If Eddie did this for Japan, we’d call him a genius
This is a tactic I employed for the England sevens team five years ago against Fiji in the Tokyo leg of the World Series. Fiji had just won the Hong Kong Sevens and were attacking really well. One of the tactics we had was to have a tackle only, having no offside line and confusing them. At half-time they were asking the referee what to do — he was very pragmatic about it and told them it was not a ruck. They sorted themselves out in the second half but we created enough of a surprise to beat them that day. It is much easier to do it in sevens as the ruck is more clearly defined. It is braver to do it in XVs. I find it quite comical that England spoke of wanting a conversation with World Rugby about the laws — it is called the offside line. It is a simple enough law about what constitutes a ruck and what doesn’t. If you are a professional player or coach, it’s your job to know these things. If you watch Super Rugby, sevens or other internationals, this is not the first time it has been used. The water-carriers have microphones, so coaches could have easily relayed a message to give players advice on what to do. We don’t have enough innovation or imagination in the game. We hardly see anything new — and when we do, people say it is not cricket. I find it ridiculous. The game has to evolve. England should get excited about this, not act like bullies who want to knock on World Rugby’s door and say they don’t like it. Well done to Conor O’Shea and Brendan Venter for putting it in the Test arena. I hope we see more things like that. Eddie Jones always likes sound- bites, and I’ve enjoyed them, but he has missed the point. It was disrespectful to O’Shea and Italy. This is what coaching is all about. If he had done this for Japan in the World Cup everyone would have said he was a genius. He needs to put his hands up and say he got this one wrong. He cannot talk about emulating ‘Bodyline’ one moment and then say this is not fair. If anything, they should be thanking Italy because this is not going to be the first time teams try different things against them and they have got to be ready. They will have learnt a good lesson.