Itoje and the law: should destroyer tweak his game?
Referee JP Doyle considers the lock’s penalty record – and questions whether England would want him to change
How bad is the penalty problem?
Maro Itoje was responsible for five of the 14 penalties England gave away in the defeat by Wales in Cardiff and the lock has now conceded 65 penalties and three free-kicks over his 46 England caps.
Irish referee JP Doyle described his infringements on Saturday as “a mixture of tough calls, slight technique breakdowns and flat-out penalties he got wrong”.
Offence three – Itoje stripping the ball away from Kieran Hardy – was a 50-50 in Doyle’s mind. Josh Navidi and George North completed similar steals for the hosts unpunished.
Number five, which saw Itoje collared for offside at a second-half line-out, could have been attributed to a poor lift. Doyle reckons Itoje was attempting to free himself from the Wales drive when French referee Pascal Gauzere was alerted by assistant Frank Murphy.
England head coach Eddie Jones suggested Itoje can be “over-refereed” and drew a parallel with Australia great George Smith. A pioneering and prolific pilferer, Smith wore dreadlocks until 2006 and must have been more conspicuous for that hairstyle. As much as Itoje’s all-action style puts officials on red alert, his imposing frame also catches the eye in the most hotly contested areas. “He’s 6ft 5in, wears a scrum-cap and is hard to miss,” Doyle says. “You don’t walk past the Eiffel Tower and not see it!”
Doyle does not agree Itoje is targeted, but acknowledges his relentless nature keeps officials on their toes: “He makes big, open-field moments. As a referee, you have to make an accurate decision.”
The case for not changing much
Wales head coach Wayne Pivac questioned why Itoje did not receive a yellow card. Well, the 26-year-old has only been sin-binned once in his Test career. After that match, against South Africa in 2018, the then England scrum coach, Neal Hatley, explained that Itoje had been given licence to “lead the charge” and would not stop.
The ensuing two-and-a-half years have borne that out, although Doyle regards him as “a perfect gentleman”. That manner would seem to help as Itoje takes “calculated gambles in the grey areas”.
“I can tell you he is constantly thinking because, from the interactions I have had with him, he explains what he is trying to do within the laws,” Doyle says. “He knows the law and is thinking about it at the time. It’s not dull or mindless. There’s no thuggery or foul play involved. It’s all within a whisker of being correct.”
Doyle cites the clumsy breakdown penalty conceded by Jonny Hill prior to Hardy’s quick tap and try as the sort of error he has not seen from Itoje “for five or six years”.
Where can Itoje improve?
‘He’s 6ft 5in and is hard to miss. You don’t walk past the Eiffel Tower and not see it!’
A second charge-down, on Gareth Davies in the 67th minute, showed Itoje’s nous. There was impressive conviction at play, too, given he had just conceded his fifth penalty.
Following an England restart and Alun Wyn Jones’s towering catch, Itoje joined the subsequent maul from the back foot before allowing the melee to spin him around. Because he had not changed his bind, Itoje was not offside. He confirmed his legality with assistant referee Andrew Brace and blocked Davies’ clearance. “That’s almost putting the AR under pressure,” Doyle says. “It’s saying: ‘Hey, I’m not doing anything wrong here’.”
You see a great deal of measured interaction, even in the heat of battle, from Alun Wyn Jones himself. Then again, would England want Itoje to harness his instincts?
“Some of [Itoje’s play] is so quick and so violent you don’t get the chance [to check with officials],” Doyle adds. “He’s is very good at ripping the ball. It’s something he does an awful lot of because he has very long limbs and is extremely strong – a high-power athlete.”
According to Opta, Doyle penalised Itoje 20 times in 10 Premiership games. Only Ian Tempest, at 2.4 penalties a game, has done so more regularly among all the officials who have refereed Itoje in his professional career. Even so, Doyle believes there is a more pertinent question to ask. “If you look at it another way, England might think: ‘How much of this do we want to take away? Because it’s won us so many games’.”
Rory Mcilroy’s improved form went up a few notches in Orlando yesterday when he shot a 66 to share the first-round lead with Canada’s Corey Conners at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The Northern Irishman’s missed cut in Los Angeles two weeks ago seemed from a different time altogether as he continued his love affair with Bay Hill.
In gusty conditions, Mcilroy reeled off five birdies in succession – his second-best streak in a dozen years competing on the PGA Tour – to better Bryson Dechambeau by a stroke. Scotland’s Martin Laird, the 2011 champion, is part of the group on three under alongside Lee Westwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and Viktor Hovland.
With the Masters – and Mcilroy’s latest attempt at completing the career grand slam – less than five weeks away, this six-under start was encouraging at a course where he has top-six finishes in his past four starts, including victory in 2018.
“I feel like you don’t have to do anything special to shoot a good score here,” Mcilroy said. “The toughest thing about this course is the par threes and I played them in three under.”
Mcilroy’s purple patch coming home (which was actually the front nine as he started on the 10th), was triggered by an outrageous 55-footer on the 212-yard second. That was followed by a 22-footer on the next.
With a tie for sixth last week in the WGC, Mcilroy is the obvious favourite to win a first tournament in 15 months. Particularly as he is following the example of a player who has won here a record eight times. “I’ve watched Tiger [Woods] enough here over the years and he simply took care of the par fives, and that was usually good enough,” he said.