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Clive Woodward settles debate over England's red card

England v Ireland – Guinness Six Nations – Twickenham Stadium

Former England head coach Clive Woodward has settled the debate over lock Charlie Ewel’s first minute red card which left Eddie Jones’ side down to 14-men for nearly the entire match.

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Despite the loss of Ewels, a resilient England side stayed in the match at 15-all with a quarter to go before being blown out by Ireland in the final 15 minutes.

During the halftime show on ITV, Woodward said England can’t complain with the decision as the rules are there for a reason as Irish lock James Ryan, the man tackled, was forced from the field for the entire game.

“I think when it happened, you just can’t go in that high, head on head,” said Woodward.

“At the end of the day, James Ryan is off, he’s off for the whole game. He’s had a bad concussion before but this is why the rules are there.”

Woodward went back to comments made by the England camp from their coaching staff around the game being like a World Cup semi-final but questioned whether the side was disciplined enough for it.

“All week the defensive coach for the England team, Anthony Seibold, Eddie Jones, they keep saying, this is the semi-final of a World Cup, in a semi-final you’ve got to play disciplined.

“There’s no malice. Ewels isn’t a dirty player, but at the end of the day it’s a red card.

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“You can’t be clashing heads like that. You’ve got to be coming in low and go up.”

Former England flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson in ITV’s post-game show said England ‘got tired’ in a match that they had to play to perfection once down to 14-men.

“England got tired with all that effort, that fatigue was sitting under the surface. Then Ireland did what they needed to do all game, which was hold onto the ball,” he said.

“When you’re playing with 14 men every decision is so crucial, if you make a wrong decision it is exacerbated.

“England were having to be so precise, so alert, so sure about what they were doing.”

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Keeping up that level of accuracy for the full 80-minutes proved to be too much for England, who wilted in the final quarter as Ireland added a penalty goal and two tries to seal the match.

England’s Six Nations title hopes are all but over but they can play spoiler in the final round clash against France in Paris, which would aid Ireland’s hopes if they can manage a victory over Scotland at home.

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Comments

13 Comments
C
Colm 1226 days ago

I fail to see why England, under Eddie insist on continuing with the power game.

Then wonder why the players tackle high and receive sanctions.

How does the 10 fit into this power game mix?

H
Harry 1226 days ago

Harry



I certainly agree that the subject of 'intent' needs to be debated further.


The so called 'smother tackle' arrived with the learning from Rugby league defence so as to prevent the ball being passed, as such it is not going to go away.


My biggest concern is referred to by Jonny Wilkinson. By removing one player for whatever reason the fatigue levels near the end of the game for the remaining 14 (or possibly even 13 as in the Scottish game) are high and with it the risk of injury increases especially as the opposition will bring on fresh powerful players for that later period. Errors in decision making, inability to recover quickly and desperation are all evident in these situations. Further head clashes and other injuries become more likely.


If we look at the England / Scotland game, a deliberate palm into touch (not dangerous at all) led to the triple jeopardy of a man sent off plus a penalty try plus a reduction to 13 men. The neck roll (a dangerous form of clear out) committed by a Scottish player shortly afterwards generated only a penalty. All according to the rules. But have we got them right?


Finally, thousands of people have paid considerable sums of money to watch a fair, balanced contest.


Perhaps one suggestion could be that for internationals (or for all matches) the offending player leaves the field permanently. After 10 or 20 minutes a replacement could be brought on to re-balance the teams and reduce the likelihood of more injury.

P
Piat 1230 days ago

Lack of self discipline by the players (see also Bath v Bristol the other weekend). This was discussed in the panel after the Bath game- you cannot go in to tackle where contact head to head or shoulder to head is likely. It is that simple- keep the tackles below the armpits. It doesnt do your team any good to be one man down, especially at this top level of rugby,

G
GE 1230 days ago

The whole red card business is a complete mess. Are we really suggesting that, in a split second, Charlie Ewells - or whoever it might be - should conduct a debate with himself along the lines of: Now, wait a minute. I can’t tackle this bloke, who is coming at me at a rate of knots, in this way so I’d better do something else?


In short, natural instincts have been ruled out of the game. The injury was unfortunate but, on these platforms, people have gone through the footage with a fine tooth comb and found that, so it seems, virtually every physical contact is a red card.

