It was unforgivable players needed laws explaining
Rather than berate the Italians, Jones should be having a word with his own confused players
wo of the weekend’s Six Nations games will have helped the British & Irish Lions’ coach, Warren Gatland, clarify his selections in several positions; at least to the extent of filling his squad. The starting XV will be another matter. What he will be pleased about is that there are strong claims being made for Test spots and from unlikely contenders.
The resounding loss to Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday will have put paid to the chances of the Welsh players on the fringes of Lions’ selection. Another poor display against Ireland at home in the next round will do for the chances of some of the favourites as well. The claim made for the Lions’ captaincy by Alun Wyn Jones were strong – he has done it before and is an outstanding player. However, the decisions to eschew kicks at goal in both the England and Scotland games were questionable at best and on Saturday he made his choice to kick for goal, only to be overruled by the kicker, so who was in charge?
Without minimising the deservedness of the Scottish triumph, Wales played poorly but despite the performance there is little change in the directness of their attack. The Liam Williams try against England stands out as an isolated example of a Welsh attack that had the necessary elements of artifice needed to penetrate wellmarshalled international defences. What we saw against the Scots was, again, Plan A without any hint of B, C and D.
It is a much happier landscape for Scotland. Accuracy was the defining characteristic in their work at the breakdown and in the way the Scots took their limited number of try-scoring chances. It is further evidence players such as Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg are playing as well, if not better, than any of the counterparts in the northern hemisphere.
When it comes to considering the Irish cause, we saw their intelligent belligerence overcome a fluent, yet flawed, French team. Gatland will know that settled partnerships help speed the difficult task of melding the different playing philosophies of the four contributing nations. There may be individual claims by players from other countries for both positions but as a pairing Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton are heavy favourites to start.
Sean O’Brien and C J Stander were simply outstanding in their work rate. If Billy Vunipola is fit, the three will be as strong a ballplaying back row as you could wish to see and would test the All Blacks to the full.
Gatland will not have learnt much about the English hopefuls because, in truth, this was one game out of which little could be gleaned. A furious Eddie Jones, the England coach, said it was not a game of rugby and that people should ask for their money back. It is understandable that Jones was frustrated about the Italian tactic of refusing to commit to the tackle area and thereby make a ruck, giving their defenders the freedom to stand on what would have been England’s side of the ball – had there been an offside line.
Yes, the tactic was not edifying but Italy are entitled to play the game any way they want provided it is legal – and they were coming to Twickenham off the back of a hammering by the Irish in the previous game.
Rather than fume at Italian negativity, Jones ought to be furious about the fact that several of his players did not know the law relating to the tackle and ruck. There were at least five conversations during which referee Romain Poite gave a concise explanation that it required a player from either team to be on their feet and joined together in a contest over the ball on the ground for there to be a ruck and thus an offside line in the conventional sense. At one point, he was asked, “What can we do to turn a tackle into a maul?” The answer is nothing; you are not an opposition player.
You can accept that England will not have prepared for the persistent use of this tactic, but variations have been used in the line-out and it was done in Super Rugby by one province last season.
What is unforgivable is that England’s players had to have this explained to them, presumably at half-time, and then only dealt with it with partial success.
What Jones should be pleased about is that even though they did not solve the Italian problem, they still scored six tries, and got a bonus point, from the ball they managed to win quickly.
The game against Scotland at Twickenham will be a different challenge altogether. We await to see whether England, who have only intermittently played anywhere near the standard they are capable of, have just been waiting to click or whether their development has stalled.
Scotland will be a different challenge. We wait to see if the hosts have finally clicked or stalled