SEÁN O’BRIEN, AS he has done before, was the first to stand up and voice his concern. Poachers need protecting was his message to referees last summer. And the issue of lazy or in some cases, deliberate, side entry has not gone away. Injuries to Josh van der Flier and Dan Leavy in recent weeks have reinforced how dangerous it can be.
While the breakdown is an integral, and fascinating, part of the game as players and teams compete for the ball, the contest has become increasingly precarious for defenders, who put themselves in dangerously vulnerable positions over the ball as they attempt to jackal.
Van der Flier is crocked for three months having been hit from the side by a French player during Ireland’s Six Nations win at the Aviva Stadium. He tore his groin and required surgery, but got away lightly in comparison with Leavy’s horrific knee injury.
“To miss an opportunity to play in a World Cup in Japan is haunting my thoughts,” Leavy, who faces a long and complex road back, said. The incident wasn’t too dissimilar to Paul O’Connell’s career-ending injury against France back in 2015.
It’s the role of the openside to attack opposition ball post-tackle, but equally, teams place huge emphasis on ensuring quick ball at the breakdown, leading to players hitting rucks with an aggressive mindset. Hit the man, take him off his feet and ultimately out of the equation.
It’s all part of modern rugby, but much of what we see at the breakdown is not within the laws of the game. Side entry, players off their feet, and taking ‘three or four free shots’ at the poacher.
“It’s one against three or four usually and they’re smacking you at force, you’re in a stable position. That’s where people can get hurt. My point is, how many hits do you want us to survive?” O’Brien said last August.
There have been a number of suggestions as to how referees can protect the poacher more, including limiting the number of players teams can commit to a ruck, while others have called on referees simply apply the law by penalising players off their feet or with their shoulders below hip height.
According to World Rugby’s Law Book, players joining the ruck ‘must bind onto a team-mate or an opposition player’ but even when the jackaler is fully legal, on their feet and in control of their body weight, opposition players are still clearing out in an illegal manner.
Nigel Owens says referees are more aware of the increased brutality of the breakdown zone and, working in tandem with their assistants and Television Match Officials, are focused on identifying and penalising acts of foul play in that particular facet of the game, just as they have done with aerial challenges and the neck roll in recent times.
“Rugby is a hugely physical game and it’s probably more physical now than it has ever been,” the Welsh official, speaking at the launch of the Union Cup 2019 in Dublin this afternoon, said.
“The players are bigger, they’re stronger and some of the contacts are massive. All you can do as guardians of the games and as a referee of the game, is referee the laws and make sure if there are instances of foul play, it’s dealt with.
“If a player goes flying into a contact area leading with his shoulder and with no attempt to clear out, then you deal with them. And then most players are sent off accordingly. It is, unfortunately, the nature of the game, there are going to be injuries, but as long as we referees make sure it’s a safe as it possibly can be and we apply the laws and deal with the illegalities of the game, that’s all we can do.
“If a clear out is illegal then we as referees need to referee that and deal with it and get it out of the game. That’s all we can do. The game is evolving all the time, the guardians of the game and the various people who look after it, they’re always looking at what needs to be improved and what laws need to be changed if there is a safety issue.
“That’s a continuing process all the time as the game is evolving. I’m very confident people are doing that, and they’re looking at the game and if they feel something needs to be changed within the laws, it will happen then. Player safety is paramount and it’s the most important thing for a referee to bear in mind when refereeing the game.”
Owens admits referees need to be strict on determining what constitutes legal and illegal play at the breakdown and impose severe sanctions for players found guilty of putting an opponent in danger.
“What we need to remember is that most of the rucking and clear outs are legal,” he continued. “Most of them are. The ones that are not, it’s up to us to make sure they’re spotted. It is difficult to see it [at the time] but we do have the technology and if the TMO does see one as an illegal clear out, then he will highlight it for you.
We were really hard on the contact in the air years ago, and we hardly see any of it in the game now. We were then really strict on the neck clear outs in the contact area and we don’t see much of that now. If an area of the game becomes a concern, the referees will focus on that safety issue and hopefully, then we won’t see it as a trend.
“We become aware of it if it becomes a trend, yeah, but most of the contact area is legal, the ones that are not we need to make sure that we pick them up and referee accordingly. That’s our responsibility.”
He added: “We’re doing all we can in addressing that. That’s for us as referees to apply the laws to and we’re strict on it and that will, in turn, help change the player behaviour.
“It’s just an ongoing process all the time really but I think the important message is that people can rest assured that everyone involved in the game is doing everything they can to ensure it is safe for people to play. We want to see the big hits, it’s part of the game, but we want to see the big hits that are legal and not the ones that are not.”
Nigel Owens today launched the Union Cup Dublin 2019, Europe’s biggest LGBT+ inclusive rugby tournament which will be held in DCU from the 7-9 June. Standing shoulder to shoulder to promote diversity and inclusion in rugby is Irish women’s international Lindsay Peat, former Irish international, Gordon D’arcy and Minister Katherine Zappone.
