SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP TACKLE LAW:THE LITERAL manner in which South African officials have refereed tackle law 15.6(c) since their arrival for rounds three and four of the Six Nations Championship continues to be a concern for the Irish management.
An IRB spokesman told The Irish Timesyesterday: "There has been no tackle law amendment or modification during the RBS Six Nations. In November 2009, the IRB's high performance referees and union referee managers met in London for their annual conference and agreed to stricter application of law in a number of key areas, including offside from kicks, rucks and mauls, scrum engagement and the tackle law. These directives were issued across all unions and have been in operation since the 2009 November Tests."
Yesterday, Irish manager Paul McNaughton said: “The replies we’re getting are that it’s not a new law. We know that. They’re saying that the emphasis on this law was discussed after the November series. And there definitely was a briefing to the teams before the Super 14, letting them know that this law would be policed more strictly.
“The issue we had was that a similar approach wasn’t taken here. In the short-term, we would have adapted even if we didn’t agree with it. We would have had three weeks or so before the championship started to prepare. It’s not satisfactory that it has happened mid-championship.”
The problem from an Irish perspective is whether the tackler, who brings a ball-carrier to ground, is releasing the tackled player adequately before playing the ball. Irish coach Declan Kidney, normally non-contentious in his media dealings, was compelled to question, at Saturday’s post-match conference, why one paragraph of law is being highlighted by referees when others are not, and that it is happening mid-tournament.
Kidney had “no joy” after a meeting with IRB referee manager Paddy O’Brien last week, which leaves a festering wound ahead of the Scotland match this Saturday, the last rugby fixture at Croke Park, which will be refereed by another South African, Jonathan Kaplan.
McNaughton and backs coach Alan Gaffney, speaking from the Irish base camp in Killiney, readdressed the main issue arising from victory over Wales.
“We had to have a briefing for the players the night before (Friday), having received confirmation of this stricter interpretation,” explained McNaughton. “We asked them not to change too much.
“You can’t prepare a team for months and then say you can’t do this and can’t do that. We had to feel our way around it, but they were aware there were issues.
“You can’t just, the night before the game, or even a week before a game, change everything about the way you play.
“I mean, we like to play football on our feet, hold the player up. Going to ground is an important part of our game, an important part of our success in terms of our ability to turn over ball. Now this could damage that aspect of it. We’ll have to adapt. We don’t make the rules and we’re not trying to make the rules. We’re just very disappointed, to say the least, that the interpretations were being changed in the middle of the tournament.”
As an Australian, Gaffney’s viewpoint is interesting. Before the Super 14 started it was unanimously agreed that this was the best way for Southern Hemisphere rugby to evolve in order to maximise profits.
“It may be perceived by some in officialdom that it’s more entertainment and it puts more bums on seats,” Gaffney said. “We all know from Australia that crowd figures haven’t been particularly strong in recent years. Others may say it suits individual teams better than the existing interpretations. That would be the case, sure and certain, sides will benefit if this rule is refereed to where it is heading at the present time.”
Is this not a major disruption to training this week?
“It won’t dominate training,” McNaughton replied. “We’ll just have to tweak it, we can’t change the way we play overnight.
“Obviously, they became quite aware of it on the pitch because the referee (Craig Joubert) did talk to them during the game, and he actually quoted the fact that the interpretation was being enforced and you knew about this during the week.”
The long-term repercussions, the Irish management agreed, will make rugby union a closer relative to league, where the attacking team dominates possession.
“There is a real danger that it could become like rugby league,” said Gaffney.
McNaughton added: “Long term, if you bring it to its full extent, you’ll have a situation where you can’t get the ball off the opposition. They changed the law regarding to ‘sealing off’ so that you could stop pick-and- drives. But if you referee this rule as strictly as they are starting to do, it’s going to be very difficult to have a proper contest at the breakdown. You might have to have different types of players on the field.”
The Irish coaches will meet Kaplan this week, but his interpretation of the rule is likely to be the same as compatriot Joubert.
The letter of the law
Law 15: Tackle – ball carrier brought to ground.
15.6.c: Players in opposition to the ball carrier who remain on their feet who bring the ball carrier to ground so that the player is tackled must release the ball and the ball carrier. Those players may then play the ball providing they are on their feet and do so from behind the ball and from directly behind the tackled player or a tackler closest to those players’ goal line.
Sanction: Penalty kick.
