Loose Pass: Refereeing inconsistencies and rugby union unites USA in World Cup push

Lawrence Nolan

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the vagaries of tackles and laws in the current climate and the remarkable unifying power of rugby…

When’s a rugby action a rugby action?

Within four incidents over two games, the Premiership this past weekend encapsulated perfectly the horrendous time officials, players, TMOs and lawmakers have in balancing out safety concerns, rugby accidents and wanton aggressive niggles.

To two similar incidents first, one in the Saracens-Leicester game, the second a day later in the Exeter-Sale game.

In the former, Saracens scrum-half Aled Davies clashed heads with Leicester’s George Ford. Davies had shot off his line, with his angle of run very obviously covering Ford’s inside shoulder.

Ford stepped off his outside boot and thundered straight into Davies, himself thundering forward at full speed. The heads met, both fell to the floor somewhat stunned. Ford took slightly longer to get up, but both players felt the force of the collision.

Granted Davies was upright, but until Ford opted to step, Davies looked as though he wasn’t even considering the possibility of making a tackle. In reaction, he barely had time to lift his arms. The initial contact was shoulder-to-chest, it was mostly the jerk of the collision snapping the heads forward a bit that caused them to clash.

Yet Davies was yellow-carded. Harsh? Definitely. Letter of the law? Yes too – mostly anyway. Davies can be said to have had the onus upon him, as an onrushing possible tackler, to be lower. But it also seemed incredibly harsh: after all, the contact as it was, was wholly initiated by Ford’s cut inside, otherwise Davies would have not taken the contact. Still, the laws is the laws. Got to be safe, and if safety is threatened, out come the cards, however unjust. You can bet we’d be hearing a lot more about it had Saracens lost, while you also have to ask: where was Ford’s HIA?

Next day, ExeterSale. Sale flanker Cameron Neild takes the ball and gallops towards Hanno Kirsten. Neither shies away from the confrontation. Both lower themselves towards the point of contact, Neild shifting slightly, causing his head to crash into Kirsten’s arm.

Neild was stretchered off, but an extensive review ensured that Kirsten stayed on the park, the officials concluding that Kirsten and Neild were both dipping and that the collision was simply a ‘rugby act’ gone awry.

Which was not nonsense, but how then is the Davies-Ford incident not viewable in the same light? If the argument is that Kirsten’s tackle is permitted because he was dipping, the compelling counter-argument is that he knew it was coming. Davies had no time to react at all, yet he should have known?

None of this is a criticism of any of the officials per se, nor of any of the players. Nobody is to blame here. As we touched upon last week, the balance between protecting rugby as rugby and players’ safety, through the myriad of frameworks and moving parts involved, has never been harder to strike.

And when foul play isn’t dangerous but normal play is?

One of the turning points in Saturday’s showdown at the StoneX was Kini Murimurivalu’s asinine dive in on Saracens try-scorer Alex Lewington. It cost him a yellow card and, with the penalty from the restart, an extra three points on top of the seven Sarries had just scored.

How dangerous it really was is open to debate: Murimurivalu hit the deck before sliding into Lewington. There’ve been worse dives onto try-scorers going unpunished in the past. But it was wanton, reckless and against the spirit of the game, and was well-sanctioned.

But then later, with Billy Vunipola already in a headlock/crocodile roll clearout from Callum Green that lasted several seconds, Ollie Chessum came crashing into Vunipola’s exposed rib cage to finish the job off.

How Green was not carded is a mystery. How a player can still be attempting to drag an opponent off his feet by his neck while already on the ground, the body clearly being twisted around the hip/knee axis… it’s worse than reckless, worse than wanton. Yet Green’s act was penalised but not sanctioned? It made Murimurivalu’s look benign – and Chessum’s charge could have put Vunipola out for months had the weight shifted over to the latter’s knee.

The crocodile roll clearout has already been responsible for a number of nasty injuries, which is well-documented. Headlocks are happening on a regular basis, and they look frightening every time. Combine the two… ufff.

Yet none seem to get yellow-carded. Isn’t it about time they were dealt with as though they were dives onto try-scorers? At least we would have a semi-proportionate relationship between act and danger. We might even stamp it out.

How rugby unites

That rugby unifies is long-written into the history of the sport. Comradeship, honour in battle, the game above all else, and so on. The only game Ireland competes as one in. The unity of South Africa in 1995.

And here’s a new one: Democrats and Republicans across the board wanting the Rugby World Cups in the USA.

A bipartisan congressional resolution was passed with barely a feather ruffled in the otherwise explosive world of USA politics last week, expressing support for USA Rugby’s bids for the 2029 Women’s World Cup and 2031 men’s edition.

The union would have to do something truly nuts to lose it, given that the other contenders were Russia, but in the meantime… well, isn’t it good to know that rugby still has that power across the board?

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