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The poach will be gone from the game within the year, risk of injury way too high for the lawmakers and will make the game much easier to referee. Beirne was continuously cleared out from the side vs Edinburgh and got little or no joy for his efforts
@DJ Cronin: and how do teams turn over possession. The one thing that won’t go is poaching. How many player’s are permitted to clear out might be changed tho
@Anthony: Counter rucking with players on their feet prioritizing getting beyond the ball to allow their scrum half/team to play it I would say
The problem here isn’t the laws, the laws are fine, it’s the enforcers. Referees refusing to ref the breakdown adequately is the problem here. There are three clear rules that are rarely adhered to
“Players involved in all stages of the ruck must have their heads and shoulders no lower than their hips”
“An arriving player must be on their feet and join from behind their offside line”
“Players must endeavour to remain on their feet throughout the ruck”
If those rules were adhered to by the ref then the injuries would be halved overnight. I haven’t seen the leavy one back and nor do I want to but the two that spring to mind are the vdf one v France and o donoghue v Leinster last year. No sanction for either perpetrator for what ended up being season ending injuries.
@Jim Demps: The only reason the refs refuse to ref it is that the laws are ambiguous. At the moment, no law can account for numerous breakdown scenarios so refs have to form a subjective picture in their head. It’s part of human nature that when confusion arises, we revert to our comfort zone i.e. what we know. Refs are no different.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: think you’re simplifying that too much. If I poacher is there first then he’s rewarded. There are far to many refs choosing not to give the benefit to the poacher IMO.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: There is as much if not more of a chance of serious neck and head injury from aggressive clear outs as there was from scrum engagement prior to the engagement protocols introduced many years ago and tweaked since and that will be what will ultimately change it. Refs don’t want to deal with poachers as lots of them don’t give them the benefit of the turnover even though they are over the ball with hands on it having done everything correctly
@Jim Demps: Leavy was “cleared out” and the validity of same is questionable, having been shown the incident
@DJ Cronin: Good evidence based post there. The only problem with it is I can’t remember one serious neck injury arising from a ruck, usually concussion, or leg injuries from what I have seen.
Owens is a right dose. Such an attention seeker with an opinion on everything.
Despite being the golden boy he has made a huge amount of mistakes in big games. More concerned with making a name for himself than reffing matches adequately.
@Treaty Bhoy: a bit like you having an opinion on everything ! Is that wrong ????
@Chris Tobin:
“@Treaty Bhoy: a bit like you having an opinion on everything ! Is that wrong ????”
But he does it with a smile on his face :: Still my favourite Ref, makes mistakes but they all do ::he is great with letting the player know what he wants done !! Long may he last !!
Where’s rugby league in cork
Another solution – if players can’t stick it anymore, they can play league. No breakdown and problem solved. Or make it only legal for player to go in and poach and they should only get one chance immediately after the tackle. Otherwise, it’s hands away.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: did you play much tough guy? I played senior and junior ball for 15 years and I’ve seen some very tough guys get some serious injuries from illegal rucking, myself included.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: To clarify, one attacking player should get to clear out, one defending player attempts to poach.
@Jim Demps: No I did not because there is no rugby code for powered wheelchairs which I use as a result of spastic diplegia cerebral palsy with a twisted spine and I refuse to apologise for not playing it. I compensated for it by attending training sessions and watching numorous matches. If you read on, I offer two solutions, not one.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: Then you should know better than to suggest the players who get injured can’t stick it. Drastic measures aren’t needed, the only thing that has to be done is to ref the current laws effectively.
@Jim Demps: Sorry Jim, I can’t take u serious as a very tough guy lol
@Jim Demps: here here
@Jim Demps: If you read my comment below, as long as there are scenarios that aren’t specifically covered for in the laws, certain referees will always be interpreting differently. So what looks like poor refereeing is them just using logic and reason as best they can to fill in the gaps. Players know the risks. The likes of SOB and VDF have complained without offering solutions in interviews. I don’t mind complaining, but solutions have to given by the players themselves if they give an interview.
@Jim Demps: Plus, I did not say that players can’t stick injuries, I said if players feel they can’t handle it, rugby league is always there.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: there’s very little to interpret about going off your feet. You’re either on your feet on you’re not. Same with entering the ruck onside ( through the gate). There’s nothing to interpret, it’s either the ref doing his job or not. The one thing that isn’t catered for in the current laws is leg holding. There should be an amendment for that. It’s lethal and should be an immediate yellow card.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: rugby league in limerick?
@Jim Demps: If there’s nothing to interpret, then World Rugby shouldn’t have to swoop in and give their interpretation of the offside law like they did last November. Great players like Will Greenwood had vastly different interpretations and he has more rugby knowledge than either of us.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: world rugby make the laws, they don’t come out with interpretations. The laws only needed clarifying for Will greenwood because he didn’t know them. Tell me how many different ways are there to interpret being off your feet? I’d say it’s very clear. The standard of refereeing at rucktime is abysmal
@Conor Alexander Lynott: so players should just give up their careers and dreams of playing rugby union because they don’t want to get injured because of other players not sticking to the rules?
