00:00After each tackle, everyone was expecting Italy to form a defensive line, like this.
00:05After all, it's what you're meant to do in rugby.
00:07But instead, the Italians were just running around behind the offside line like headless chickens.
00:12It looked like they didn't even know how to play rugby.
00:16But no matter how many times they did it, the referee never called offside.
00:20Their opposition, England, was supposed to be the greatest team in the tournament.
00:24But with Italy, the lowest team in the tournament, seemingly now immune to the offside rule,
00:28the Italian players just loitered around, intercepting passes and tackling immediately whenever England got the ball.
00:35The English home crowd were furious, and along with England's players, constantly called offside,
00:41certain that the referee was either corrupt or didn't know what was going on.
00:45But the referee was actually one of the few people in Twickenham Stadium who did know exactly what was going
00:52on.
00:52And he assured England that Italy weren't actually doing anything against the rules.
00:56England's captain and a senior player were confused.
01:00They questioned the referee, asking him how they can combat these strange tactics,
01:04to which the referee appropriately responded,
01:07I am the referee, I'm not the coach.
01:09By the end of the first half, Italy was winning.
01:12The lowest team in the tournament were destroying England in front of their own home crowd.
01:16So what did Italy know about rugby's rules?
01:19That England, the country that invented the game, seemingly didn't.
01:23Well, in rugby, when a player is tackled to the ground and the other players from both teams pile over
01:28them to fight for the ball,
01:30it's called a ruck.
01:31Once a ruck is formed, an invisible offside line is in place across the field,
01:35which defenders aren't allowed to cross until the ball is passed.
01:38But the loophole that Italy realised was that a ruck is only formed when at least one player from each
01:45team
01:45was in contact, on their feet, and over the ball, which is on the ground.
01:49So if no Italian player touched the pile, no ruck was technically formed.
01:55If there is no ruck, there is no offside line.
01:58If there is no offside line, the Italian players can go basically anywhere they want.
02:02Now, despite how smart this might seem, it's actually a pretty dumb tactic.
02:06With their team scattered about, Italy didn't have a defensive line in place.
02:11So all England had to do was pick up the ball and run through the middle.
02:14But it took England half the game to finally realise this.
02:18And despite eventually winning the match, England had already been mogged so hard
02:22that they literally pressured World Rugby to change the rules of the game a few months later.
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