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Harlequins coach Flannery isn't totally happy with cunning Etzebeth try

Shark lock Eben Etzebeth about to successfully foil a Harlequins caterpillar ruck.

Harlequins lineout and defence coach Jerry Flannery has reacted to Eben Etzebeth’s opportunistic try against Harlequins at the Stoop yesterday.

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Quins came away with 39-29 win against the Sharks that sent them into the Heineken Champions Cup knockout phase, but they didn’t have it all their own way in West London.

Just before halftime Etzebeth seized the ball at the base of a ruck under the nose of Danny Care and galloped over from about 40 metres out.

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The South African lock spotted that Marler’s arm had become detached from its bind on Wilco Louw after a counter ruck attempt by Kerron van Vuuren, with only loosehead’s hand left resting on his fellow prop’s back.

Knowing his laws, Etzebeth took the gamble that the referee would agree with him that the ball was now technically out and duly swiped it from a protesting Danny Care, before sprinting in under the posts.

This morning Flannery took to Twitter to give his two cents on the matter and seemed to suggest the referee should have let Harlequins know in advance that the ruck would be referred in this manner.

“Counter ruck to disrupt the caterpillar ruck so the ball becomes exposed, teams must execute the kick quicker, less time to organise kick chase line means more broken field attack, just let us know how it’s going to be officiated beforehand please,” wrote Flannery.

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The former Munster hooker seemed relatively happy with the call other than the allusion to the referee not making it clear the ruck would be refereed in this manner – although the obvious question is how else should an official referee the ruck other than applying the laws of the game?

For neutrals, it was a breath of fresh air to see a caterpillar ruck successfully disrupted. The technique is considered by many to be a plight on the game as it’s near impossible to counter and encourages box kicking.

Even Marler seemed to doff his hat at Etzebeth’s game knowledge, writing on Twitter: “I told you this Geeza knows his onions, one of the best in the business.”

Funnily enough, the England loosehead had learned his lesson and was far more careful in the second-half to bind accordingly, one incidence causing both him and Etzebeth to break out laughing during the game after Marler pointed to properly bound arm [see below].

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Comments

3 Comments
S
Shaun 906 days ago

It's the coaches job to coach players and make sure they know the rules. Not the Refs job to baby sit, it's his job to make sure the game is played with in the rules. Some Refs do to much talking as it is.

S
Steve 907 days ago

Is this not in a similar vein to Rassie's tweets? I'm no fan of what Rassie did with his tweets at all but I would say the tone and intimation is the same or very very similar no?

H
HOFer 907 days ago

Similar but not on the same scale, he's not coming straight off a 12 month ban for his previous actions.

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TWAS 37 minutes ago
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I’m sorry but this just seems like incredibly selective analysis attempting to blame all team failures on JAS.


Looking through the examples:


Example 1 - long place by JAS, all support overruns the ruck. Pilfer also achieved by a player resting his arms on JAS - so should be a penalty for of his feet anyway. No failure by JAS there failing to secure the ball. By his team mates, yes.


Example 2 - a knock on punched out by the first defender who’s tackle he initially beat, from behind. An error by JAS absolutely. But every player makes the odd handling error.


Example 3 - JAS just beaten to the ruck because defender shoots to make a good tackle He passes and immediately follows. Potentially should have been a penalty to Aus because the tackler had not released and swung around into JAS’s path preventing him securing the ball, and had not released when the jackal went for the pilfer. Tackler prevented a clean release by Potter and if there was any failure, it was the ball carrier who got into a horrible position.


I am struggling how you try and blame 1 on JAS and not support, but then blame JAS when the tackler fails to make a good placement.


Example 4 - JAS flies into this ruck out of nowhere, seemingly runs past the 12 to get there. Also did you miss McReight and Williams just jogging and letting JAS run past them? Anyway he busts a get to get there but was beaten to the contest. Any failure here is on the supporting players, McReight and Williams and JAS showed great instinct to charge in to try and secure.


Example 5 - JAS is following the lead of players inside him. How this is his fault I don’t know what you are thinking


Example 6 - Gleeson misses a tackle so JAS has to drift in off his man to take the ball carrier, leaving a larger overlap when he offloads. Failure by Gleeson not JAS


Examples 7 and 8 - Wallabies defensive line isn’t aggressive. But noting to do with JAS. Fisher has actually said he is not coaching a fast line speed. To try and blame JAS is again selective.


Seems like an agenda in this rather than the genuine, quality analysis I’ve come to expect from the author.

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