England mauled for ‘illegal tactics’
Wallaby coach, Eddie Jones, yesterday supported former captain John Eales’ accusation, that the England pack are guilty of illegal shepherding in their rolling mauls, and has called on referees to take action.
“From what I’ve seen, there is validity in what Eales is saying,” said Jones. “If you’ve got a situation where there’s no contention for possession, we need to look at it very carefully.”
Eales said the England forwards sometimes shielded flanker Neil Back while he was directing rolling mauls from the rear, without being attached.
“Effectively what he is doing is being shepherded,” said Eales. “It’s certainly the equivalent of obstruction, and it’s the equivalent of a decoy play (in the backline). It’s exactly the same, except that it’s in close.
“There certainly have been times when Back is neither bound to anyone, nor is anyone bound to him. If he is floating around at the back of a maul, the referee should be saying ‘ball’s out’, and (defenders) should be able to come at him from any angle.
“Or more specifically, the referee should give a penalty because it is clearly obstruction,” Eales said.
Eales’ comments came after England coach, Clive Woodward, accused Australia’s Matt Burke of obstruction in the build-up to a Joe Roff try against Argentina.
Springboks coach, Rudi Straeuli, was also a willing participant in the debate yesterday.
“I read what John Eales said. He’s astute, he knows his rugby, and at times it is obstruction,” said Straeuli.
“I will be clearing a lot of issues with the referee on Friday. It is quite a strong weapon England use. I think Neil Back has been scoring a lot of tries not only for England but for Leicester with that, so it is one of their weapons.”
Meanwhile, France assistant coach Jacques Brunel has taken exception to England’s tactics at the line-out.
“They only pretend to contest the ball, they put their arms around the opponent’s jumper while he is coming down, to stop him from releasing the ball,” said Brunel.
“At the same time another of their players goes through and round the line-out with his arms in the air to say ‘sorry ref, mistake’, but he is actually slowing down their opponents’ support players.
“They often manage to spoil line-out possession with these tactics.”
But Back said the criticism of England was “borne out of fear”, while England forwards coach Andy Robinson insisted that his pack was “very legal.”
Prop Lawrence Sephaka is the most notable Boks casualty, in a side showing four changes from the one which defeated Uruguay last weekend, the Golden Lions prop making way for the Blue Bulls' Christo Bezuidenhout.
Bezuidenhout will be making his full Test debut, against arguably the most powerful front row in international rugby, following one previous appearance as a replacement against the All Blacks in August.
His introduction means South Africa's front five will be made up entirely from the Blue Bulls Super 12 outfit.
“They all know each other well. They are a very tight unit,” Straeuli said. He declined to be drawn on the decision to drop Sephaka, one of only a handful of non-white players in the Springbok squad.
“If you look at the team Lawrence is in the 22. He's not in the starting line-up, but he's not dropped,” Straeuli insisted, saying the change had been made for “tactical reasons.”
Springboks skipper Corne Krige returns to the side as expected, and Straeuli said he was encouraged that his captain, and scrum-half Joost van der Westhuizen, seemed to be returning to their best level.
