Let’s be clear on one thing: we didn’t write the laws of the game, however unplayable they are.
The powerful unions in the Northern Hemisphere came up with the laws and have been vociferous in their demand that they be enforced.
Player welfare and safety is paramount, we are told. Unless, it seems, applying the laws costs the British & Irish Lions a Test match.
When Joe Schmidt responded “read the law” and referred the media to World Rugby Law 9.20 he seemed more than a little bit bemused. And rightly so.
For the record Law 9.20 says a player must not:
(a) … charge into a ruck or maul. Charging includes any contact made without binding onto another player in the ruck or maul
(b) … make contact with an opponent above the line of the shoulders.
Sanction: Penalty.
Replays leave no doubt that Carlo Tizzano arrived first to the ruck, had rights over the ball and had his head down over it.
Equally, Jac Morgan, no matter how young and impressive and Welsh, arrived second and despite his best efforts made contact with Tizzano’s neck and head.
Joe Schmidt head coach of the Wallabies looks on during the second test of the series between Australia Wallabies and British & Irish Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 26, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Steve Christo – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
All season long that has been a penalty regardless of the hemisphere or competition.
Just not in front of 90,000 at the MCG in Test 2 of the Lions Series.
Many of us have voiced our concerns regarding how the laws as drafted reduce the contest at the breakdown.
More than a few have questioned whether applying the laws changes the game irrevocably, whether Rugby is becoming unplayable.
The concerns and questions have fallen on deaf ears. Player welfare is paramount after all!
Unless it’s a Lions Test.
Referees and TMOs make mistakes and it would be refreshing if World Rugby in Dublin confirmed that in fact this was an officiating error.
Don’t hold your breath.
What is perhaps most galling is the British & Irish media gaslighting the Southern Hemisphere.
Kind of like eight years ago in that famous drawn Test in New Zealand. We all saw what we saw, or did we?
It seems that we Aussies are meant to be gracious losers when the laws they wrote in Dublin only bend one way: “There there Australia, what wonderful competitors you were in this all-time Lions Test where our storied heroes proved just too good.”
Former Scotland scrumhalf Andy Nicol, together with the ever opinionated James Haskell, told the BBC that “It was a perfect clear out by Jac Morgan, if [the try] is disallowed then it is the end of rugby”.
Well, boys, you blokes in the north wrote the rules! They apply equally to starlets whether from Wales or Australia or South Africa. Or at least they should.
We saw a World Cup Final marred.
It was only a matter of time before a Lions series was decided by an inability to apply unplayable rules consistently.
It was indeed coming, unlike an apology from the British & Irish media.
