Ashton blames blinkered players for sin-bin failure

THE SIN-BIN, rugby’s equivalent of the naughty step, has been around since 1997, to act as a deterrent against foul play.

- JON NEWCOMBE

However, data from World Rugby covering the main international and cross-border club competitions over the past year suggests it is no longer serving its purpose.

The common assumption that there is a seven-point net gain for the team who has the man advantage is wide of the mark.

In the last editions of the Rugby World Cup 2019, the Six Nations and The Rugby Championship there was only a two-point net swing during the ten minutes of the sin-bin, and in just over half the matches in Japan (51 per cent), there was no advantage at all.

Meanwhile, in the two European competitions, the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, the net gain was twice as high but still less than the value of an unconverted try.

Former England head coach Brian Ashton believes this is an indictment not of the sin-bin itself but of the attacking skills and mindset of the team temporarily playing with 15 men against 14.

“If a team in ten minutes can’t get scores on the board playing against a man down, then you just wonder why they are even bothering to be honest,” said Ashton, below, now working in football as a coach mentor.

“It doesn’t mean the system should be changed, it is nothing to do with the system, it’s the people playing and coaching the game.

“You get odd flashes with odd teams who suddenly break free and try and play rugby and are confrontational – not just physical but in every way, mentally and tactically and technically as well.

“There are players dotted around the Premiership who can do that but by and large a lot of it, in my eyes anyway, is relatively predictable.