O’Driscoll: rugby has gone soft on tackle
Rugby great Brian O’Driscoll is worried the ‘‘the game has gone soft’’ as it struggles to define what a dangerous tackle is.
The Irish legend was commenting on the citing of rugged midfield back Manu Tuilagi in the English Premiership.
Tuilagi, on another comeback from injury with Leicester, was cited for a dangerous tackle on Munster flanker Chris Cloete last weekend where his left shoulder appeared to contact his opponent’s jaw.
O’Driscoll, victim of the infamous spear tackle against the All Blacks in 2005, described the Tuilagi incident as a ‘‘marginal collision’’.
‘‘I think the game has gone soft if we’re picking up on marginal collisions like the Manu Tuilagi tackle he’s been cited for,’’ O’Driscoll, the former Ireland captain, tweeted.
Tuilagi fronted the judiciary yesterday and pleaded guilty. He escaped a ban but his attempted tackle was still described as ‘‘a reckless act of foul play’’.
‘‘His shoulder had made contact with Cloete’s head, but the committee was not satisfied that the offence warranted a red card,’’ a statement following the judiciary proceedings read.
That mirrored the thinking of Mathieu Raynal, the referee, and the television match official at the time, with neither feeling it was worthy of a sanction.
Leicester head coach Matt O’Connor was relieved and seemed to concur with O’Driscoll’s point of view.
‘‘Thankfully sanity prevailed. Now that he’s back fit you’d be devastated for him and the group if he was to miss games now with a ban,’’ O’Connor told the BBC.
‘‘We were very surprised the citing came through. There was no malicious intent, it wasn’t particularly high and it looked a pretty sound tackle from our perspective.
‘‘We have to make sure we don’t pander to the health and safety issues. It’s a collision sport. We don’t need law makers to make it more difficult to get that physical dominance and play the game how it was intended to be played.’’