Allan Massie: Citing players for dangerous tackles is a step in right direction

N o use crying over spilled milk. Most of us have probably been told that by mother, grandmother or a tough-minded aunt. Quite so: no point in tracking back and reviewing our first disastrous game in Japan. Looking coldly at where we are, we can say it’s where we feared we would be, needing to beat Samoa, Russia and Japan to qualify for the doubtful pleasure of meeting, probably, the All Blacks in the quarter-final.

Pecali Yato of Fiji is tackled by Australias Reece Hodge. Picture: Getty.

All the same the mood is different from what it would have been if the defeat last Sunday had been narrow. Recovery is made more difficult by the loss to injury of our best terrier Hamish Watson and Ali Price who is, taking all aspects of the scrum-half game into account, our most complete No 9; not the best in some areas, but the best all-round.

At the moment of writing the team hasn’t been announced. There will surely be a few changes with, perhaps, a new back-row of Jamie Ritchie, Blade Thomson and Magnus Bradbury. Stuart Hogg has missed a couple of days of training. So, even if fit, he may start on the bench, with Blair Kinghorn at 15. Darcy Graham may replace Tommy Seymour. Perhaps Scott Cummings will get a start. But it’s all guesswork.

What we do know is that Samoa are dangerous, mighty if also rash tacklers, powerful and fast. They are good at scoring tries, not so good at preventing them. A bit like Scotland, you may, sourly, mutter. Matches against Samoa have usually been close, but also usually won. There’s no reason why this one shouldn’t be won too.

Two questions have dominated the World Cup so far, both relating to the quality of refereeing. The policing of high and dangerous tackles has been inconsistent; nevertheless tolerance of them is on the wane. Players who escape the proper punishment on the field are being cited, found guilty and suspended. This is a step in the right direction, though retrospective judgement can’t alter the result of matches in which players have remained on the field when they should have been sent off.

The prime example was the Australia-Fiji match. Reece Hodge escaped scot-free when his shoulder charge to the head laid out the Fijian Peceli Yato. Australia should have played for more than an hour with 14 men. Instead Hodge remained on the field, scored a try and put a couple of monstrous penalty kicks into touch. His contribution might have had him named man of the match. Asked about that tackle on Yato, the Wallaby coach Michael Cheika said he hadn’t seen it; astonishing how often coaches aren’t watching when one of their players commits a nasty foul. Hodge has since been suspended which is no comfort to Fiji. One can’t help suspecting that if that tackle had been the other way round – Yato on Hodge rather than Hodge on Yato – the Fijian would have been shown the red card. No doubt it’s unconscious but referees tend to be more indulgent to the higher-ranked team.

The second question relates to the policing of the offside line. We all know this is difficult. A referee doesn’t have a second set of eyes on the back of his head. However, these days there are the eyes of the assistant referees to help and they are in a position to spot players advancing offside when the referee has his eyes on scrum, line-out, maul or ruck. Failure to police offside can spoil a match; it makes attractive running rugby more difficult than it already is, and it is as much cheating as handling in a ruck or coming in to ruck or maul from the side.

Conditions are proving trying. The weather has been hot and often wet, humidity levels high. It’s perhaps not the best time of the year to be playing rugby in Japan, but it’s the only time of the year when the World Cup can be staged if the rest of the rugby calendar isn’t to be horridly disrupted. One consequence is that there has been a lot of kicking and tight matches are most likely to be won by the team with the better kicking game. This is very good news for Ireland, and Conor Murray in particular. It certainly gives them a good chance of getting at least to the semi-final if, as now seems likely, they meet South Africa in the quarters.

Still there may be upsets before we reach that stage. There has been only one surprise in the first 12 matches, Uruguay’s narrow win against Fiji. There shouldn’t be any this morning. Wales v Australia tomorrow is a fascinating prospect. One supposes that Gareth Davies and Dan Biggar will kick often in an attempt to force Australia to play from deep.

Then, on Monday morning, our thoughts turn back to Scotland and, we hope, a match which will lift 
the gloom.

• Our Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup coverage is brought to you in association with Castle Water www.castlewater.co.uk and on Twitter @CastleWaterLtd