Jonathan Kaplan
This weekend saw the finale of The Rugby Championship and we saw two very contrasting games. The All Blacks won the trophy… again. Deservedly.
The Pumas won their first ever fixture in this tournament, a historical moment and one they will never forget… I certainly won’t, but the highlight had to be the bromance in the coaches box after the game where their Latin exuberance, warmth and hot blooded nature got the better of some of them… Put it this way, there was lots of lovin!!
Rate the Ref
The Springboks finally beat the All Blacks after coming quite close over the past couple of years.
From a parochial SA viewpoint it was a great win. Even, I suspect from a neutrals point of view, it was good to see a team challenge the best team, and beat them. There wasn’t much to choose between the teams, and the respect between the players and coaching staff is evident for all to see.
It is a beautiful thing of the sport of rugby union and one which we should cherish, as it doesn’t permeate through all sporting codes!
The Boks dominated the first half, the All Blacks the second. In the end, the game came down to a decision by the TV producer to highlight a misdemeanor by Liam Messam on Schalk Burger, which all the officials missed in real time. After finding the clip, and then replaying it over and over, eventually the Television Match Officials decided it was worthy of review, and correctly awarded a penalty to the Boks, which Pat Lambie (who has oodles of BMT) converted to win the game.
The TMO himself seemed a bit confused by referring to the fact that he thought perhaps arms were used in the tackle which was hardly the point. It was a swinging arm and a dangerous tackle.
If you are a Bok supporter, you will be saying we deserved it, and how many times it happened against us.
The protocol and process will mean nothing. But there is an important point to make here. I doubt (very much) whether that clip would have been brought up on the screen by producers in Australia or New Zealand and replayed over and over.
Is it right that someone outside of the domain of the match officials can affect the outcome of a major test match? And how neutral is he? In the end, it was his alertness that drew the attention of the crowd to the high tackle, they got into it, the officials then decided to take a look, and the resultant penalty determined the outcome.
I thought Wayne Barnes had a decent match. He walks a lot. He talks a lot.
And I wasn’t that impressed when he penalized Jan Serfontein for not rolling away when he could not (unplayable was the right call) or Jannie du Plessis for side entry on the All Black line when his action had no influence on the play at all (he attempted a clean and missed his target) or the resets of scrums when Franks’ feet are so far back on the touch, that he is almost certainly hanging over the cliff (not supporting his own body weight) and the last penalty… A brave call! BUT, he let the game flow with the right amount of empathy and game management. He was even handed in his approach.
He is a superior communicator. And he is smart!
He showed his experience in this toughest of environments when the reffing in this tournament has been quite ordinary, and deserves credit for that (and he was excellent at my braai on Tuesday with his singing of “Bye bye miss American pie”. So much for those people who regularly say the Northern referees are not up to it!
Argentina vs Australia:
Argentina beat Australia 21 – 17 after being down 0 – 14. They worked hard for this win, and worked hard for each other in the fixture. Their carry was excellent and they seemed to get rewards when they were in the Australian half.
Their tries were well constructed and I am really happy for them that they have finally won a game. Hopefully they will become even more competitive in the years to come and win an away game or two.
Australia will bemoan the fact that they let slip a biggish lead, but the real story will perhaps be the 3 Yellow Cards that the Wallabies received on match day.
Last week I was singing Nigel Owens’ praises after the match at Newlands. He has really shot to the fore after the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand but I thought he was poor on Saturday.
He was strangely hesitant in his decision making, once even asking the Assistant Referee whether there were hands in, after he penalized Australia and had pulled his Cards out already. He then put the cards back in his pocket. What was the point?
Not so lucky was the Australian No 9, Nick Phipps, who received a Yellow Card for a brilliant piece of play where he was the tackler and didn’t infringe at all.
What should have been a turnover to Australia, resulted in a Yellow Card which was a disaster for the Wallabies who then conceded a penalty and a try in his absence. Not great!! They would have been spitting mad as that decision had huge consequences for this test match.
Towards the end of the fixture, with the game still in the balance, the referee stopped the game when Hooper attempted a charge down, was airborne and in the process fell on top of Sanchez, the kicker.
He was also carded (incorrectly, as there was little he could do once he was airborne). Argentina converted the penalty and wound the clock down to record a historical moment for them and the tournament.
My opinion of Nigel hasn’t changed.
To say he was poor would be an understatement, but I know from personal experience that we all have these days (I had my fair share), and he will bounce back. I do feel for the Wallabies though and I thought they deserved better.
