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

[Ragey Erasmus]

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

Hilarious...

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

He was also banging on about refs "being aware of POM's reputation" last week, which wasn't consistent with what happened at all. Playing into the rep of Ireland's most hated player. Can't say in surprised he's pandering to the lowest common denominator as a journo now.

 

[BrokenWing]

Nothing about Liam Williams' penchant for forearm smashing people trying to tackle him?

 

[MikeTheNative]

Nothing about Liam Williams' penchant for forearm smashing people trying to tackle him?

The guy is a massive knob. He's a great talent but a lability half the time.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Ah OK. I guess like a lot of people I thought that jumping into tackles was outlawed per se but it looks like danger is the thing. So fair try and Owens is wrong.

Still not sure whether a defender would be able to tackle someone in mid air like that or not though. 9.17 explicitly says you can't tackle someone with their feet off the ground although clearly wouldn't have been aimed at this type of scenario.

And here's one way to get over a Piers Francis tackle. This wasn't a pen either....

 

[BrokenWing]

The guy is a massive knob. He's a great talent but a lability half the time.

Oh he's a superb player, definitely one that you don't want giving away opportunities to get himself banned.

 

[klitarris]

So, now the dust has settled a bit, my main thoughts.

LCD - was everywhere, him to start next game definitely.
Hill - much more prominent, even outshining Itoje which is no mean feat! Was this a coming of age game for him in an England shirt? Time will tell, but he definitely gets the opportunity to prove it against Wales.
Lawes - did well on the flank, much as I don't like seeing a lock there.
Billy - much improved, but still not great.
Youngs - Actually started pretty well but got slower and slower as time went on, and his passing was pretty atrocious.
Farrell - Improved but still not great.
Watson - I said before the match how i thought he didn't look very sharp. Mea culpa, he was outstanding!
Daly - just awful

For Wales Jones isn't going to make the 4 changes that i would like to see. I'm hoping for 2, which would be Daly for Malins and Youngs for Robson. If i see that I'll be happy enough.

Feel for Willis big time. What cr*ppy luck he has. Not his ACL apparently which is one thing, hopefully he makes a swift recovery.

Final note, regarding the ref. I've seen a lot of people saying he was awful. I really don't think he was. He could certainly have been more assertive, particularly at scrum time, but overall I thought he did ok considering it was his first 6 nations game.

 

[TommiG88]

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.

Obviously not dangerous to a french player, they were in Ireland for a start. I doubt he jumped across the Irish Sea

 

[ncurd]

Obviously not dangerous to a french player, they were in Ireland for a start. I doubt he jumped across the Irish Sea

Meh he's wearing blue

 

[Nudger]

Did anyone see George Martin being called up ?? Obviously not going to play wtf