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England compliment referee Brace despite the 18-8 penalty count

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)

Eddie Jones sidestepped the temptation to have a pop at last Saturday’s referee Andy Brace for the lopsided 18-8 penalty count against his team, the England boss instead claiming his players need to be better in one particular aspect of their game. 

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So much were the English under the pump during the second half at Twickenham that the penalty count read 17-4 when Will Stuart was yellow carded on 67 minutes with the South Africans very much in the ascendancy. 

There was one further concession, Maro Itoje accounting for the 14th penalty given away by an England forward in the match and it allowed the Springboks to ‘win’ the yellow card period 8-0 and jump 26-24 ahead. 

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Having been affected by penalty trouble during their derisory fifth-place finish to the 2021 Six Nations last March, it seemed set that England were about to get beaten once more. 

However, they resiliently turned the tide and it was the South Africans who tellingly suffered the game-deciding indiscipline in the eyes of Brace, coughing up a yellow card and four penalties in the closing minutes of a match where Marcus Smith’s 80th-minute penalty kick for England proved decisive.  

“I never thought we were on the wrong line, we had a bad Six Nations,” insisted Jones in the aftermath. “That is well documented but I never thought we were on the wrong line. But it is good to get those victories. We have beaten third and first in the world now (Australia and South Africa). 

“We have gone down this line of being much more aggressive in the way we want to attack. We think the game suits it at the moment, although it was a difficult game with the referee being so hard on sealing at the breakdown – which I am not complaining about at all. That is the way the referee should be and you have got to be so skilful with your breakdown work now and we have still got a bit of work to do in that area.”

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Bull Shark 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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