they won very few friends with their reaction to Italy’s choice of tactics.
Italy coach Conor O’Shea and his assistant Brendan Venter devised a plan that saw the Azzurri leave rucks uncontested, which meant the offside line was no longer the offside line and Italian players could stand within one-metre of the scrum-half, on the English side of the tackle area.
The Chiefs have done it, Australia have done it and even the Dragons have done it in the PRO12 this season.
Out of order https://t.co/zlJ2QwTggG
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 26, 2017
Having been seemingly baffled by the tactic in the first half, England players and their coach Eddie Jones came out afterwards and attacked O’Shea and his team for outsmarting them, claiming it “wasn’t rugby”.
Leading referee Nigel Owens begs to differ.
“I haven’t seen the game but I believe James Haskell asked the question ‘What is a ruck?’ Obviously, if he asked that question, he doesn’t know what it is,” he said, speaking on Brian Moore’s new podcast.
“I am surprised that players don’t know this because we, as referees, tend to go in with our national squads and part of our job is to go in and discuss stuff like this.”
Owens said it is a referee’s job to educate squads on any changes to the rule and the Welshman is confident the England team would have been up to speed on the ruck laws.
All singing from the same, embarrassing hymn sheethttps://t.co/LOyuPDehNF
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 27, 2017
“I am surprised because I’ve been in with the Welsh squad two or three times this year going through different things, refereeing some contact sessions and explaining a couple of things to them.
“Wayne Barnes was in with England last week, and JP Doyle and a few of the English referees are in with England as well. Now, whether they’ve actually discussed this thing, I would be very surprised if they haven’t, but I don’t know. But I’d be very surprised if players don’t know this.”
Has Jones been remiss in his preparations? It would be a surprise, considering he is coach of a team gunning for a world record number of consecutive wins.
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