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'You guys want athletes to have opinions and then when they do a lot of people are shot in the foot for it'

Some of the England rugby team kneeling /Getty via PA

England wing Anthony Watson has hit back at critics of players taking a knee and those who didn’t in support of the Black Live Matter movement before last weekend’s clash with Scotland at Twickenham.

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Watson is aware of online criticism and today made it clear he would not be silent because he felt aggrieved about the reaction and said: “I just feel very strongly it is a double standard at the moment and you guys and everyone wants athletes to have opinions and express themselves and then when they do a lot of people are shot in the foot for it and even more serious things can come from it. I think particularly with the kneeling stuff and the Black Live Matter stuff people who are educated fully on why kneeling was started then they would be in a much better place to comment on what we are doing and what is going on.

england squad rugby
Anthony Watson PA
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“Not everyone who is kneeling is directly associated with the Black Lives Matter organisation because some of their view in my opinion are a bit extreme. But the importance of kneeling to raise awareness of social injustice I feel is still massively important. To see people on social media try to discredit its importance – I can’t let that slide. People want to jump on it because it is their way of disagreeing with it instantly.”

After the England game Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend addressed the criticism that taking a knee had created at Twickenham. He said: “It was a strange situation and I understand why people see a photo of a lot of players not taking the knee and that’s an issue for them. They’re right to have their opinions.

“But it was a big surprise to us, and nothing that happened in any other game, whether it’s Ireland, Wales, Italy or France or any game in the Autumn Nations that we were involved in were taking the knee. So rugby and the Autumn Nations and the Six Nations have declared that we will recognise that moment in our stand against racism and discrimination by putting messages on the screen.”

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AM 10 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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