Where does Reece Hodge’s baffling escape leave high tackle crackdown? | Andy Bull

Sep 21, 2019

The Australia wing caught Fiji’s Peceli Yato in the head with a shoulder and didn’t use his arms, World Rugby’s tackle directives could not be clearer – yet no action was taken

For 15 minutes the Sapporo Dome sounded as loud as any other ground in the game. And then the rugby started. The volume was ear-splitting in the minutes before kick-off, while the stadium PA was pumping out music, but it fell almost entirely silent in the very second the New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe blew his whistle.

It was so quiet in the first half that you could clearly hear the players shouting to each other over the murmurs of the 40,000-odd people in the ground. It made it all feel fairly surreal, as if all these happy new fans were still trying to figure out exactly what they were watching. Well if they were, forgive them their confusion, because, judging by the refereeing, a lot the experts out there are pretty baffled, too.

Tags: Australia rugby union team Australia sport Concussion in sport Fiji rugby union team Rugby union Rugby World Cup Rugby World Cup 2019 Sport World Rugby