The Currie Cup:
On the Currie Cup front, the Blue Bulls dominated the Pumas in Nelspruit, where Peyps (Jaco Peyper) had an excellent game.
They are back in the mix! The Free State Cheetahs were very stiff against WP, who somehow managed to hack through a loose ball and fall on it.
To be honest, they shouldn’t have had a prayer at that stage of the game. Sarel Pretorius had a brain fart by taking a quick throw when his team were in the ascendency, instead of slowing everything down and winding the clock down.
That was far too adventurous for that stage of the game and perhaps ended up costing them the game. I still think he is a champion though!
Griquas predictably smashed the EP Kings 45-25, as I thought they might. Quite simply, they are tougher and want it more.
It was a happy and sad night for Jacques Botes, the most capped player in the history of the Currie Cup.
It was perhaps his last home game and he was given a rousing send-off by the crowd and by his fellow team mates. He is a model professional and a genuinely good guy.
He made a huge contribution to the game and earned his respect from teammates and opponents alike. He will be remembered as a workhorse who had an uncanny knack of appearing at the right place at the right time, scoring an inordinate amount of tries for a loose forward!
I thought Pro Legoate had a tough time on the night.
He looked ill at ease and flustered and most of the calls appeared to go the way of the home team.
The decision to card Derick Minnie with about 14 minutes to go was completely inaccurate as he complied totally with law.
Pro could not have seen the incident clearly and the net result was that the Golden Lions were reduced to 14 players for the remainder of the game, barring the last 2 minutes. I feel for Pro as he is one of the genuinely good guys on the circuit, but that effort simply is not enough at this level.
The Rugby Championship referee wrap up:
I have had a good look at the Referees in The Rugby Championship and think they will concede that there is much room for growth, even the best of them had an off day, so I will say the alarm bells are ringing, but not sure if anyone is listening… Yet!
My top 3 performances were :
- Nigel Owens – South Africa vs Australia at Newlands
- Jerome Garces – New Zealand vs South Africa in Wellington
- Craig Joubert – Argentina vs New Zealand in Buenos Aires
- I thought Gauzere (New Zealand vs Argentina), Clancy (Australia vs South Africa) and Owens (Argentina vs Australia) had off days.
Is it not time for a revamp of the system to help these moments where referees are not having good days at the office?
Pro may be one of the “good guys”, but even in his club days he was known as something of a card wielding “hanging judge”.
More than once I had to restrain coaches from confronting him whilst the game waqs still inb progress.
IMHO he’s nothing more than a half decent club ref’.
Whenever I’ve seen him take charge of anything higher there’s always been more than a hint of controversy with some of his decisions.
@ Scrumdown:
hey sd I didn’t watch the game but there was one penalty the lions were effectively penalised for not allowing the sharks player to crawl on his knees.
And I farking hate when refs don’t blow for crawling something players like kolbe get away with murder(crawling) far too often.
The rules are just to complicated in Rugby. I cases like that IRB should simplify this crap. If a player got brought to ground after contact with a played should be considered a tackle, even an ankle tap should be considered a tackle. Now the tackler must let go as fast as possible and that’s where the lines start getting blurred.
This is just one thing that gets on my nerves, indeed pisses me off.
I got irritated with Sarels brainfart. Every one has their off moments but he does these weird things a lot and everytime he builds himself up to be a springbok he himself shoots himself in the foot. Really disappointing.
Kaplan writes……………………………….”the game came down to a decision by the TV producer to highlight a misdemeanor by Liam Messam on Schalk Burger, which all the officials missed in real time. After finding the clip, and then replaying it over and over, eventually the match officials decided it was worthy of review, ….”.
Now, both Jonathan and Nick Mallet have expressed concerns about the way the Match was influenced by some arsehole in the TV Production crew.
I think perhaps Nick and Jonathan are the last two, half decent Human Beings left in the RSA. And I salute them.
As for the rest of you lot, but most specially the boorish and hostile crowd in attendance at Ellis Park……………………………………………..All this talk of respect. What a joke. You are lower than a snakes tits.
So now any Team that is ahead of SA, in SA, will be Refereed in the last few minutes of the game, by 60,000 feral Bully Boys, The TV Production Company, The TMO, and the 3 field Officials. And this is acceptable to you lot.
You disgust me.
Sour cane.
P.S.
I am not saying you did not deserve to win.
@ cane:
You mean the crowd all cheered Bissies tackle on Carter last year?