In other circumstances, when fists fly, commentators and the like label these incidents ‘handbags’ but fists are definitely against the law, whether they are thrown before or after a whistle.


Compare the incident involving James Ryan with the one in which Josh Adams was up-ended and thrown to the ground. This, and I mean THIS, was a deliberate act of foul play - not an accidental collision - and it resulted in a penalty only. Explain.

M
Mdszogg 1226 days ago

Perhaps this is the type of incident where the orange card could be deployed: the offending player did not exhibit (and choose wording carefully here.....) deliberate or malicious intent in making the tackle (unlike the Bristol winger whose body position and actions were designed to create maximum force in the tackle).


Ewels needs to learn to position himself correctly to make a tackle, either by going lower or by assuming a passive position where he would roll with the attacker, but his tackle was really an attempt to smother to prevent the offload.

M
Michael 1230 days ago

Seems to me that the quality of tackling is poor.


The upper body smother type tackle is ineffective and increases the risk of head injuries.


The traditional tackle of contacting the thigh reduces the effectiveness of the fend, is clear of the head and the tackled player usually hits the deck quickly for the secondary phase.


Daniel Carter and Conrad Smith were experts at the tackle, and present players like Ritchie Mounga continue the tradition.

R
RJ 1230 days ago

Ahh, so NZ players were experts and everyone else aren't?


What nonsense. The rules have changed, we don't know what would have happened in the past and I can now 100s of players who haven't had red cards for high tackles.. not just your mighty Allblacks

l
lot 1231 days ago

treating this one as semi-final game such a joke. this team won't be anywhere near a semifinal in the world cup 2023. dream on jones...a Red card from a low pressure tackle. nowhere near the 22 or a contested catch.. poor selection.

G
Guy 1230 days ago

It's a way for EJ (and perhaps England fans) to pretend he's taken his team to a semi-final...

R
RJ 1230 days ago

If England won this game, then next week against France would be a winner takes all... that makes this a semi-final and next week like a final. It's not rocket science

L
Lawrence 1231 days ago

Funny thing is. I'd have said that before the last world cup and they made the final. I'd back them to somehow pull it together and peak next world cup, again, whilst Ireland do their usual quarter final at best.

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JW 41 minutes ago
Leicester Fainga'anuku denied All Blacks eligibility for TRC

I don’t get that. I got the opposite, this was something Lester really really wanted to do. NZR is not going to stop him doing that by putting ridiculous money in front of him (noted you were only asking for fair money).


I wouldn’t say this was a Mo’unga or Frizell situation where there talent only was unlocked after they signed abroad, when Schmidt and Ryan came in respectively. LF was on a good trajectory, and he just decided he has the perfect window of opportunity to go abroad while he’s not first choice, learn and live in France to come back better and have a good shot at the perfect age. I think he recongised that.


Agreed that our rotation has been off the the last decade, players have not been moved on when they should, but I wouldn’t include Rieko in that discussion, though I would accept he is more of a marketing than performance signing.


Also agree it is a strange condunrum that results from the misalligned seasons, where Lester is straight into NPC in the same season almost. When really the ‘start’ of his contract is next year. Is he even going to be on the payroll at the moment? Could it be used as a double dip to encourage players back, a ‘bonus international season’ of match fees.


But they also don’t want them to become anymore common. So perhaps everything is fine? Like I was alluding to with Toko, they would need multiple markers of their own in Top 14 for them to be able to gauge off. As I’ve said in previous articles I’d be comfortable to expand sabbaticals to 2 in every position (yes a huge change), so that the was a core group of 30 of the top players all aligned with the ABs and overseas at any one time. This would ensure there are good markers to correlate levels of performance amongst everyone. This is a very similar setup/size to South Africa. It is like the AB modem in a wider organism, the vets are shipped off much earlier, and the core of next cycle is brought through. No missing out on the JGPs or Aki’s, no the Antonio’s or young Patrick Tuifua’s to france, keeping the Chandler Cunningham-South’s or Roots brothers, evan this Dubious guy from the French team was playing rugby here in NZ and could have stayed with a more ground up focus on bringing players through, not paying them much etc lol

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