O’Driscoll rues
Rugby great Brian O’Driscoll fears ‘‘the big hit is gone’’ from the game as the crackdown on dangerous tackles continues at the World Cup in Japan.
O’Driscoll was a TV pundit for Ireland’s 47-5 win over Samoa that confirmed Joe Schmidt’s team for the quarterfinals.
Ireland’s win came at a price with Bundee Aki red-carded for a dangerous hit that will surely take him out of the playoffs.
Samoa weren’t angels either with hooker Seilala Lam yellowcarded for a challenge on Jacob Stockdale in a busy night for Australian referee Nic Berry.
Former Irish captain O’Driscoll lamented: ‘‘The only thing you can say for the future is the big hit is gone – that big collision.
‘‘It’s going to be all about leg tackling. The big shot is going to be ruled out of our game.’’
O’Driscoll was commenting on Lam’s yellow card in particular, sensing an injustice.
‘‘Samoa will feel they have been hard done by in this World Cup. It’s their fifth yellow card. And I have to say with this one I don’t know what the tackler is meant to do if a player dips that low,’’ O’Driscoll pointed out in his analysis for ITV.
‘‘Look at how bent Lam’s knees are on the collision — yes, he’s made contact with Stockdale’s head but Stockdale has led with his head into the collision.
‘‘It’s almost impossible for Lam to dip lower than that. In my eyes Lam’s done everything right.
‘‘The mitigating circumstance is that Stockdale has dipped into the collision, and the referee, on the basis of what we’ve seen so far at this World Cup, is probably right, but it feels wrong.’’
O’Driscoll said players and coaches needed to re-educate themselves around this crucial area now. But he warned it wouldn’t be easy given the speed that rugby is played at.
‘‘What players are going to need to do is control that last halfa-metre and the speed at which they go into the collision,’’ he said.
‘‘We have talked about the big Brian O’Driscoll
‘‘It’s going to be all about leg tackling. The big shot is going to be ruled out of our game.’’
hits being outlawed. I think you have to be in control of that space when you commit to it, because