James Haskell and Mike Tindall believe Joe Schmidt has no reason to feel aggrieved by the contentious last-gasp decision that has overshadowed the British and Irish Lions’ 29-26 victory against Australia on Saturday afternoon.
The Australia coach lashed out at officials and World Rugby over why the Lions match-winning try from Hugo Keenan was allowed to stand after Jac Morgan appeared to clear out Carlo Tizzano, while making contact with the Australian’s neck.
‘In a world of player welfare… It’s what they are there to enforce. A player who dives off his feet and is clearly beaten to the position over the ball, makes neck contact,’ Schmidt fumed after the match.
Schmidt used World Rugby’s Law 9.20 to justify his point, which states that players cannot enter a ruck and make contact with a player above the shoulder line.
‘You just have to read Law 9.20, then listen to the referee’s description and watch the vision. A player who dives off his feet, is clearly beaten to the position over the ball, makes neck contact – it’s a tough one to take,’ the coach, who has previously worked as a technical advisor for World Rugby, fumed.
The incident has divided the rugby community, with Tindall and Haskell both arguing on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby Podcast, that Schmidt wouldn’t be making the same claim had the coin flipped in the other direction.
James Haskell (left) and Mike Tindall (right) believe Joe Schmidt has no reason to feel aggrieved by the contentious last-gasp decision that has overshadowed the British and Irish Lions’ 29-26 victory against Australia
Following the game, Wallabies boss, Schmidt (pictured), appeared to criticise referees for failing to cater for player safety after Jac Morgan was not penalised for what Schmidt believed to be a dangerous clear out on Carlo Tizzano
When asked by Alex Payne if Schmidt was right to feel aggrieved, Tindall replied, ‘No. The pair then jointly said: ‘Absolutely not.’
Haskell then proceeded to deliver an impassioned rant about the comments, with the former Wasps and England star, claiming that the real foul was Tizzano’s alleged ‘dive’ and that if they had penalised Morgan for the clear out, they ‘may as well have just disbanded the whole game’.
After Morgan made contact with Tizzano, the flanker appeared to fall backwards and has been blasted for an apperent ‘dive’ by some members of the English media.
‘The only bit of foul play nonsense in that incident was that Australian player [Carlo Tizzano] diving,’ Haskell said on the podcast.
‘That should have been red carded, because that is utter c**p.’
He then went on to delve into the technicalities of the incident, claiming World Rugby’s current laws don’t allow players to remove a jackler in any other manner than how Morgan pushed Tizzano away.
‘I’m telling you now, there is no physical way to clear out a player who is that low over the ball, without… the only other way that you used to be able to do it is if you put your head underneath him and go head-on-head, because when you’re that low over the ball you’ve got a small window… You’ve got to get your head underneath him.
Hugo Keenan’s match-winning try came after Morgan (right) controversially cleared out Australia’s Tizzano (left) in the previous phase of play
Morgan is seen getting under Tizzano shifting the Australian backwards. Tizzano then fell away from the ruck, with Schmidt fuming after the match that the clear out was not legal
Tizzano received treatment following the incident, but referees found no fault with the way Morgan entered the ruck
‘But if you can’t get any space to do that, and it would be head-on-head because you just lead with your head, you have to hit where he hit. That was a clear out I did every game, every week for 20 years…’
Summarising his point, Haskell, who toured with the Lions in 2017, said the game would have serious questions to answer had Morgan been penalised over the clear out.
Haskell added: ‘That is the only way to do it. Because if you come in at the side at an angle, you’d end up doing a croc roll. It is utter, utter b*******. It is people clutching at straws. When a player is over the ball so low, what we used to be taught to do is I come in and I put my hand on the ground underneath him and lead up with my hands and hit him.
‘All of that was just a rugby thing and the only foul was the Australian diving.’
While Haskell praised the Australia coach Joe Schmidt as a ‘great bloke’ he fumed at how Schmidt had ‘the audacity’ to question the decision.
Tindall replied: ‘Again, if he’s on the other side of the coin, it’s not even a debate. He’s going: “That’s what the game is”.’
Haskell isn’t the only person to have slammed Tizzano following the incident. Writing in his column in The Telegraph, Oliver Brown, ‘Stop moaning, Australia, your player dived.’
‘Tizzano clearly milked the incident, collapsing with a melodrama that could easily have persuaded some officials to chalk off Keenan’s try,’ he added.
Haskell (centre) claimed that ‘Tizzano should have been given a red card’ for an alleged ‘dive’
Morgan (picured) has been praised for his clear out by Lions boss Andy Farrell, who appeared to claim it was a fair challenge
Andy Farrell, meanwhile, praised Morgan for securing the ball so well.
‘I thought it was a brilliant clear-out, didn’t you?’ the Lions coach said, before admitting: ‘It depends on what side of the fence you come from.’
However, the refereeing decision has left one ex-Wallabies star livid.
Morgan Turinui, who won 20 caps for Australia, hit out at the officials over the contentious call.
‘That decision is 100 per cent completely wrong,’ he said. ‘The referee got it wrong,’ Turinui said after the game.
‘His two assistant referees got it wrong.’
He then explained that the referee needed to be brought before World Rugby’s Match Official Manager, Joel Jutge.
‘Joel Jutge, the head of the referees, is out here on a junket. He needs to haul those referees in and ask for a please explain.
Former Wallabies player Morgan Turinui (pictured) claimed that referee Andrea Piardi and his team should be brought before World Rugby following the incident
But World Rugby cheif executive Alan Gilpin has claimed that they were standing by Piardi (left) and his team following the incident
‘Dan Herbert, the chair of Australian rugby and if I’m Phil Waugh, the CEO, I’m sorry I’m asking for a please explain.
‘He did have a good game, but the refereeing group, when it counted, got the match-defining decision completely wrong.
‘It’s a point of law. It’s in black and white. It’s not about bias. It’s not about colouring. ‘There’s nothing there. Get away from the fact that it’s a wrong call. It’s a penalty sanction. It’s not a yellow card. It happens.
‘The try must be disallowed and we should be going one-all to Sydney.’
But in a fresh turn of events, World Rugby has since made clear their stance on the matter, refuting Schmidt’s claims before stating that they were throwing their support behind Piardi and his team of officials.
World Rugby boss Alan Gilpin said: ‘It is disappointing when the reaction is, “this means player welfare isn’t taken seriously”, because everyone knows we are putting player welfare, in its broadest sense, at the top of the agenda. So, that part is challenging, in terms of the player welfare statements (by Schmidt).’
