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March 2, 2009

Posted on 03/02/2009

England's cheating problem

Simon Barnes takes aim at England's disciplinary problem, and has little time for their excuses, in The Times.

"The England rugby union team do not have a discipline problem. They have a cheating problem. There comes a point when a team break the laws of a game so often that you can no longer consider their conduct a series of aberrations, a collection of individual blunders or a problem of over-enthusiasm. So let's call a spade a spade.

"Breaking the laws of a game is cheating, there's no two ways about it. But let us leave the moral question aside here. Many people in professional sport believe that it is your moral duty to get away with anything you can; many spectators go along with that, at least if they support the team in question. The most obvious point here is that England are not only cheats, they are incompetent cheats.

"Cheating is worthwhile only if you get away with it. England are not getting away with anything. Their cheating brings them no gain. Quite the reverse: they are getting punished heavily for it. But by the most extraordinary process of sporting logic, the more they are caught cheating, the more they cheat.

"Once again, England lost any chance they might have had of winning on Saturday because they constantly broke the laws of the game and they got caught doing so. They have conceded 41 penalties in their three RBS Six Nations Championship games this year and they have received six yellow cards. While they have been short-handed, they have conceded 30 points."

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