Online storm created after Josh Adams is accused of cheating against England
Rugby’s chief agent provocateur Andy Goode might well have produced some of his best ever controversial work this weekend after England played Wales at Twickenham.
This came following England’s second yellow card of the match, where Wales wing Josh Adams was taken out in the air by England fullback Freddie Steward on 59 minutes after leaping in the air to take a cross field kick. This left referee Nika Amashukeli in a quandary as to whether he should show a yellow or red card. He eventually opted for a yellow card and a penalty try, which seems about fair.
But Goode took to X soon after to accuse Adams of gamesmanship due to the fact that he grasped his head after landing, trying to force Amashukeli into awarding a red card.
He wrote: “Josh Adams holding his head after the Steward hit is pure gamesmanship! Too much of this creeping into the game to try and get players sent off.”
This created an online storm to say the very least, with the comments divided between those saying that he did in fact land on his head, and those saying that he landed on his back originally. Of course, landing on your head would change the severity of the challenge and would very likely lead to a red card.
After the onslaught of abuse that Goode received following this initial post, he felt the need to clarify his comments. He said: “For all the helmets out there it’s obviously foul play and a yellow card as he lands on his side, my point was holding your head looking for a red card isn’t on. If you hold your head you should automatically go for a HIA and it might help stamp it out.”
Those two posts alone have received almost one thousand comments after a game that seemed to be brimming with controversial moments.
Josh Adams holding his head after the Steward hit is pure gamesmanship! Too much of this creeping into the game to try and get players sent off pic.twitter.com/czICKWwZyU
— Andy Goode (@AndyGoode10) August 12, 2023
For all the helmets out there it’s obviously foul play and a yellow card as he lands on his side, my point was holding your head looking for a red card isn’t on. If you hold your head you should automatically go for a HIA and it might help stamp it out pic.twitter.com/czICKWwZyU
— Andy Goode (@AndyGoode10) August 12, 2023
