Day of the jackal Morgan's pivotal Lions moment reignites rugby's tackle area debate

Another Lions tour added to the annals, and everyone is more or less happy. The British & Irish Lions take a series win, just about, and Australia have a pivotal moment at the end of the second Test to whinge about, or console themselves over, depending on your viewpoint.

- Michael Aylwin

Certainly, these days, it is difficult to know what disciplinary outcome may pertain to each incident in the cut and thrust of elite rugby. Most people with eyes can appreciate there was no head contact when Jac Morgan tried to clear out the jackling Carlo Tizzano in the buildup to Hugo Keenan's winning try, but there is no doubt Tizzano was in an exposed position, just as that particular split-second represented an impossible situation for Morgan. Had he gone any lower he would have made contact with the head, higher and he would have missed the clearout altogether.

Beyond the noise of yet more grownups who should know better carrying on as if they were the first to find themselves on the wrong side of a contentious decision, a wider question has bubbled up again-whether it is time to put the jackal to sleep once and for all. Indeed, lexically, World Rugby has tried to do that. In the latest amendment to its law book, all mentions of "the jackal" and its variations have been replaced by "the stealer". This may be because of the conjugation of a verb that did not exist in the English language until rugby came along. Before it removed them altogether, World Rugby chose to spell the inflections of the verb "to jackal" so that they matched those of the verb "to tackle", rather than "to pedal", causing mayhem in editorial offices across the world.