British and Irish Lions: Tom Curry slammed for ‘illegal’ and dangerous tactics, leaving fans ‘amazed’ that he keeps escaping punishment
British and Irish Lions forward Tom Curry in action against Argentina.
British and Irish Lions flanker Tom Curry has come under fire for dangerous scrummaging tactics in the clash against Argentina.
Curry played a full 80 minutes in the 24-28 defeat to Los Pumas but many onlookers feel that he should have spent time in the sin bin at least after his actions at a scrum.
The incident in question occurred during a Lions‘ scrum during the second half, where Curry appeared to launch himself into Argentina’s replacement loosehead prop, Boris Wenger.
World Rugby Law 19.7.d states that: “All other [not front rowers and second rowers] players in the scrum bind on a lock’s body with at least one arm.”
Tom Curry’s actions
Additionally, many felt that Curry was guilty of contravening law 9.11: “Players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others, including leading with the elbow or forearm, or jumping into, or over, a tackler.”
Curry was spotted doing similar during the 2021 British and Irish Lions Series against the Springboks which resulted in an injury for Ox Nche and his latest action clearly angered fans online.
@FrontRowGrunt posted a video of what occurred on his X profile, formerly Twitter, where he accused the Lions team of coaching the tactics to the players.
“Another Lions tactic that has been coached, is to have the flank come up into the front row when under pressure in the scrum. Illegal, easy to spot. Yet no repercussions… In fact from these 2 examples, the Lions got a pen try from maul, and Arg got penalised in the scrum!” his post read.
Another Lions tactic that has been coached, is to have the flank come up into the front row when under pressure in the scrum. Illegal, easy to spot. Yet no repercussions… In fact from these 2 examples, the Lions got a pen try from maul, and Arg got penalised in the scrum! pic.twitter.com/vK6LAf6Z7X
— Front Row Grunt (@FrontRowGrunt) June 21, 2025
Paul Williams replied: “Yup. He’s done it for years. It’s also head to head contact on the other flanker.”
Another fan added: “Tom Curry does this all the time! If I’m Australia coaches/captains I’m making this point to every referee before the tests.”
One person who replied to the original post believes that it is not something coached by the Lions but rather something that Curry does regularly.
“I think that’s a Tom Curry thing, not a Lions thing. He’s done it for years for England and Sale. I’m actually amazed he gets away with it just casually breaking on and joining the front row,” the post read.
Angus Usher added: “Tom Curry was back at it again last night. It’s crazy that years later he is still getting away with it.
“And I do feel for the referees, they have so much going on at scrum time that it’s not on their mind. But the AR should be picking it up.”
