Six Nations law discussion: Paul Willemse’s cards and the England try that shouldn’t have stood
France lock Paul Willemse is red card against Ireland in the Six Nations plus Alex Mitchell scoring against Italy.
A largely controversy-free edition of the Six Nations opening weekend, despite the close scorelines in Rome and Cardiff, saw all three referees and their teams do a fine job of facilitating good games of rugby.
Yet there were still a couple of moments worth a discussion, with one, in particular, going mostly unnoticed or uncommented but yet representing a critical moment in the match.
When down is down and when to release
The devoted readers will probably note that we touched on this a fortnight ago when looking at Leinster’s win against Leicester, when Joe McCarthy was awarded a try despite having been brought to ground in a tackle and not having released the ball.
It cropped up again in England’s win over Italy when Alex Mitchell dove over for the try that gave England the lead for the first time in the match in Rome.
Mitchell ran around Joe Marler and cut through the gap between Tommaso Menoncello and Michele Lamaro before heading to the line. Menoncello gets hands on Mitchell but slips off. He does, however, buy enough time for Tommaso Allan to grab Mitchell and slip down his legs, enough to bring Mitchell down.
Mitchell, determined to get there, gets up immediately and dives for the line to touch down. The whistle goes, and it is a try.
Allan smashed the ground in frustration, and Dewi Morris, on commentary, says that ‘the tackle was not made’ (the critical missed tackle actually was the slightly limp effort from Menoncello).
But the crucial question is whether Mitchell was down and whether Allan was holding him when he was so.
🏴 Alex Mitchell doing it all by himself for England. #ITAvENG pic.twitter.com/7sQXH3IMyA
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) February 3, 2024
To the specifics:
Law 14: The Tackle states: For a tackle to occur, the ball-carrier is held and brought to ground by one or more opponents.
Being brought to ground means that the ball-carrier is lying, sitting or has at least one knee on the ground or on another player who is on the ground.
Being held means that a tackler must continue holding the ball-carrier until the ball-carrier is on the ground.
The parts in bold here are the relevant ones as, from the still below, you can clearly see: Mitchell’s right knee is on the ground. Look back along Mitchell’s left leg and you can just as clearly see: Allan has a grip on Mitchell’s left ankle/calf.
Law 14 continues:
Tacklers must:
Immediately release the ball and the ball-carrier after both players go to ground.
Allan does this – mostly by dint of Mitchell pulling his leg out of the grip almost immediately. But there’s certainly no resistance from Allan.
Law 14 continues further:
Tackled players must immediately:
Make the ball available so that play can continue by releasing, passing or pushing the ball in any direction except forward. They may place the ball in any direction.
Mitchell absolutely does not do this. He holds the ball in his hand and gets to his feet. The sanction for not releasing the ball is a penalty.
In the case of McCarthy a fortnight ago, the replays and the situation were very clear. In this case it is far less so. Most observers (and most players) simply saw a loose tackle get punished; they might point to immateriality or might argue that the ‘grip’ Allan had on Mitchell was not substantial enough.
But the law is clear, the tackled player must have at least one knee on the ground, and the tackler must be holding on. Like the myth about the law saying try-scorers must have control when they touch down, there is nothing in the law saying how much, or which part, of the body a tackler must hold, only that he must be holding on until the tackled player is on the ground. Technically, this tackle has been completely fulfilled, so Mitchell should have been penalised for holding on.
The argument about immateriality is important to consider. At least twice during the weekend we saw other players execute the lay-down and pick-up skill wonderfully at the end of loose tackles. It’s a risky manoeuvre with a high reward in terms of making metres and keeping momentum, and it means that we are completely within the laws. It’s a skilful manoeuvre as well. This is worth rewarding, making it important to penalise transgressions such as Mitchell’s so as to encourage positive play completely within the laws and not just materially.
Thanks Ben O’Keeffe
This could have been a rant, but it is not, and all thanks to the rugby understanding of Ben O’Keeffe, who in general had an excellent game but really did us all a service in the 35th minute.
Luke Crosbie goes in to support team-mate George Turner, who has scrambled to tidy up another loose Welsh lineout. Sam Costelow stays on his feet to try and turn the ball over.
Costelow has his hands wrapped around Turner’s body, with the latter bent double and trying to drive an extra couple of metres. Costelow is thus bent double, too. Crosbie goes in to clean. His shoulder hits Costelow’s head, leading the TMO Brendon Pickerill to utter those often fateful words: “Ben, I think you need to have a look at this” (or similar).
So we have a look. And yes, Crosbie’s shoulder does hit Costelow square on the head. But nobody is convinced. The crowd is not. Jonathan Davies says, ” This is where opinion will be divided. It will all come down to whether they think the Scotland player could have done anything to avoid that.”
The replays are shown a couple of times more, and then Davies says with a little irritation: “What are you supposed to do?”
This, ad verbatim, is Mr. O’Keeffe’s summary thereafter, which we believe is a masterful example of how to empathise with players playing a fast, dynamic, contact game in which head contacts do happen.
“I do not believe it is foul play. He is bent at the hips, bent at the knees, he’s low. I don’t believe there is anything else more he can do. The actions are correct as well because he is wrapping,” he explained.
The wrapping part is extremely important when comparing with Paul Willemse. Willemse had squared his shoulder heading into the contact for his first yellow card, and although bent at hips and knees he was very upright. It was poor technique at best. At the second yellow, he was hardly bent at the hips at all; it was little surprise to see that one upgraded to full red later on.
But how many times in other games might Crosbie have seen yellow despite doing everything right? So a special well done to Mr. O’Keeffe for upholding rugby as well as the laws and protocols.
