James Haskell defends his questioning of referee Romain Poite after England were left 'rattled' by Italy tactics

James Haskell has defended himself over his questioning of referee Romain Poite during the 36-15 victory over Italy that left England “rattled”, with the flanker claiming he was misinterpreted by the French official.

Both Haskell and his captain, Dylan Hartley, engaged in a lengthy conversation with Poite while the Italian scrum-half, Edoardo Gori, received treatment on a head injury. Ironically, it was Gori who was causing the root of England’s problems, as he repeatedly stood in the channel between the England scrum-half and fly-half after Italy deployed tactics to avoid any rucks and subsequently remove the offside line.

During the pause in play shortly after the half-hour mark, Haskell was heard to ask Poite: “We just wanted to know what the rule was, what the exact rule is?"

The response was: “If there is no ruck, there is just a barrier around the tackle on the ground making an offside line that is not set”. Quizzed further by Haskell and Hartley, Poite reminded them “I am the referee and not your coach”.

It took a half-time adjustment from Eddie Jones to get England playing in a way that would negate the Italian “foxes”, as Italy coach Conor O’Shea called them, from creeping round the fringe, but the second-half recovery did not stop Haskell receiving some flack on social media for his on-field comments.

“It was probably a bit of boring game and a weird one to play in,” Haskell said after the match. “It probably sent people scurrying to the law book to see what is a ruck. I tried to ask the referee what he wanted to see and he misinterpreted it. I wasn’t asking what the rule was I was asking what he needed to see at the breakdown, because I felt we were playing a break down at times but apparently not.

“I wanted to know who we could take into the breakdown if they were standing off or if we could scatter ruck. He answered the first time that he wasn’t my coach and I said no that isn’t what I am saying I want to know what you want to see and he shrugged his shoulders and carried on.”

Haskell would later take to Twitter to respond to those criticising him for asking Poite what he wanted to see, posting: “Classic day for armchair nauses. I asked what the ref wanted to see, not what the rules were. Give them what they want to see.”

The tactic, implemented by Italy defence coach Brendan Venter – the man who learned his trade under Jones at Saracens a decade ago – caused great frustration among England’s players, coaches and fans, but it was something of a rugby rule masterstroke. Everything Italy attempted at the breakdown was within the laws, and when a ruck did form, Poite was quick to call them offside.

Both Jones and the England fly-half, George Ford, were highly critical of Italy’s tactics and called on World Rugby to address the loophole before the next round of Six Nations matches in two weeks’ time. But Haskell was also happy to give Italy credit, and admitted that if England were looking for a test, they got certainly got one – just in a less physical way than they imagined.

“We knew Italy would come here with a different game plan but we didn’t necessarily expect it to be that – I don’t think anyone in the stadium did,” he added. “Fair play to Italy it was clever on their part and they are very well coached.

“All the bad stuff happened at once and it rattled us and put us off our game a bit and that is the nature of where we are at. Everyone wants to come here and put their best performance in and Italy did that and we expect the same in two weeks’ time. It is called a test match for a reason and we have been tested and you always want to learn. We will go away and tactically talk through a lot of things and work on how we can react a lot quicker but we got the win and so let’s not get too down on ourselves.

“It doesn’t feel like a normal test and I think I only cleared out three people in the match and so physically I don’t feel the same and it was just a bizarre afternoon – one that I will chalk down as a win and move on. I haven’t played rugby league so I haven’t experienced that but have played sevens and the Wasps boys had a bit of experience having played Toulouse who did a similar sort of thing. It was bizarre but fair play to Italy we knew they would do something with physicality and something clever.”

The fallout from the match is likely to dominate the week ahead, given that both Jones and Ford have called on World Rugby to address the situation. At present though, rugby’s governing body have not commented on the rule loophole.