Gang tackling

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Glyndwr

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I was interested by the Irish tackling technique last Saturday.

First man in was holding up the ball carrier.

Second in was wrapping an arm around his throat and pulling back

Third in was ripping the ball.

This happened at least four times and was so well executed, it must have been coached.

IMO, second in was red-card offending.

I'd appreciate your views
 
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Jacko


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Clearly not in the view of referee and citing officer.

Without a video to view what you're talking about I would suspect that the majority of the time the second man would be going high to prevent an offload and therefore be on the ball rather than the neck.

I'm sure that contact with the neck may have occurred at some point - it is a high intensity fast-paced sport after all, but to imply that several red cards should have been awarded is perhaps a touch hysterical. Surely there would have been some more reaction from the Welsh (apart from blatant cheating to win the game :biggrin: ) if they were being sinned against so frequently?
 
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Taff


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Jacko said:
Without a video to view what you're talking about I would suspect that the majority of the time the second man would be going high to prevent an offload and therefore be on the ball rather than the neck.
Click to expand...
It was on Scrum V last Sunday so I don't know if it's on iPlayer, but it was pretty effective. By holding the ball carrier up (the "non-tackler" wrapped up the player from behind) it allowed a couple of team mates to try and rip the ball out, but at least get the TO if they couldn't. The ball carrier was effectively held up by at least 2 or 3 Irish players so wasn't tackled and couldn't go to ground. IIRC Ireland got 3 or 4 TO scrums from it. Good thinking.
 
O

OB..


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Glyndwr said:
Thanks, Taff.

Your mention of Scrum V set me looking. There is actually a short segment on this very issue at 23 min 20 secs in of:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00zhy7y/Scrum_V_2010_2011_Six_Nations_Special/

I'd appreciate others' views on this. Is the arm around the throat permissible?

(The link will only be available until tomorrow)
Click to expand...

Borderline tactic. It looked as if the aim was to get the arm across the chest rather than across the neck. It is risky because you might get it wrong, but it was not the sort of levering around the neck that you too often see applied in a maul. If the Welsh player was trying to go to ground, who was responsible if the arm slipped up to the neck?

Perhaps the Irish were shouting "Maul!", the Welsh were shouting "High tackle!" and the referee responded "A plague on both your houses!".
 
T

Taff


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Glyndwr said:
... I'd appreciate others' views on this. Is the arm around the throat permissible?
Click to expand...
IIRC Mike Phillips complained a few times of "high tackles" but some of the ones I saw the holding arm was around the upper chest. Of course it slipped up during the struggle.

OB.. said:
.... Perhaps the Irish were shouting "Maul!" ...
Click to expand...
They definately were, and could clearly be heard on the refs mike. Someone in the Irish setup has been doing their coaching homework. :clap:
 
Ian_Cook

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Ian_Cook

Ian_Cook


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OB.. said:
.............If the Welsh player was trying to go to ground, who was responsible if the arm slipped up to the neck?
Click to expand...

The Irish tackler is responsible.

Remember, the tackler is ALWAYS responsible for a high tackle,

► Green tackler lines up on Red player's chest, but Red player ducks at the last instant, and Green players arm strikes Red player above the line of the shoulders... peep PK against Green.

► Green tackler lines up on Red player's chest, but Red player slips at the last instant, and Green players arm strikes Red player above the line of the shoulders... peep PK against Green.

► Green tackler's arm strikes Red player on the chest and rides up to above the line of the Red player's shoulders... peep PK against Green.

...and there are no mitigating circumstances in any of these cases. so I see no reason there should be any in your scenario.
 
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