Revised tackle law is an ass and makes for dull, repetitive rugby which will be a turn-off for fans

Commentary Allan Massie

Dumb. That was Dave Rennie’s word for George Turner’s indiscretion last week. “Daft” is mine.

Charitably you might say he suffered a rush of blood to the head. All the same his four-week suspension for breaching Law 10.4 – “playing an opponent without the ball” – is a bit harsh, given that this law is breached at the tackle point many times in every match, and breached with impunity. Still it was daft, and, if it didn’t cost Glasgow the match, it certainly cost them dear, for, if Turner hadn’t charged into Louis Picamoles, who was nowhere near the ball, Glasgow, 17-5 ahead, would have had a line-out within the Montpellier 22, and the way Ali Price and Finn Russell were running the game at that point it would have been no surprise if they had scored another try.

Obviously Glasgow’s European Cup is effectively over, and they must now concentrate on winning the Pro 14. Even so, they will still want to make a mark in their last three pool games, starting with Montpellier today, if only to regain self-esteem and the habit of winning.

Meanwhile Edinburgh are flying high. Their Challenge Cup pool may not be the strongest, but they are running in tries galore and Richard Cockerill has them playing like a team which knows what it wants to achieve and how to do so.

It was a remarkable weekend of cup rugby. England are the No 2-ranked team in the world, but all seven English clubs lost last weekend, and not one could complain they were hard done by. Saracens, the European champions, were humiliated by Clermont Auvergne, humiliated at home, too. Wasps were hammered by La Rochelle , and Exeter, the English champions, were well and truly thumped by Leinster, as were Leicester by Munster and Northampton by Ospreys, who languish at the bottom of their Pro 14 Conference with only two victories in ten matches. Only Bath ran their opponents, Toulon, close, and for this they had to thank a moment of comic ineptitude from Chris Ashton, Toulon’s full-back. We are often told that the Aviva Premiership is the best and strongest of club leagues; no comment.

Leinster and Munster are playing some terrific stuff, and both have adapted very well to the revised tackle law in operation this season. Both, but especially Leinster, have realised that this revision is a gift to a team happy to play pick-and-drive or onepass rugby. This is because the revised law, by requiring the tackler not only to be on his feet, but also on the oth-