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'Unsportsmanlike ' - Controversial scenes as England and Argentina stall play
By Ian Cameron
There were controversial scenes in Toulouse today as England and Argentina Sevens players found themselves in a bizarre situation, with both sides appearing to agree to delay the scoring of a try.
The two sides met in the pool stage of Day 2 at the HSBC France Sevens and found themselves in a controversial stand-off due to the mathematics of the tournaments and some frankly cynical opportunism on either side's part.
Halfway through the second-half England's Will Homer broke free and began sprinting to the Argentinian try line but when he reached it, he refused to dot the ball down, as he was eager to eat up time on the clock.
It's a common practice in Sevens, but the problem was that the Argentinians were also happy for the clock to run down, as they wanted to protect a points margin that would see them through to the quarter-finals.
With England only needing to lose by less than 16 points, both teams were set to benefit from the clock running down.
"Unique. Bizarre. Controversial," wrote the official World Rugby Sevens Twitter account. "Time seems to stand still in Toulouse as England deliberately delay scoring the try that takes them through to the quarter-finals - and Argentina, down to six men and also going through, let them."
"It might be gamesmanship, but this is the laws," remarked commentator Rob Vickerman."Quite remarkable scenes."
Many fans weren't impressed, with some calling for England and Argentina to be banned as a result of the scenario, while others suggested that it bordered on match fixing.
Journalist Paul Tait suggested the referee could have stepped in. "England should have been penalized. The referee knows better. Law 9.7.d wasting time. Law 9.27 against the spirit of good sportsmanship."
England should have been penalized. The referee knows better.
Law 9.7.d wasting time
Law 9.27 against the spirit of good sportsmanship
— Paul Tait (@AmericasOval) May 21, 2022
EK Rugby Analysis wrote: "Obviously don't like seeing this. Rationally, it makes sense for England and Argentina as they both go through while conserving energy - Sevens is exhausting to play. There should be something like a 30s time limit to score though similar to conversions and pens."
It's been a rare tournament to date with plenty of upsets so far. Men’s Series title contenders South Africa, Argentina and Australia are all beaten on day one in France.
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Latest Comments
Yeah me too. I think the Welsh have it in them to make it a contest in the first half. Give the boks' second stringers a headache. Disrupting lineouts is one area the welsh could cause problems. Bok lineouts have been subpar.
And then fronting up in the collisions and at the rucks. If the boks get the ascendancy there too early, it could be a hiding. Jaden hendrikse had a tough game against the Scots - who were very good at disrupting the boks flow. The welsh would have taken note of this i'm sure.
But the bok bench will finish the welsh off i'm afraid.
Go to commentsYes, certainly. As an AB fan happy to be included in that top 3 of "matches that are routinely decided by one score" now, we were well outside that for a few years.
They have not had enough games yet. You can't undo so many poor years just like that. Asking for miracles like SA losing is not the way to get back to number 1.
They might get there as those bad years filter out of the rankings but it's guarenteed to be great fun going back and forth with SA once that happens.
Admittedly Foster only really had one bad year (21/22 season), but that's more likely because COVID stopped a lot of tough games from being played, and effected the other countries they did play far more than themselves.
A real shame we both don't get to see it unfold first with our regions teams in SR!
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