Allegations of illegal English tactics by Wales met with strong denial from Mike Catt.
Like you, we can’t wait for the Six Nations to finally get going tonight when Wales take on England at the Millennium Stadium. The game should be a excellent one, and it could also have a fair bit of bite after some reasonably serious jabs thrown by both back room teams in the build up.
This morning’s papers across the water all lead on the ‘war of words’ between the sides and it all started after Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards told the media what Warren Gatland would bring up when he met referee Jerome Garces last night.
“I’ve studied England’s play a lot and did so along with Salford coach Marty Gleeson, who agreed with me that England use a style of play that is similar to the way I used to play with Wigan Warriors [as did England backs coach, Andy Farrell],” Edwards is quoted as saying in the Telegraph.
“They try and get you to number up wrong on your left or right edge, the trigger being the full-back who is scanning where the attack should go. They [England] will be coming at you with league plays with the ball out the back. It is important that we get our structures right.
“It is also important that there is no obstruction of our defensive players ahead of the ball. A lot of tries are disallowed in rugby league because of that. I’m sure the referees and television match officials will be well aware of that.
“It is a risk to do a lot of those rugby league plays because of the obstruction rule. The obstruction rule is administered even more harshly in rugby union than in league.”
The accusation that England deliberately employ tactics to obstruct the opposition was net with an appropriately catty response from England attack coach Mike Catt.
“The way we play, probably everyone in world rugby does what we do, so I don’t know what his [Edwards’s] concern is. There’s nothing illegal about it. Every team runs those sort of shapes. Rugby league guys do it. It’s league and union and everyone together. I don’t know why Wales don’t do it. They do, surprise surprise.”
How French referee Garces handles it should be interesting tonight. Roll on kick off
