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What is the crocodile roll in rugby, is it banned and what’s the latest update on Jack Willis’ injury?

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RUGBY bosses have faced renewed calls to ban the crocodile roll following Jack Willis’ horrific injury for England against Italy.

Willis was heard writhing in pain after his knee buckled under a challenge from Sebastian Negri, with ITV refusing to show replays of the incident at Twickenham.

AP:Associated Press
Jack Willis suffered a horrific injury after a crocodile roll from Italy’s Sebastian Negri[/caption]

But what exactly is the crocodile roll?

What is the crocodile roll?

The crocodile roll refers to a move in rugby union to remove an opponent standing over the ball.

The player performing this move will grab the opponent around the torso and use their body weight to roll them to the side.

The name comes from the way in which a crocodile subdues its prey.

As crocodiles cannot chew, they thrash about turning from their front to back until their prey is split into edible chunks.

The crocodile roll technique has been criticised as it puts a lot of pressure on tackled players’ knees when their feet are touching the ground and therefore sometimes causes serious injuries like Willis’.

Is the crocodile roll banned?

The crocodile roll is not currently banned in rugby although Willis’ injury have led to calls for it to be made illegal.

However, former referee Nigel Owens argues that the move, in the way it was carried out by Negri, is currently illegal.

The game needs to do more to stop the ‘crocodile rolls’ that led to the injury to Jack Willis.

“The law is pretty simple. It is illegal to wilfully collapse a ruck and you must join no lower than your hip.

“You cannot target someone’s knees. Teams have been using judo coaches to teach players how to roll people away from the contact area. That should not be allowed.

“It is similar to the scrum feed, they are worse than they have ever been but we let them go because that’s how rugby is played and refereeing has to be consistent.”

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Welsh whistler Owens added: “We need to go back to refereeing the law. It is illegal to collapse a ruck. It is illegal to enter it below hip height.

“That would stop crocodile rolls like this happening, which will stop horrific injuries like this one.”

What is the latest update on Jack Willis’ injury?

Wasps head coach Lee Blackett confirmed Willis suffered a “significant injury” but that it was not as bad as it could have been.

Crucially, the England flanker did not rupture his ACL.

Willis did suffer an ACL injury, albeit on his right rather than left leg, in 2018 just days after being called up to Eddie Jones’ England squad.

And referring to his comeback from that moment to making his England debut against Italy, Willis tweeted: “Done it once, I’ll do it again!”

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