The Irish choke or the Welsh chop – which side of the fence are you?
Wales played a smart game, in the media at least, before they faced England in their Six Nations opener. The Welsh coaches raised the England tactic of obstructing opponents, rugby league style, to create space for opponents.
The tactic – airing concerns in the media to create stories – worked a treat as England had a try chalked off for obstruction in the lead up to a second-half score. It was a shame, for the Welsh coaches, that their players were flung under the cosh by a manic English side led by Chris ’25 tackles’ Robshaw.
On Tuesday, Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards called out the choke tackle and declared it a highly dangerous defensive tactic. Edwards wants the choke – holding the ball-carrier up long enough to win a turnover or scrum – expunged from the game.
One of the tenets of Ireland’s defence, for the past four years, has been the choke. Hence, when Ireland forwards coach Simon Easterby was up for a press chat at Carton House, the topic of choking came up. Easterby tried to evade a stance but, eventually, took one.
What do you make of Edwards’ choke tackle comments?
He is entitled to his opinion.
What’s your opinion on choke tackles, in general?
It’s a type of tackle that teams are using. Just like a chop tackle is. Just like an assist tackle, but I would prefer not to comment on what Shaun Edwards has said. That’s outside of this environment.
Rules are rules and up to you make most of them. We’ve gotta play within the law and if we play with discipline and within the law then that’s all we can ask of our players and what we will coach time and time again.
Do Ireland play dangerous rugby, like Edwards said?
I don’t really want to comment on it.
Do Ireland play dangerous rugby?
No.
Such is the thuggish beauty of rugby, both men have points.
Edwards’ main grumbles are that tackling a player higher up leads to more injuries, and, if executed correctly, more scrums.
We can see from Johnny Sexton’s multiple run-ins with Mathieu Bastareaud that the Irishman, brave lad that he is, was trying to initiate a choke tackle. This led to one clash of heads and another occasion when Bastareaud countered with a forearm. Both stung Sexton.
The choke does lead to scrums and many people hate scrums. However, as Cian Healy told us on Wednesday, ‘As forwards, the scrum is our opportunity to turn a game. It’s what gives eight of us an opportunity to train to such a level that we can make a huge influence on the game, by doing our thing right.’
Rules are rules until the rules change. For now, Ireland should stick to whatever gets them success.
One tweak might be the option of a free-kick that a team can use once a player has been deemed ‘choked’ and ordered to release the ball. It would certainly encourage teams to press the attacking button more often if they do not want to stall the game by choosing to pack down for a scrum.
Easterby was not slow to mention chop tackles when asked about Edwards’ comments. Ireland have contended, ever since Wales cut them off at the ankles in the 2011 World Cup, that chop tackling – one going high while the other goes low – is a reckless practice.
Edwards can grumble all he likes but, whether the rules change any time soon or not, the former rugby league star has done his job by getting us media types talking about choke tackles in the first place.
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