Italy used a very bizzare defensive tactic in their game against England a few days ago which involved exploiting a rule loophole.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.express.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/772681/E...
I'm not really a rugby expert so my explanation may be a bit off, here goes anyway:
apparently if the defenders do not maintain contact with the offensive players in the pile after a tackle there is no offsides rule, only a 3 foot exclusion zone. So Italy was giving up about a yard by not forming a ruck in order to have defenders behind the line.
Italy did not win & in fact kind of got stomped in the 2nd half.
I wonder if anyone saw the game? I am guessing England decided to just take small chunks of field in a steady march.
Was this just a one time tactic? I've never seen anything like this in rugby.