No-kneeling Wales defeated England in the Six Nations rugby tournament to claim the competition’s prized Triple Crown.
The Six Nations has been marked by controversy around the vexed question of whether players should be expected to kneel for the Black Lives Matter movement before games, with a historic win by a Scotland over England on English soil being somewhat marred by a woke backlash over the fact that few Scots bent the knee, while the great majority of England players did.
The Scottish team bucked the prevailing trend of caving in to such outcries, however, with not one of their players taking a knee ahead of their subsequent match against the Welsh side, which also remained standing.
Wales also kept their feet ahead of their latest game against England — half the English squad knelt, according to reports, indicating that the gesture may be somewhat losing its power — which they won 40-24.
With this victory, Wales claimed the Triple Crown, a competition-within-a-competition contested between British Isles teams England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. (Northern Ireland does not have independent representation in the tournament).
It is only awarded if one of these teams manages to defeat all of the others — a clean sweep which, if it is managed by anyone, is usually managed by England, which is much larger than its immediate neighbours by population and therefore draws on a much deeper sporting talent pool.
England has struggled this tournament, however, with head coach Eddie Jones conceding it is “almost impossible for us to win the championship now.”
England Rugby has complained its players have been receiving abuse, insisting that “Respect is a core value of rugby” and lamenting the fact that “some of the reaction on social media to players and the team has not shown the level of respect the rugby community prides itself on.”
“We will support our players and team against online abuse,” it vowed.