STAY WITHIN THE LAWES
England star Courtney: Still a place for big hits in our game... just keep it low and hard
COURTNEY LAWES believes that the ‘big hit’ is not an endangered species.
The England star predicts it will still play a huge part in this World Cup – despite the rash of citings last week.
Team- mate Piers Francis ( right) joined the list of big-hitters in the dock after his challenge on USA full-back Will Hooley.
He now faces a disciplinary hearing this week, which could yet rule him out of the rest of the group stages.
Australia’s Reece Hodge, the USA’s John Quill, plus Samoa’s Rey Lee-Lo and Motu Matu’u have each already been banned for three matches.
But England’s premier exponent of the piledriver is unconcerned that a World Rugby directive aimed at lowering the height of the tackle is starting to bite here.
Lawes said: “You don’t need to hit somebody high to make a big shot. Plenty of players have shown that throughout rugby.
“You’ll always be able to make big hits legally.
“They’ve got every right to make the game safer, but most players aren’t intentionally trying to hurt each other. It’s just mistakes happen every now and again.”
Lawes’ view is that, while Francis finds himself in hot water, England as a team have nothing much to fear from the zerotolerance policy over head contact.
He added: “We general ly don’t really tackle like that. We’re low tacklers.
“My own natural tackle technique is to chop.
“If I’m second man in, then I’ll aim for the ball, but, unless they are carrying the ball by their face, I’m probably not going to get into too much trouble.
“I’ve only had one high tackle in my whole career, so I’m doing all right.”
USA flanker Qui l l was red-carded in Kobe on Thursday for his high challenge on Owen Farrell.
That 45-7 win over the States was one of the most commanding forward performances of the Eddie Jones era.
And, while the modest nature of the opposition must be borne in mind, the sight of the England steamroller on the move will have been noted by their major World Cup rivals.
For Lawes, it brought to mind the era of mighty England packs featuring Martin Johnson and Jason Leonard.
Lawes recalled: “They were big units – big scrummaging forwards.
“We are a bit more athletic now than back in the day, but we still hold true to our roots.
“It’s English rugby, isn’t it? And Eddie absolutely loves it.
“He’s made it clear to us that he wants us to be the best pack in the world, with the most dominant set-piece and that’s what we’re striving to do.
“He knows what we’re good at.”
The scrum and rolling maul are also among the key strengths to be associated down the years with Argentina, England’s next World Cup opponents.
It certainly tees up an “arm-wrestle for the ages” when the sides meet in Tokyo on Saturday.
And Lawes can’t wait to get stuck in.
He said: “Two big, strong set- piecebased packs up against each other? We very much welcome that – and I’m sure that it’ll be a great spectacle.”