ENGLAND FEARS OVER MORE TECHNOLOGY

ENGLAND have welcomed World Rugby’s plans to crack down on illegal space invaders — but warned any increased use of video referrals could further disrupt the flow of matches. as revealed by Sportsmail yesterday, the global governing body are seeking to use Hawk-eye technology to tackle the scourge of defenders straying offside. Vice-chairman agustin Pichot told this newspaper: ‘I would like to see the offside line refereed so there is more space to attack. That will probably come in the next couple of months.’ Responding to the proposal yesterday, england’s defence coach John Mitchell struck a note of caution on the prospect of further interruptions.

He said: ‘as fans of the game, if there are going to be large debates about decisions — one case the other day took seven minutes — let’s make sure those large amounts of time are focused on priorities.

‘We’re seeing more and more stoppages in the game and I don’t think that’s going to stop. That’s the only thing, there are a huge amount of stoppages.’ england fly-half George Ford emphasised that quick ruck ball negated the threat of defences rushing up offside and added, in reference to the Hawk-eye idea: ‘I’m not too sure how it would work or what effect it would have. But you want the offside line to be refereed well. It’s a rule, it’s crystal clear and you want it to be refereed well.’ In an era of defensive line-speed, it often appears as if teams are nearly always offside, but england are adamant they are careful to stay behind the line and accelerate forward at pace. ‘There is very little space on the field,’ said Mitchell. ‘Defences command the space. It is critical that your defence is onside and we are very strong on that. ‘It’s something we work on a lot and work very hard on. We even measure it, that’s how critical we are in terms of wanting to make sure that we get that right. We’re a big believer that the half-yard we take (back) gives us the chance to create more speed anyway as a defensive line.’ Ford added: ‘We want to make it clear that we are onside. Our aim is to be whiter than white in terms of that because the thing we’ve seen is that one penalty can change the momentum of the game massively.

‘a lot of them are coming from offside, so it’s something we want to be ultra-disciplined in.’