Francis cited in decision that could end his tournament
England centre to face hearing for high tackle Officials under scrutiny over missed offence
RUGBY NEWS CORRESPONDENT in Kobe
World Rugby’s attempted crackdown on dangerous tackles at the World Cup is under further scrutiny after Piers Francis was cited yesterday for making a dangerous tackle on United States full-back Will Hooley, which could end the England centre’s involvement in the tournament.
Francis’s tackle is the fourth potential red card offence to have been missed by match officials in the first week of the tournament. It came just two days after World Rugby took the unprecedented action of publicly criticising its match officials for failing to rigorously implement its directive on high and reckless tackles.
Despite this, Francis escaped punishment from referee Nic Berry or television official Ben Skeen, despite appearing to make contact with his shoulder to the chin of Hooley after just seven seconds.
“This is embarrassing for World Rugby,” one senior source said. “Having taken the step of going public on their referees, none of the match officials picked up on the Francis tackle, even though it was the first contact of the game and it went viral on social media.”
England were informed yesterday that Francis had been cited for “an act of foul play” and faces a disciplinary hearing in Tokyo tomorrow, the same day that Eddie Jones will attend the Wales v Australia match for what is effectively a scouting mission on England’s possible quarter-final opponents.
The head coach said he would not attend today’s game between Argentina and Tonga in Osaka, despite being just 45 minutes away from the squad’s hotel in Kobe, suggesting England are confident they have already done their homework on the Pumas.
“We will watch that on telly,” England’s attack coach, Scott Wisemantel, said. “We will go and watch Australia versus Wales on Sunday. The rest of the time we are working, so we get to watch the games on television or a live feed.”
Wisemantel, asked what England hoped to learn from the crunch Pool D match at the Tokyo Stadium, said: “You look at the way teams attack and defend. I work in patterns. I try to identify where there is space and come up with ideas of how I might manipulate that. The other one is the accuracy of the kicking games. The better teams have better kick games and kick strategies.”
Francis, meanwhile, will be represented by Richard Smith QC, England’s legal officer, but given the crackdown on dangerous tackles to the head, there seems little hope he will avoid a ban.
England will not be able to call up a replacement for Francis if he is suspended, leaving Jones with fewer backline options, although the head coach if optimistic that Jack Nowell will be fit.
Contact with the head would automatically attract a mid-range sanction, which starts at six weeks but would more likely be reduced to three to make it an appropriate in-tournament sanction.
John Quill, the US flanker, yesterday received a three-game ban from an independent disciplinary hearing in Tokyo after being sent off for his high tackle on Owen Farrell, the England captain.
Reece Hodge, the Australia wing, also received a three-match ban for a dangerous tackle on Fiji flanker Peceli Yato on Sept 21 in Sapporo.
A three-match ban would rule Francis out until the semi-finals. England are currently top of Pool C but have yet to qualify for the quarter-finals, with matches against Argentina and France to come.
One mitigating factor for Francis could be if it is judged that Hooley dipped into the tackle. An aggravating factor, according to World Rugby laws, is that the ball-carrier and tackler were in open space and that Francis had a clear line of sight and time before contact.
Elliot Daly, the England fullback, said he welcomed World Rugby’s crackdown on dangerous tackles. “It’s safer for the game and any rule that comes in, you have to abide by it and that’s obviously for the safety of us and everyone around us,” said Daly, who was sent off for a tackle in the air against Argentina in November 2016.
“You don’t mean to hit people there if you hit them. It hasn’t changed that much in my eyes, you want to make good tackles. Sometimes you slip up and you’ll get deemed a high tackle now. You can’t really think about it, you’ve just go to do what you do and try to tackle properly.”