The funny thing is that when you compare the kiwi’s crowds reaction to Bissies legal tackle
and Liams shoulder charge to the face.
Will you still feel justified throwing stones?
“Hodor?”
@ MacroBlouBul:
One-eyed vision and selective memory is a dangerous combination.
😆
@ gunther:
Philistines 😆
There is an article about me on news24 😀
http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/RugbyChampionship/NZ-ratings-draw-Bok-fan-ire-20141007
Macro/cunther.
Even Kaplan referred to the incident as…………………………..and I quote…………………….” a misdemeanor by Liam Messam” .
Now I’m not saying that it was not a penalty.
Only that this game was decided by the repeated replays of an incident in slow-mo, that in real time, looked innocuous to the Officials on the field of play.
That combined with the “howling for blood” by the rabid Bokke fans.
And that is a very unwise precedent to set.
Is there no level you Okes will not sink to.
(I notice no mention or replay was shown of a similar tackle by Coetzee earlier in the 2nd half).
It has
taken
3 days
for the loss. to sink in.
@ 11 “looked innocuous to the Officials on the field of play.”
I don’t think they’ve even seen it.
Cane, if you look up,, you’ll see the bottom 🙂
cowbellend 🙂 hehe.
Runnit Richie, scrum.
@ cane:
I have absolute no idea where you are coming from. You ate bemoaning the fact that a legit penalty was given for an all black shoulder charge (finally) albeit with alittle help from the crowd.
When you cheered your win last year from an over dramatisization of events from the kiwi crowd.
You are using Kaplans words to “back yourself” while avoiding that he also mentions that Serfontein was unfairly penalised that cost us the points. Also that jannie should not have been penalised (potentially another 7 points)
Suck it up bro. You lost. How can you trivialize a call that was in the end justified?
As I said earlier. The last two decent human beings left in SA……………………………..Kaplan and Old Nick.
This will come back to haunt you fukkers.
As I have already said:
-Yes it was a penalty.
-Yes the best Team on the day won.
-And yes this game was won by the SA TV Production Company Employee, that controlled the BIG SCREEN at Ellis Park.
And That Fukker should have been named “Man of the Match”.
Because without a doubt……………………………he won you this Test match..
And that Macro,
just ain’t Rugby/Sport as we know it.
I don’t see,………………………………… how you don’t see it.
@ cane:
the constant benefits you guys get from referees do often come back to haunt you though.
what about bismarck then last year? he wS judges and sentenced to a yellow card by the “partisan” kiwi crowd before the nz production staff to stop lusting after carter before they could even move… this isnt even justification for that… that is still coming fo you guys…
@ shooter:
😉
Ellis Park…………………………………………….like we have been robbed (literally), so many times. Well at least 3 times anyway.
-Refs,
-Poison,
-and now the Stadium Big Screen and the 60,000 pox ridden rabid Bully Boys and Girls.
And of course Pieterman van Zyl did his best to influence the Ref a few years back.
Is there no limit to this madness?
@ cane:
huh did you watch that game piet van zyl tackled the ref with both eyes?
Who has stolen Cane’s nick?
@ MacroBlouBul:
Totally incorrect.
The Froggie Ref looked…………………………….saw………………………..and made a decision on the spot. Without the help of Sky TV.
And yes he was wrong. Very wrong.
All part of the great tapestry that is Rugby Union. The human element.
This (Liam) is totally different.
And I think you know it Macro.
cane is only trying to stir a bit. doing a terrible job 😀
@ nortie:
Hodor.
@ cane:
ok your fine with the wrong call when you win.
You bemoan the right call when you lose?
I mean seriously, you should say this out loud.
@ MacroBlouBul:
No I am not stirring.
The fukken Stirrers were all at Ellis Park.
But only 60,000 of the arseholes.
The other 40,000,000 sat cheering and jeering at home. Foaming at the mouth and baying for blood.
This will come back to haunt you Okes.
You have set The Ground Rules.
@ MacroBlouBul:
So let me put it this way Macro.
“You are quite happy for a non-neutral, TV Production Company to command the outcome of a Rugby Test Match”?
21 @ nortie:
Nope – who stole Cane’s knickers? – It is not a a pretty sight, eyetellya!
Now I do not know the name of that arsehole in charge of The Big Screen at Ellis Park.
But the name Susan Dawn von Dronkalaar springs to mind.
When the going gets tough,
Suzie gets going.
I see Jonathan Kaplan was “highly complementary” towards Wayne Barnes as well…
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