[2021 Six Nations] England vs Italy (13/02/21)

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Farrell - 8 passes for a player who acts as I/C and second first receiver?

Eh, I'd say that's fairly normal for a 12 to be honest, even a distributing one. Canna fills a very similar role for Italy and made 9, as does Lang for Scotland who made less than 4. There's plenty that Farrell did wrong yesterday but I wouldn't say that the amount of passes he made was one of them.

For further reference, last week Redpath and Fickou were the only 12s who were in their side's top 5 passers with 4 and 7 respectively.

 

[AlRums]

Absolute highlight:

"YOU'RE BORING ME, KICK IT!"
Iceman ******* shanks it

And he missed

 

[ncurd]

This was a bit of controversy that completely passed me by

 

[TRF_Olyy]

This was a bit of controversy that completely passed me by

Give you a guess as to which countrys fans are kicking off about it

I'll even give you a hint: it starts with W

 

[Reiser99]

Personally I think it was a jump not a dive, but as Moore said ultimately it is up to the referee.

As far as I'm aware the main reason for the rule is to stop players getting injured and had May been hit in the air it could have been serious. A dive is different as your body is going towards the floor, his body went up then down.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

This was a bit of controversy that completely passed me by

Literally a non-issue. He was jumping for the line,if the defender had hit him in mid air and into touch it'd also be fine. No increased danger, no unfair advantage, not the point of the no jumping into the tackle rule.

 

[ncurd]

Give you a guess as to which countrys fans are kicking off about it

I'll even give you a hint: it starts with W

...I wish I were surprised....

 

[MikeTheNative]

I'd draw the line it's jumping into the tackle if the defender was in front of him. As the defender is to the side of him, it's easy enough to say he was jumping for the line.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Nigel Owens, who comes from the land beginning with W says it shouldn't have been given as the prime reason for leaping that way was to avoid the tackle. Hard to disagree. Only once he's gone up and evaded the tackle does he start stretching for the line.

And having gone airborne would any Italian tackling him mid jump have been subject to sanction?

Great athleticism / skill by May but the more I look at it the more I think it shouldn't have been given.

 

[BrokenWing]

A dive is different as your body is going towards the floor, his body went up then down.

Most of the legitimate dives you see involve the body going up first.

 

[Which Tyler]

Most of the legitimate dives you see involve the body going up first.

I'd say all of them (ever seen an Ash Splash?)
The ones that don't start by going upwards are more falls than dives

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

He doesn't jump like that if it's on the 22 though... He goes for the line by definition as a result...

The very act of diving for the line isn't to get there faster, it's almost always to avoid a tackle, that's why one is allowed to move outside the field of play, given you don't touch the ground - that literally wouldn't be possible if you didn't jump

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

We have seen tons of dives for the line that have involved hopping in the air first. This is being added to 2 other tries that apparently we shouldn't have had. If these people got their way England would be seeing roughly half their tries chalked off (on top of the tries we already get chalked off, which is already running above average).

Scotland were the better team last week but also got the rub of the green in a close game, we can't complain about it. England clearly the better team in a game that wasn't really in contention, complaining about the ref left right and centre by "neutrals" (basically the Welsh for the most part).

 

[ncurd]

Also hate to say it but Nigel now make his money out of being a pundit not being a referee and even then he's made some particularly dodgy calls in regards to England over the years.

To me its fine much like placing the ball in a single movement, you're allowed to dive for the line he does that by placing the ball beyond the try-line. The nature of the jump/dive doesn't matter as long he clearly attempted to do that.

 

[ncurd]

Actually someone point out if I'm wrong but supposedly there is no law that says you can't jump to avoid a tackle. And I cant find it so Owens is just making **** up.

 

[MikeTheNative]

Actually someone point out if I'm wrong but supposedly there is no law that says you can't jump to avoid a tackle. And I cant find it so Owens is just making **** up.

The wording is you can't deliberately jump into a tackle so it's the same really. Only can jump diving for the line or to gather a ball.

Edit

I'm wrong.

 

[ncurd]

The wording is you can't deliberately jump into a tackle so it's the same really. Only can jump diving for the line or to gather a ball.

Actually there's no specfic law against that either and basically falls under dangerous play laws.

Law question: Can a ball carrier jump into a tackle? -

We answer a readers question: Can a ball carrier jump into a tackler? We explain what laws are in play and what to look out for

rugbyreferee.net

There is no part of what May does that could be considered dangerous to the French player, so it's complete nonsense to suggest what he did was wrong.

 

[BrokenWing]

I think he mainly did it to stop going into touch rather than avoid the tackle. He past the guy anyway so there's no jumping "into" the tackle.

Did Shane Williams get pulled up for that one in the link then?

 

[Reiser99]

Fair enough, I thought it was any kind of jump. If it's just jumping into a tackler then yeah no issue.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Actually there's no specfic law against that either and basically falls under dangerous play laws.

Law question: Can a ball carrier jump into a tackle? -

We answer a readers question: Can a ball carrier jump into a tackler? We explain what laws are in play and what to look out for

rugbyreferee.net

There is no part of what May does that could be considered dangerous to the French player, so it's complete nonsense to suggest what he did was wrong.

Owens is just trying to make his name as a Wales Online talking head by slagging off the English at every opportunity,
Go type "Nigel Owens" into news.google.com and see how many articles are about England and how many are about any other country