@Jim Demps: Logically speaking, if every ref makes the same mistake consistently, because at every point refs come under fire for not reading the breakdown, then refs alone are not to blame. World Rugby need to clarify what physically qualifies as ‘off feet’ and what is in the spirit of the game. Trivial questions they may be, but the detail needs to be there. At the moment, the wording is vague. Eyesight alone is not enough.
@Sam Harms: If they feel that the breakdown is too dangerous and they have lost faith in referees or world rugby, then yes, it’s a viable option for a small minority. Should is a much stronger term which I never used It’s something that kids and professionals alike have to think about.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: off feet is an easy one to ref. Anyone diving in with no intention to stay on their feet gets penalised. The o donoghue injury would have been prevented if either or both of McGrath and furlong had tried to keep their feet.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IJj-UTZSWHY
@Jim Demps: Yes, we all know it’s very easy to ref with a video and pause button. Come back to me when you’ve made that decision as professional ref with thousands of people shouting and when you’re standing over a pile up of sweaty bodies. I’m asking for more empathy for referees. Anyway, looking forward to seeing you ref on TV. I’ll be here to give a fair assessment. Good luck and Godspeed.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: I have one question, not that it justifies any injuries. Can someone explain the concept of ‘supporting one’s own weight’ when jackaling. It seems to be very fluid among referees. It also leads to defenders being a tad annoyed.
@Tom McHugh: ‘Not supporting your weight’ means no obvious effort to stay on your feet from the referee’s viewpoint. Defenders get annoyed cos they feel they have a good chance at stealing the ball and the referees goes; ‘NO’ or ‘OFF YOUR FEET’ when they might disagree.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: I’m not sure you know what point you’re trying to make. So far on this thread we’ve got
- give up Union and join rugby league
- one v one rucking
- world rugby need to clarify off the feet and the offside rule
- it’s impossible to ref a game and refs need more help
- more empathy from the refs.
It’s all just fluff bud. The laws are there and they are very concise. The refs need to apply them and ref accordingly. We’ve got some games where it’s downright dangerous at rucktime depending on what ref is in charge and that’s not good enough. Some refs are very capable of marshalling it and it’s a whole lot safer for everyone on the pitch. The refs main job on the pitch is to keep the players safe and it’d be nice to see that taken seriously.
@Jim Demps: Oh I know which point my original post was making and individual responses. Consistent in all of them was that referees and world rugby share responsibility. I never said it was impossible to referee the game. You haven’t a clue which point I’m making because you put words in my mouth. Go brush up on a few Leaving. Cert. comprehension, bud.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: era ya, I’m afraid you start to lose any credibility once you start the insults in a conversation.
Which part of your original point is consistent with the refs and world rugby sharing the responsibility??
@Jim Demps: Sticks and stones, bud. You insult me with this ‘It’s all fluff, bud’, I will respond in kind. You lost all credibility a long time ago with your history of Munster bias. I’ll leave it to somebody else with better reading skills than you to explain that to you.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: suit yourself bud. I’ve no interest in talking to someone who just wants to insult me. Best of luck to ya bud.
@Jim Demps:
“WOW”
@Anthony:
Give us a brake Anthony I am trying to ignore him , and being a good boy, But to see him as a tough guy:: give us a brake
@Conor Alexander Lynott:
Good point He insults you and then cries he is being insulteed: When he come with “Bud” look out then his next move is “talking to someone who just wants to insult me.” let me say to you he came in and had a shot at you ::Dont bother with him. as you said “You lost all credibility a long time ago with your history of Munster bias. “
@Tom McHugh:
It is a tough one for refs , you have a man who goes after the ball and his feet is on the ground ::the the ref calls a “OFF Your FEET” but the player says “but I have my feet on the ground” There you have the problem he is lying on a player and is being supported by said player. Would it help if the ref calls out “Your being supported”
No it will not make any different but if I was a ref I would try it :::::
Feel sorry for refs as the rucks are so difficult to manage.
@Neil O Connor: limerick used to have the best rugby league side in the country. They haven’t fielded a side in 3 or 4 seasons. Mores the pity.
@Jim Demps: when did he ever have credibility?
Nigel bottled it on Sat against Mc Fadden. He’s talking bull in that article.
Some awful moany f***ers on here. Is there any way to just not have comments anymore?
@Gary Guilfoyle: Just don’t read them! 100% nothing bad will happen, no fine will be sent to your door, no court summons or penalty points, the world won’t end…..
@Gary Guilfoyle:
Gary you really dont want that, then you will not be able to post these kinds of posts, them what would you do ??
Nice words from Nigel Owens after he deemed McFaddens shoulder to head ruck entry last Saturday to be a mere penalty