The fallout from Italy’s ‘no-ruck’ tactics deployed in their 36-15 defeat by England shows no sign of letting up after it emerged that World Rugby is considering a review of the law that allowed them to avoid the ruck and negate the offside line.

The England head coach, Eddie Jones, was irate afterwards after witnessing tactics that he felt “was not rugby” and went against the spirit of the game, while George Ford and Danny Care supported his calls for World Rugby to address the regulation before their penultimate Six Nations match against Scotland a week on Saturday.

The tactics, deployed by Italy coach Conor O’Shea and defence coach Brendan Venter, also drew criticism from World Cup winner Matt Dawson, while his head coach back in 2003, Sir Clive Woodward, claimed that while the ploy was a masterful one, World Rugby needed to address the law in order to prevent the ruck becoming a no-contest.

However, not everyone rushed to criticise the Italian team – something that angered O’Shea immediately after the match as he demanded Italy be treated with respect – with New Zealand’s Rugby World Cup-winning coach lauding the Six Nations’ basement side for trying the risky tactic.

"It's a brave team that tries it," Smith told Fairfax Media in New Zealand. "I think Conor has shown some thinking outside the box and they've been courageous enough to have a crack because there are lot of potential flaws, and not every referee will be in favour of it.

"It's one of those surprise tactics that I think could work now and again, but you certainly couldn't build your game around it. I don't think it requires a law change. The law says you require one from each team over the ball bound together to create a ruck. I can't see them changing that.

"It's not an anomaly in the law, it's just a part of the game, a shock tactic that a team might use now and again but certainly if you became predictable by doing it you'd be cut to bits."

And that’s exactly why the big fuss over rule changes and law clarifications seems somewhat rather unnecessary. This was not Italy ripping up the rulebook, this wasn’t O’Shea flouting the laws in order to gain an underhand advantage. This wasn’t like bowling underarm in cricket, no matter how much Jones wanted to compare the incident to Trevor Chappell against New Zealand in 1981.

Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Show all 15 1 /15 Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Ben Moon (England) Placed in the unenviable position of replacing the best loosehead on the world and did himself proud. Lasted 77 minutes of England’s defeat in Wales which is no small feat in such an attritional encounter, and held his own in the scrum and defence with an impressive 19 tackles. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Leonardo Ghiraldini (Italy) Another player who displayed his best in defeat. Ghiraldini was reliable at the lineout and stood out with ball in hand as he carried powerfully in attack. Also contributed with a full 80-minute outing. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Demba Bamba (France) One of France’s most prominent carriers as they finally got their campaign up and running with an impressive victory over Scotland. Looks a real find at 20 years old and can more than hold his own in the front-row. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Cory Hill (Wales) Scored the try that broke England’s spirit and put Wales on the path to victory in Cardiff. Took on responsibility at the lineout when Ken Owens started to wobble, and looked like a man who had emptied the tank when he left the field to huge applause. Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Alun Wyn Jones (Wales) What more can you say about the Welsh captain? Leads by example, but then he’s never short of the right words when they’re needed. A colossus against his oldest enemy as he mentally broke Kyle Sinckler and led the charge in refusing to bow to the English defence. At 33 years old, he seems to be getting better by the day. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Josh Navidi (Wales) Is transpiring to be quite the player at international level as this week he displayed both sides of his game. Defensively brilliant as he ensured everything that he hit stayed hit, but also offered more offensively with smart support play to those around him. One good turnover with Liam Williams brought three points for Wales as they trapped Jonny May in possession. Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Tom Curry (England) Arguably the standout performer of the round. At 20 years of age, the promise in Curry is enough to make every England fan excited, even if it came in a losing effort. England’s half-time lead in Cardiff – and Wales’ inability to get into the match – came through Curry as he scored an opportunistic try and defended like a man possessed. Made an astonishing 17 tackles by half-time and added eight more after the break. Action Images via Reuters Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Louis Picamoles (France) Mr Reliable once again turned up for the resurgent French as they took the fight to Scotland and came away with the victory. Carried emphatically from the base and caused problems for the French back-row, while he was also a rock in defence. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Tito Tebaldi (Italy) Probably the surprise package of the round. Made his first Six Nations appearance since 2014 and proved to be the spark that the Italians needed to get going. Quick to the breakdown that helped produce Edoardo Padovani’s opening try and stripped Conor Murray of the ball to breakaway that set-up the second. He was also a useful addition at the breakdown. REUTERS Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Romain Ntamack (France) Lived up to the high billing he’s received on his first start in the No 10 shirt after two outings at centre, and looked to do enough to hold on to his place for the trip to Ireland. Part of a Toulouse spine running through the back line that clicked into gear and he calmly finished a brilliant 70m move to get France off the mark. EPA Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Josh Adams (Wales) A beautiful finish sparked wild celebrations inside the Prinicipality Stadium as he soared above Elliot Daly and juggled the ball as he crashed to the turf before placing it over the line. Superb in defence, particularly aerially, and made a crucial tackle on Jonny May when he looked to be away. Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Gael Fickou (France) Probably one of his best outings for Les Bleus that came at the perfect time with Wesley Fofana still absent through injury. Caused Scotland to retreat on numerous occasions with clean line breaks and also contributed well in defence. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Chris Farrell (Ireland) In the absence of Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose and – after just 11 minutes – Bundee Aki due to injury, Farrell helped ensure that Ireland didn’t slip-up in Rome. It was his clean line break that set-up Quinn Roux to score the opener, while he also linked nicely with Earls outside him for his Munster teammate to scythe through the Italian defence. Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Keith Earls (Ireland) Ireland boss Joe Schmidt couldn’t have asked much more from him as he showed good awareness to link with Conor Murray to score the third try to get Ireland back in front, feigning to go outside before cutting back inside two defenders to score. Made numerous line breaks and also had to show his versatility by moving from wing to centre. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Thomas Ramos (France) Perhaps harsh on Wales’ Liam Williams who enjoyed an excellent outing in Cardiff, but there was something quite brilliant about watching Ramos’ display in Paris. Beat seven defenders, three of which came in a breath-taking counter attack that led to Ntamack’s try. All of this came on his first Six Nations start, and it felt like the arrival of France’s new long-term full-back. AFP/Getty Images

This was an incredibly risky strategy that, for 45 minutes, left England scratching their heads. By disturbing the quality of ball between scrum-half Danny Care and fly-half George Ford, Italy had nullified the impact that England’s lethal outside backs can have if given clean ball with space to run into.

But this all changed at half-time, where the message was made clear to England. Be direct, be faster and don’t allow the Italians round to their side of the tackle. It worked and then some, with England running five tries past Italy in the second half and comfortably dominating their opponents after working out how to beat them. That, by all accounts, is a contest.

Loading....

Despite the criticism he took for asking the referee, Romain Poite, what he wanted to see in the ruck, Haskell actually hit the nail on the head after the match. “It is called a test match for a reason and we have been tested and you always want to learn,” the flanker said.

If teams are willing to play how Italy did on Sunday, they must be wary of the fragility they suddenly create in defence. Once England realised that quick, pick-and-go drives from the base of the ruck left them with big gaps to run in to, Italy soon stopped rushing beyond the ball as they simply did not have enough defenders to cope around the breakdown. As Smith says, if teams want to live by the sword, they will soon enough die by the sword if they choose to persist with such tactics.

O'Shea's side were left exposed once England worked out their tactics (Getty)