Joe Marler's 'nut grab' and subsequent Gareth Thomas joke delight nearly everyone... but not this former England 10
Andy Goode has taken fellow rugby pundit Gareth Thomas to task over a joke he made in the aftermath of the Joe Marler nut grab on Welsh skipper Alun Wyn Jones in today’s Six Nations’ match in London.
Marler grabbed the Welshman’s genitalia in the opening minutes of the game and it was the talk of the social media as a result.
During ITV’s half-time commentary, openly gay rugby pundit and former Welsh star Garth Thomas joked that: “It’d never happened in my day, and I’m upset about that, as I’d never have retired.”
It was joke that delighted his fellow pundits and the vast majority of the television audience, but one former player didn’t find it so funny – step forward Andy Goode.
Goode tweeted: “Imagine if someone touched another man or woman up in the workplace and then someone joked about it on TV. People have admiration for Gareth Thomas with what he’s been through and opened up about but I wonder if something similar was done in a homophobic way he’d joke about it?”
https://twitter.com/AndyGoode10/status/1236378514816929793
He followed that tweet up with: “People think it’s funny but the values our game has been built around aren’t in great shape at the minute!”
https://twitter.com/AndyGoode10/status/1236386205224370176
The vast majority of those tweeting found Thomas’ joke hilarious, although a minority appeared to side with the former England 10’s take on it.
Tries by Anthony Watson, Elliot Daly and Manu Tuilagi have driven England to a more convincing victory over Wales than the 33-30 scoreline suggested, but what the result means for the coronavirus-hit European Six Nations championship remains to be seen.
England led 20-9 at the break and looked to be running away with Saturday’s game after going 33-16 up after an hour but, down to 13 men after a yellow card for prop Ellis Genge and a red for centre Tuilagi for a dangerous tackle, they were cut open for two late tries.
England’s third successive victory takes them to 13 points, level with unbeaten France, who play in Scotland on Sunday. Ireland are on nine points, also with two games remaining.
For Wales, it was a third successive defeat, a year after winning the Grand Slam.
England will now have to wait for a rearranged date for their final game in Italy, hoping that France slip up in one of their last two games to open the door to the title. Ireland are also in limbo over their home game against Italy, originally scheduled for earlier on Saturday.
“Whenever we felt we got control Wales are so good at staying in the fight,” said England’s man of the match Ben Youngs.
“They battled hard and our discipline gave they easy leg-ups. They are clinical enough to punish you. It was tight in the end.
“We always try to come out with intensity and did that. We were able keep hold of game and control of it early on, a bit like they did in the second half. Rugby is bizarre at times.”
England struck early after Maro Itoje won a towering lineout and Youngs fired a superb reverse pass to Watson. The winger still had work to do but his remarkable ability to find space saw him jink past Tomos Williams.
Wales stayed in the game with two Leigh Halfpenny penalties but they were short of ideas when they had the ball, routinely kicking away possession.
England were comfortably on top and eventually razor-sharp passin g by Owen Farrell and George Ford sent Daly over in the left corner.
Farrell converted both tries and added two penalties to make it 20-9 at halftime.
But within a minute of the restart they were back within four points after England’s defence fell apart from their own kickoff, allowing Wales to pour through at pace and send flanker Justin Tipuric under the posts.
Twickenham was stunned, but England quickly regained control of the ball, territory and scoreboard, with two more penalties for a 10-point lead.
That was stretched to a decisive 17 when patient and sustained attacking allowed Tuilagi to walk in the third try.
– Additional reporting AAP
WATCH: Jim discusses the ramifications of the Six Nations going behind a pay wall and no longer being shown on free to watch TV.
Comments on RugbyPass
Should'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.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to comments