Rugby has gone soft: Irish great O’Driscoll
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’’.
Tuilagi fronted the judiciary on Thursday (NZT) 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.
When O’Driscoll learned of the ruling that cleared Tuilagi, he tweeted: ‘‘And rightly so!’’
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 – it’s a highly physical game, played by tough players.
‘‘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.
‘‘Now there is a duty of care for the ball carrier, accidental or not. If there’s a high challenge that causes injury there needs to be sanctions around it.’’
World Rugby’s sanctions table, introduced in January, contains tougher penalties for contact with the head.
The onus is firmly on the tackling player to ensure that he does not end up in a position where the ball-carrier’s head could be struck.
The entry-level ban for any player found guilty of such an incident is six weeks, which can then be increased or reduced depending on mitigating or aggravating factors.
The top end is 10 weeks-plus. first round after beating China’s Xiao Chen Zong in a preliminary qualifier two sets to nil.
Fellow Kiwi Cody Harris who was also knocked out in the first round, was in the crowd to cheer Smith on.
Both Kiwi players earn 11,000 pounds (NZ$20,932) for making it through to the first round.
‘‘We have to make sure we don’t pander to the health and safety issues. It’s a collision sport – it’s a highly physical game, played by tough players.’’ Leicester coach Matt O’Connor