Wallabies accused of ‘dangerous and illegal’ tactics ahead of England Test

London: England have raised serious concerns about Australia’s “illegal” breakdown tactics before their Test against the Wallabies on Saturday.

London’s Telegraph understands that Steve Borthwick, the England coach, highlighted dozens of examples of persistent side-entries by Australian players during this summer’s Rugby Championship – which went largely unpenalised – to this weekend’s match referee in a meeting on Thursday.

Borthwick and opposite number Joe Schmidt are permitted to meet separately with Nika Amashukeli, the match official at Twickenham on Saturday, in a pre-match appointment that takes place before every Test.

It is understood that England raised serious player-safety reservations regarding Australia’s approach at what is known as the “clean-out”, as well as the fact that entering rucks at the side, whether in attack or defence, is illegal.

Laws 15.5 and 15.6 in World Rugby’s charter state: “An arriving player must be on their feet and join from behind their offside line; a player may join alongside but not in front of the hindmost player.”

There are as many as 40 attacking ruck arrivals that could be interpreted as side-entries, with about 20 clear-cut, from Australia’s matches against the British and Irish Lions, New Zealand, Argentina and South Africa in the summer, none of which were penalised by officials.

When a senior coach in the English game was shown clips of Australia’s approach, they said: “That will be coached by Joe Schmidt – and it is dangerous and illegal.”

Harry Wilson, Australia’s No.8 and captain, is among the repeat offenders, but there are plenty of other culprits; at times, the Wallabies’ actions are subtle.

England’s player-welfare concerns stem from the fact that players entering rucks from the side in attack are more likely to hit defensive players, referred to as “jacklers”, in unprotected areas. Such impacts can lead to twisting motions or falling on the lower limbs, both of which are illegal.

There is added concern for Borthwick given that he has essentially selected five openside flankers – who typically perform the jackler role – in his match-day 23 and that Australia like to play with the ball in hand, averaging more than 100 rucks a Test this year.

World Rugby’s laws 9.20d and e, introduced in 2024, state: “A player may remove the jackler from the tackle area by pushing/driving them backwards (including by grabbing the knee/leg), but must not roll, pull or twist an opponent; a player must not drop their weight onto an opponent or target the lower limbs.”

The sanction for both of those actions is, at least, a penalty, but if the incident is deemed serious enough, then referees have been known to show yellow – and even red – cards to offenders. Such situations are dangerous and have in the past led to catastrophic knee and leg injuries to defensive jacklers.

According to stats provided by Opta, the Wallabies have been penalised just three times for side-entry at attacking rucks since the start of the 2024 autumn internationals: twice in the summer series against the Lions and once in the narrow victory against Argentina in September.

This summer, however, both New Zealand and South Africa were penalised more in the Rugby Championship. Conversely, the last time that England were penalised for such an offence against tier-one opposition was against Ireland in the 2024 Six Nations.

Rugby Australia and the Rugby Football Union declined to comment when contacted by Telegraph Sport.

Telegraph, London

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