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Diamond demands law change while accusing Tigers of illegal activity
By Chris Jones
Newcastle Falcons consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond wants to outlaw the driving maul from an attacking five metre lineout to improve the spectacle for fans.
The former Worcester Warriors boss has also claimed Leicester Tigers, who arrive at Kingston Park on Friday night, use illegal blockers when they implement this try-scoring tactic.
Leicester scored three tries in their 27-25 loss to Gloucester last Friday night with all of them coming from driving mauls close to the opposition try line. Diamond is promoting the idea of stopping this as a try-scoring tactic from five metres but retaining it as a lineout option elsewhere on the pitch.
He said: “The sooner we get the five metre maul from a lineout taken out of the game the better spectacle it will become. You cannot defend it at the moment and most of the time you never see the bloody ball put over the try line – it’s just a melee.
“Leicester must be using a new Australian technique with Dan McKellar (Tigers head coach) because they have got blockers all over those driving mauls and they are quite illegal and I am hoping the (RFU) referee department will be looking at them this week.
"They scored three driving maul tries against Gloucester and will be kicking the ball a lot against us and we are going to have a really tough game on our hands.
“One of the first things I would do is take that (five metre driving maul) out of the game. I think you should only be able to move the ball off the top of the lineout and at the moment it is the opposite of running rugby and you could say that you can kick a penalty to the corner but you have to come off the top, not maul it over.
"We are trying to make the game commercially better and also better on the eye by speeding up the game but we are world class at shooting ourselves in the foot. People don’t want to see a melee of 16 people moving a metre and it’s a fantastic try! They will catch on in the end.”
Newcastle gave away 17 penalties losing 25-16 at Exeter Chiefs on Saturday and also saw two players handed yellow cards to further hamper their bid to end their winless run in the Gallagher Premiership.
"I will give the players nine penalties a match but 17 is far too many,” added Diamond.
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Latest Comments
I think it's the least likely possibility Ed.
Go to commentsScotland should win this one, considering they are the settled team compared to Australia. However, that is no guarantee that they will win. The Aussies tails is up, and they are throwing everything at the opposition.
When the Aussie fans cracked up and got angry when Joe Schmidt was appointed, I said to them to be patient, that he will get them on the right track. They said that he is not Australian and he won nothing. Second best. I should mind my own business because I don't know the Aussie ways, which is true as I'm SA.
However, now that he is bringing in results, they are all changing their minds. Joe is all in when he coaches a team. There is no team he supports more than the team he coaches. His quality is shining through properly now.
It's going to be a very tight game, much tighter than people realise. Both teams is playing exciting rugby right now. They both want to win. I'd even go as far as marking this game as the top game of the weekend.
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