Was Italy’s Six Nations side right to exploit rugby’s rules against England?
I COULDN’T believe the comments of those who condoned Italy’s crass, illegal and unpunished tactics against England at Twickenham on Sunday. By time-honoured rugby laws, being offside is the most fundamental offence in the game. Once any player goes beyond the ball, and is therefore on the opponents’ side of the ball, he is in an offside position. To do it deliberately is to influence the game illegally, and the referee should have penalised Italy. We see such sins in every game, particularly where a forward’s pushover try is on. If one of the attacking side puts his front toe beyond the ball, and is on the defending side of the ruck, he’s penalised — and rightly so. Unintentional offside is also penalised repeatedly during every game, all over the field. To say the offside line is indeterminate is crass
stupidity, for the imaginary line that runs through the ball and parallel to the horizontal lines on the field is the true offside line. Referee Romain Poite must have had a brainstorm for not punishing the deliberate offsides that threatened to kill the game. RUSSELL HOPKINS, Leckhampton, Glos. froM his postmatch comment — claiming ‘that wasn’t rugby’ — it seems England’s coach Eddie Jones was bereft of his usual smartalec ripostes after being outwitted by Italy’s coaching staff. Did Jones expect training ground opposition so England could go through their ‘prepared’ paces? It’s an indictment of professional international players to be so ignorant of the game’s laws — and to be so dull as not to employ the simple tactics to counter Italy’s astute exploitation of them. referees (who ‘advise’ too much as it is) aren’t there to tell them how to play — as Mr Poite rightly pointed out to England players on the field. But that’s what happens when the laws are tinkered with to such an extent that international sides abandon their natural style (fiji, france, et al): it’s assumed there is now only one way to play the game. When a side deploys something innovative, automatons apparently become headless chickens. MICHAEL TANNER, Sleaford, Lincs.
PLAYING Rugby Union 60-odd years ago, we were penalised if we failed to put the ball into the scrum straight. Now, watching the Six Nations, the ball is quite blatantly passed to the scrum half’s own side. Do hookers no longer hook? FRANK HART, Moulton, Northants.