Kiss calls for review of drop goal rules
Ireland assistant coach Les Kiss feels there should be a rule change concerning missed drop goals following his side’s 22-19 defeat to New Zealand in the second Test.
Kiss, who has responsibility for the Irish backs division, was unhappy that New Zealand fly-half Dan Carter was gifted a second chance to land the winning drop goal.
Referee Nigel Owens awarded a five-metre scrum to the All Blacks after Carter’s first attempt at a game-clincher was deflected wide then touched down, behind the posts, by Eoin Reddan.
“If you go for a drop goal and miss then why should you get the ball back from a missed kick?” asked Kiss.
“That shouldn’t have been their advantage. They went through it and missed it as we were good enough to stop it.
“It is like a tackle. If we tackled him there, trying to attempt a field goal, but we tackled him before it, we would get the ball back. But that doesn’t happen. That’s probably a law (the International Rugby Board) could look at.”
The Australian believes Ireland pressured the All Blacks consistently throughout the Test match in Christchurch and cut out the space that led to first Test woes against the likes of Julian Savea and Conrad Smith.
He said, “We are in the coaches’ box and you can’t hear it all the time but when you opened the door and heard the noise, the fans were chanting ’All Blacks, All Blacks’. I haven’t heard that for a long time.
“It was an intimate stadium and they certainly felt it was a ridgey didge, or a fair dinkum, Test match and they were totally engaged in it.”
Kiss added, “They played well but they couldn’t break us. It was fantastic, what the boys did, but unfortunately you want to win and that is the taste that is left in your mouth.”
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