Eddie Jones says intentional knock-on law shift was discussed

Eddie Jones says there was agreement on a tighter reading of the intentional knock-on, set against the near-automatic yellow card for a failed attempt to catch the ball.

Jones said a shift in how intentional knock-ons are interpreted was discussed at the recent World Rugby coaching meeting in London. Intentional knock-ons, he said, were a big talking point there.

In his Daily Mail column, Jones wrote that players had been almost automatically yellow-carded for failing to catch the ball with an outstretched hand, which he called absurd. "Everything was deemed intentional. It was quite absurd," he said.

For this autumn, Jones says, there was agreement that unless the motion is hitting the ball down, it is not an intentional knock-on. Readers wanting the wording of the laws of rugby can find them on our laws page, and more rulings are covered in laws and refereeing news.

Jones tied the issue to South Africa. He noted that the Springboks defend high and so go for intercepts more, and named Cheslin Kolbe and Bryan Habana as master interceptors. "Kolbe is a genius at it," he said.

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