The latest headlines from Wales and around the world
Morgan was at the centre of controversy after the second Lions Test(Image: David Rogers/Getty Images)
These are your evening rugby headlines on Monday, August 4.
Legend demands answers over Jac Morgan incident
New Zealand legend Sir John Kirwan has criticised World Rugby’s handling of the controversial incident involving British & Irish Lions star Jac Morgan and Australia flanker Carlo Tizzano during the second Test match in Melbourne. In what came to be one of the main talking points of the series, Wales back rower Morgan cleared out Tizzano at a ruck in the final moments of the match, allowing Hugo Keenan to cross for a last-gasp series-winning try.
The incident was reviewed by match referee Andrea Piardi and the TMO, who deemed the Welshman’s actions to be legal, but that decision sparked fury within the Wallabies camp, as fuming head coach Joe Schmidt claimed it went against World Rugby’s “push for player safety”.
However, Tizzano also came under fire for his reaction to Morgan’s challenge as he fell to the floor clutching his face, protesting to the referee. While Schmidt later revealed that data from the flanker’s mouthguard showed he had sustained a “high magnitude impact”, his player was widely accused of simulation.
World Rugby later provided feedback to both the Wallabies and Lions coaching staff over the decision, but it was not made public, while the governing body’s CEO Alan Gilpin also refused to comment on it during a press conference after the match.
However, this has not sat well with Kirwan, who has called on World Rugby to be crystal clear in its rulings on potential diving cases, in order to stamp it out of the game completely. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
“I keep coming back to our new leadership and chairman, but we need to start making some decisions publicly, and they need to show leadership,” he told the Rivals podcast. “The referee leadership did not come out and defend the decision in the second Test, and our game needs to understand what we are going to do about diving.
“It’s a professional sport now, and players will try to milk a penalty. Our leadership needs to come out and say that any sort of diving is going to be dealt with like this. I would say every single South African who sees someone dive will absolutely hate it and hate the person who has dived.
“I’m not saying that Tizzano dived, but he made a gesture, trying to milk a penalty. But he takes the brunt of the opinion, and he is the brunt of something in our game that needs to have a decision made on it.
“What are we going do about people trying to milk a penalty? That’s the question, and we need an answer from our leadership, and then we move forward; otherwise, we are going to get it all the time.”
Lions star banned for ‘reckless’ act
By PA News Agency
British and Irish Lions hooker Dan Sheehan has been suspended for four matches following his illegal clearout of Australia’s Tom Lynagh during Saturday’s third Test in Sydney.
The sanction will be reduced to three games, subject to the Ireland and Leinster player successfully completing a coaching intervention course.
Sheehan’s challenge in the first half of the Lions’ 22-12 loss at Accor Stadium went unpunished by Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli before he was retrospectively cited. Replays showed the 26-year-old’s elbow appeared to make contact with his opponent’s head.
Wallabies fly-half Lynagh kicked a penalty moments after the incident but was then withdrawn for a head injury assessment (HIA) and did not return.
Sheehan will be unavailable for Leinster’s pre-season clash with Cardiff on September 13 and United Rugby Championship (URC) fixtures against South African sides the Stormers and the Sharks on September 26 and October 11 respectively. If he serves the full four-match ban, the forward will also sit out his province’s URC clash with rivals Munster on October 18.
World Rugby’s independent review committee deemed Sheehan’s actions to be reckless, that contact was made with Lynagh’s head, and ruled the action amounted to a high degree of danger without mitigation.
Sheehan, who was captaining the Lions at the time after skipper Maro Itoje failed an HIA, has accepted the sanction. However, in his submissions, the player did not agree foul play occurred or that the offence warranted the citing.
Despite their weekend loss, Andy Farrell’s Lions celebrated a 2-1 series success over Australia following victories in Brisbane and Melbourne.
Earl: Lions tour has been life-changing
England back rower Ben Earls has issued a glowing assessment of his first British & Irish Lions tour, claiming it has been “the highlight of [his] life”.
The 27-year-old, who featured as a replacement in the first and third Tests against Australia, says working with head coach Andy Farrell and his tour teammates has had a “transformative” effect on him as a player and person, and he will be taking some valuable lessons back to club side Saracens ahead of the new season.
“Just get out of your own way,” he told The Guardian when asked what he had learnt on tour. “You can overthink this sport so much but when you’ve got a game on Saturday, then you’ve got to play again on Tuesday or Wednesday, you’re not going to be able to do every rep, review everything opposition. Get out of your own way and just play rugby.
“It’s almost like you get to the pinnacle of our sport – this is what it is – and you’re back playing under-12s on a Sunday morning,” Earl added. “There’s no preparation, you just go out, you have a plan, you try to implement it, you express yourself in a way Andy and the rest of the coaching staff have allowed us to do and I’ve loved every minute of it.
Earl went on to credit the tour as “a life changing-experience,” as he added: “It’s been… the highlight of my life, certainly my rugby-playing life. I’ve made friends for life, memories for life.
“It showed me something completely different in terms of the rugby side of things. I’ve loved it. It has been completely transformative for me and I’m a far better player because of it.
“I’ve spoken to fellow Englishmen that there’s some cool stuff we can bring back to camp and that’s sort of the whole point, isn’t it? We can come back and say, ‘there are some bits we’ve done here that work when we have time away or during campaigns’.
“I’m almost excited to get going again. I need my time off, but I’m almost excited to get back into certain environments to be like, ‘have you thought about this?’.”
As for working with head coach Farrell, the England star said: “He has made me fully believe in how good I am. Every time he talks to the group, I’m like, I’ll do anything for that man, I’m ready to play. Even when I’m not playing.
“Every time he spoke to the group, I’m like, when the time comes, I’m ready to play for this bloke.”