England turn to referees for help with ‘reckless’ scrum
England won just 85 per cent of their scrums last season and have received feedback from leading referees
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.England's forwards coach Richard Cockerill says the team has sought advice from referees on their “reckless” scrum.
Steve Borthwick's side looked to officials as after discovering they won just 85 per cent of their own scrums last year, which was the worst of any tier one nation.
Cockerill said feedback from leading referees, including Wayne Barnes, suggested their scrum was “ill-disciplined and a bit reckless”.
“We’ve taken lots of input from the officials because that has not been as good a relationship as we would have liked and we have worked on fixing it,” he said.
“The boys have worked hard. We have got a good pack of forwards, we have got some good personnel, and it is just keeping them honest and working them harder than we probably did previously.”
England, who are sixth in the world rankings, have won all 11 of own their scrums so far this Six Nations but not everything has been positive for the team.
They lost to Scotland in round one and, despite beating Italy in the second round, are facing criticism for their attacking play.
Wales are next in the tournament for England if the game goes ahead. The fixture have been put in doubt amid reports Wales players could threaten to strike due to ongoing contract disputes with the Wales Rugby Union.
If the game goes ahead as planned, Cockerill expects the Welsh team to come out fighting.
“I think if anything it will probably galvanise them because they have their issues,” Cockerill said.
“I don’t really understand what the politics of it is, but from my experience, any hardship with a playing group generally brings them tighter together.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments