If Max Jorgensen misses the British and Irish Lions series with the ankle injury he sustained against the Hurricanes on Saturday, Rugby Australia will have every right to feel very aggrieved.

There is a lot of debate about what actually constitutes a “hip drop” tackle, but common sense tells you that when any defender uses his own body weight to drag a player to the ground, therefore putting all the force through the ball carrier’s lower limbs, there is risk involved.

What will annoy the Waratahs is that Hurricanes No.6 Brayden Iose used the same technique on Jorgensen just two phases before the injury occurred. It was an incident waiting to happen, and rugby bosses need to get on the front foot, because it took them far too long to deal with croc rolls when they started creeping into the game.

Moana Pasifika No.10 Patrick Pellegrini is another one who got away from Australian rugby. The 26-year-old has been in brilliant form recently, engineering wins against the Hurricanes and Crusaders. Not bad for a former Shute Shield player who left Australia to play in England’s lower level competitions before........

© Brisbane Times