IRELAND CALL FOR LAW CHANGE

Ireland has called for the law to be changed to protect a player on the floor being kicked by a reckless boot at a ruck. This is as a result of Mike Brown aiming several kicks in a ruck on Saturday in an attempt to dislodge the ball, even when the Ireland scrum-half, Murray, held it in his hands off the ground. Murray required stitches to a head wound near his eye, but referee Romain Poite judged, after consultation with his television match official that the contact was accidental. Joe Schmidt said he did not think Brown had intended to injure Murray but said he was concerned about what appeared to be a trend of players trying to disrupt opposition ball by attempting to kick at it when rucks had formed after the ball carrier had been tackled.

Brown puts the boot in...

The issue was debated on the BBC last night during the highlights show, where an amused John Inverdale acted as referee between Keith Wood and Jeremy Guscott, with Andy Nicol, the neutral, supporting Wood's view that it was reckless and should have been punished. Guscott was typically arrogant, and let his jingoistic "win at all costs" stance affect his judgement. He was a decent player, but is a poor commentator. Once again, the acid test has to be, if Guscott was on the ground being kicked in the face by a Frenchman, regardless of how "technically legal" the challenge was, would his view have been different?