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?
@ NZINCHINA:
297 The graciousness of most Kiwis to the loss was good t o read .
Cane had an excellent response to this post saying
“Im, d on,t do amazing grace
Gunther @ 275
300 @ NZINCHINA:
Mr “No Weaknesses, no chinks in the armour”,
Are you still convinced that the All Blacks are unbeatable or would you say that parity in 2014 was round about the correct call?
Thanks pal.But you guys s till the benchmark,
Rega rds Rye
@ ryecatcher:
Yes losing is never easy to handle for an AB fan but Meyer/JDV are great blokes so if we have to lose Ellis park is probably a fitting place to do it, 2 losses in 40 tests can’t really complain Rye.
#284, 287
@ grootblousmile:
Jeez Nortie will be ecstatic.
If the Matabeleland Under 13 cricket Bush League had a superbru he’d be all over it like a horny octopus.
@ grootblousmile:
I don’t usually converse with people who call me a twat but i’ll make an exception for you 😀 , please show me the post where I said we were unbeatable, I don’t believe there are any weaknesses in this AB team, you can’t win all the time and we don’t. This team is one of the greatest sides to ever play the game, every trophy there is to win and a 90% win record, if you mean the Bokke are at parity with the Ab’s on this years performance they are right up there but you have a long long way to go before you emulate this team, in fact the chances of you doing that are so slim and that’s not arrogance it’s just that this team is that good.
Nama wrote:
295
Ya right, Nama 😉
he was so good, there was a need by HM (his greatest advocate) to replace him, too obvious he couldn’t close it out ?
@ NZINCHINA:
299
Dagg, Savea and that new 12 don’t mesh in the defensive pattern, the ABs don’t concede 3 soft tries in 30 minutes that often?
The good news for the ABs are they won’t have to endure Wayne Barnes again in a Test match 😉 😉
@ Nama:
Hahaha nice try that was Jeans man .
Pathetic really.
😆
308 @ NZINCHINA:
I don’t usually converse with arrogant people either, but I made an exception for you too.
You are right, the Springboks would have to keep this form, if they want to challenge for the No 1 spot… that we all knew, all along.
The All Blacks are good, I give you that, unbeatable no, not by a long shot…
Weaknesses and chinks in the armour, definately… no team loses if they do not have chinks in the armour… EVER!
@ Hondo:
Mate I don’t buy into your reffing conspiracies but our defence was very poor in the first half, I think the boys were so stunned when they saw a Bokke 10 run with the ball, most of the young guys had never seen it in their lifetimes
@ Hondo:
Stupidity on HM’s side but he is prone to do stupid things more often than not.
22 November vs Wales, Wayne Barnes will blow them again. 😉
@ MacroBlouBul:
293
“But walking the plank for doing the right thing?”
Great vision, you may assist the IRB to re-write the Test Protocol?!
😉
Since you know better than Kaplan and Mallett,,,,
@ grootblousmile:
Not sure where you get the unbeatable part from as i’ve never said that, this current side is better than “good” I thnik you’re confusing chinks in the armour with the realities of professional sport no team can win all the time but the truly great sides like this one win most of the time.
@ NZINCHINA:
312
Oh please,,,
Nama wrote:
313
So that subbing wasn’t called for then?
just asking?
@ Nama:
Funny then that even before the AB game, the panel of experts marked Jan as a danger man because he has the entire skill set, defence(made the most tackles of any back in the entire comp), offloading, stepping, etc etc.
And this at 13, not at 12.
And that was Jeans channel, not Jans. Jean jumped out of the line a few times as he sometimes does when there is an overlap but in this case and in the case of Fekitoa try, they led to 5 pointers for the ABs.
Not much happening on RT going forward for an AB fan this season so I shall depart until next season – cheers all.
@ NZINCHINA:
I think the Ab’s have been lulled by 5 years of Morne Steyn so when a Saffer 10 attacked the gain line they were initially shocked.
😆
@ John Galt:
Oh and those panel of experts and ex players were from Sky Rugby, a NZ rugby show.
Cheers noodles take care.
@ John Galt:
No matter what the experts say Serfontein will never belong their in Namas eyes not whilst Juan is playing currie cup.
Jy weet mos.
😆 @ NZINCHINA:
I think some okes on this site want the Boks to lose so that they can remain miserable.
😆
@ gunther:
Yep.
Look Juan has had a good season in a badly watered down CC but I feel he would have been bullied in this years RC.
@ John Galt:
Jan was there to make the tackle. He didn’t. That’s the gist of it.
Whoever’s channel it was, is not the issue. Why do we always shift the blame when it comes to certain players?
Is he a good player with the necessary skill set? Yes…no argument from me.
Is he a 13? No.
@ gunther:
@ John Galt:
Forget about the CC.
So, between the two of them who was the better 13 in Super Rugby? Was JdJ bullied in that competition?
0
324 @ Nama:
I think Burger Odendaal & Jan Serfontein are going to make one hell of a centre-pairing in future at the Bulls, with Jan at No 13 and Burger Odendaal at No 12… yeah Jan at No 13.
Place them next to an in form Hougie and Pollard… and work a bit on the Bulls back 3 and you have a monster backline.
I am specifically impressed with Burger Odendaal’s tackling, jeez he is like the Energizer Bunny on defence, hopping from one solid tackle to the next.
Another hungry centre seems to be Andre Esterhuizen, the big youngster of the Sharks…
@ Nama:
Nama prefers a dodgy try to stand rather than be revoked, even if a ref when availing himself of an opportunity to review, then sees clear evidence that it wasn’t a try???
Oh boyo, that’s nuts …
@ Nama:
That’s point he was wrong footed because he had committed to to the man on the outside.
That you would lay the blame for the try at his feet is harsh but not surprising.
The only person playing the blame game there is you.
😆
Can somebody perform a public service and dig out Serfonteins defence stats for the championship?
It might be interesting.
@ Jeraldjay:
Some here were hoping for Meyer to flop again in the hope that Divvie might be recalled.
😆
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