“I got absolutely minced trying to go low [so] I decided in my own head that I wasn’t going to try that route again,” Sheehan said. “I was lucky enough I just slipped over the top of them and got through. I know there is a bit of controversy around it but in my head, if you are going to score a try, you can dive.”
Referees can award penalties for any type of dangerous play, but when pressed by Wallabies captain Harry Wilson after the try, referee Andrea Piardi said: “He is allowed to dive to score a try.”
World Rugby issued a clarification on the subject in 2022, to ban people hurdling tacklers but to ensure players can still dive with spectacular leaps to a corner.
But the concern raised by Schmidt, and even many northern hemisphere experts, is not about when someone dives with defenders to their side, but when players try to dive over defenders who are straight in front of them on the line, and there are now dozens of pick-and-go charges in a game.
The diver is likely to be hit on the head, or even be spun over from a tackle, resulting in them landing on their neck. Either one would likely attract a penalty.
Burke said on the Between Two Posts podcast: “I don’t see this as a try. How do you stop him? How do you make a tackle, if it’s not going to be head on head contact there?”
Dan Sheehan of the British and Irish Lions scores.Credit: Getty Images
Wales legend Jamie Roberts said on X: “Having seen it be allowed at the top of the game, many (& kids) could now emulate a potentially very dangerous act.”
With a green light given at the MCG, the tactic has the potential to spread fast in rugby. The Wallabies have this week been training to stay high enough to stop players diving over on the line, but also keeping body height low enough to stop low charges.
Asked if World Rugby would review the law to address the grey zone, WR chief executive Alan Gilpin said: “We had a look at it a few years ago and it’s absolutely a challenging one, you know, this distinction between you can’t jump into a tackle but you can dive for the try line, and therefore which is it?
“Obviously the match officials took the view that Sheehan was diving for the try line, and we’ve got to be careful that we don’t make diving for the try line impossible because we’d lose the drama of amazing tries in the corner and the athleticism of the game. As with so many parts of our game, it’s complex.”
Former Wallaby and current World Rugby chairman Brett Robinson expressed a similar view, and also stopped short of saying the law required amending.
“Well, it’s hard, isn’t it? Because you have these wonderful tries where the wingers, they’re diving in to score in the corners,” Robinson said.
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“The law was looked at a few years ago, the principle is you have the right to dive to score a try. And the tension in that is, as a defender, where do I take someone? It’s a tricky one. I think the principle of what we’re saying is clear. But in moments like that, it can become challenging for people to interpret.
“You’d hate to think that, how can you not dive to score a try? But it’s a good question about how you manage head contact close to the line. You’ve got players that are picking and driving, so you have to be pragmatic about that.
“And I know that our coaches and referees have looked, particularly in close-quarter contact, with low-velocity contact points, to be flexible around that, because it’s so hard if you’re picking and driving close to the line. You’re going to have heads coming into people directly. So it’s not simple.”
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