An openside flanker's (and indeed every player on a rugby field's) job is to play to the line that the ref will allow. Yes McCaw has made an artform of 'accidentally' falling on the wrong side of a tackle, but as long as the refs keep letting him do it, McCaw should, and will, continue to be the best openside flanker in the game, and possibly ever. I'm not at all suggesting that he isn't an incredible player outside of this, but the only other player who is starting to learn these tactics from Richie is David Pocock (who is crucified by the public for playing unfairly), who is arguably the second best openside flanker in the world. »
Can someone explain what Slipper's sin-binning was for? I only got to watch the highlights, but it looks to me like the tackled player was isolated and that both Wallaby players were well within their rights to try to pilfer the ball. Maybe another angle showed that Slipper did not maintain his feet?
Ignoring the legality of the hit, the Italians were clearly milking these tackles. I'm not saying the hits wouldn't have hurt, but in the first tackle the Italian player behaves as if he is unconscious, despite being hit in the chest. This is typical of Italian rugby players, who have obviously been influenced by their national sport.
