It shouldn't ever happen again - Wales coach Howley enraged by France
Rob Howley has questioned the integrity of France’s coaching staff and claims rugby was brought into disrepute during Wales’ controversial Six Nations defeat in Paris on Saturday.
An extraordinary 20 minutes of added time were played at Stade de France due to an accumulation of stoppages, including the return to the field of prop Rabah Slimani in place of Uini Atonio, who ostensibly went off to undergo a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) amid apparent concussion concerns.
Howley, though, is adamant the change in personnel was engineered by the hosts to gain an advantage, Les Bleus duly crossing right at the death to win it 20-18.
“Integrity in our game is pretty important,” a furious Howley told reporters after the match.
“Player welfare is equally important and over the last two or three years, concussion has been at the forefront of our game.
“[But] what happened in the last moments of that game, shouldn’t ever happen again. The process that saw the French tighthead [Atonio] come off was hugely disappointing.
“[Slimani was] warming up prior to him going back on. One of the coaches had a word with their doctor and within a minute of that their tighthead [Atonio] went off. The evidence suggests that it’s not in the integrity of our game.”
Asked whose integrity he was questioning, Howley replied: “I think the integrity of the French management team. Wayne Barnes is a referee and he’s told a HIA needs to take place, he trusts that information.”
Pressed on whether or not the incident amounted to cheating, he said: “No, I just question the integrity of the decision that was made. If you want to call it that, it’s up to you. We love our game but what we witnessed in the last 10 minutes, I haven’t seen that before in the international game.
“Someone has come outside the technical area and the doctor has gone onto the field. That’s outside the laws of the game. You can hear Wayne Barnes ask him if he’s okay and the player says ‘I’ve got a sore back, I’m okay’ and then the doctor comes on and the player goes off.
“It’s too early to talk about sanctions. You can imagine the emotional attachment at this time. I don’t know what can be done. The integrity of the game has been brought into disrepute.”
What. A. Finish.
Camille Chat burrows over to break Wales’ resistance
Huge drama on #RBS6Nations #SuperSaturday : https://t.co/0xMlmhyjxu pic.twitter.com/J3Vg2dcBYS
ADVERTISEMENT— RBS 6 Nations (@SixNationsRugby) March 18, 2017
For his part, France coach Guy Noves insisted the home team’s coaches were merely exercising their duty of care over Atonio.
“They told me he was injured so I had to do my responsibilities,” he said.
“Also, if you look closely, Wales made several substitutions in that time. Well I don’t really know how he is right now.
“We’ll do a medical check-up obviously. I hope the injury is not too serious and he will be able to play soon.
“We’ve just won a match against a splendid Welsh team. If the injury is not life-threatening, we want to celebrate.”
The furore over Slimani’s reintroduction was not the only controversy, with Howley also adamant George North had been bitten by an opponent late in the contest.
“The evidence suggests there is a bite,” he said.
“The referee only had one angle. I’m sure you can ask George if you can have a look at his arm. There is evidence to suggest that there is a bite.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments