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As posted on http://www.superrugby.co.za/
Events of Week Eight of the Super 14 plus an astonishing admission by Ben Tune have once again highlighted the chaotic state of the administration of rugby’s laws.
For live and the latest Super 14 scores on your cellphone, SMS RS14 to 34911 (R2 per SMS). For more details and subscription offers, go to SuperSMS.
Inconsistency in the application of the laws has previously been highlighted in the SuperWrap and after the 51st match of the new tournament there is little doubt that the governance of the game itself leaves much to be desired.
In the latest round inconsistency was again apparent in the manner in which games were controlled but the most glaring contradictions were in the application of the judiciary process following incidents of foul play.
Questions have to be asked how it is possible that Noël “Valie†Oelschig was cited for punching and suspended but Tony Woodcock escaped unpunished for an uglier incident of striking against Victor Matfield?
How come there was no citing of Neemia Tialata after he attempted to throttle Richie McCaw?
The latter two incidents were probably captured more graphically by the television cameras than Oelschig’s inexcusable double-fisted shove on Tatafu Polota-Nau but only the Cheetahs scrumhalf will sit out the next round after having been suspended for a week.
And that brings one to Ben Tune, giving credence to a view once expressed by new Wallaby coach John Connolly that Australian sportsmen can be prize hypocrites (talking big about sportsmanship but Matthew Hayden and Brett Lee not walking?), confessing that he punched Sharks hooker Bismarck du Plessis after the final whistle of their match in Durban.
Forgetting that we live in a global village Tune, who once expediently escaped an alleged substance abuse banning when it slipped out that his case had been swept under the carpet, told the Brisbane-based Courier-Mail newspaper that Du Plessis had held him in a headlock and that is why he punched the Sharks player. The players were shoving each other around after the final whistle, Tune admitting afterwards that he had landed a punch on Du Plessis. "I snapped. He didn’t need to go on with it after full-time and there was some frustration in it [the punch] as well."
This is not the first time Tune has been candid, and apparently quite chuffed, about his pugilistic abilities.
After a bellicose test between the Springboks and the Wallabies in Brisbane in 2002 he boasted to his local newspaper, the same source of his latest brag, that he had punched Bok skipper Cornè Krige. Never mind that Krige was on his hands and knees at the time and that his eye was quite seriously damaged.
With the Australian judiciary, as we have now become accustomed, concentrating on South Africa’s misdemeanours Tune escaped censure, in spite of his confession, but at least Krige had the satisfaction of exacting his own revenge in the next test at Ellis Park â€" not laudable but perhaps understandable given the lack of official justice.
There is a long history of South African players suffering at the hands of Australian citing commissioners and disciplinary panels and one has to wonder whether in the light of Tune’s “confession†he should not be cited? After all he has publicly pleaded guilty.
As with refereeing the game all one can ask for is consistency. If one player is punished for overstepping the mark so should all the others.
Oh, by the way, there was also some rugby played! And once again the SuperWrap “selectors†had a hard job compiling a Bok Barometer based on form shown in the latest round of matches.
Symptomatic of the whole season, there were no stand-put performances in all the backline positions, scrumhalf for instance going to a player who came on as a substitute in Fourie du Preez.
However with the Sharks setting the tone South Africa’s forwards were excellent â€" especially among the loosies with AJ Venter, Warren Britz, Luke Watson, Schalk Burger and Jacques Botes going great guns and tight men such as BJ Botha, John Smit, Deon Carstens, Bakkies Botha, Gerrie Britz and Johan Ackermann showing why South Africa’s forwards continue to command respect.
Venter has been so outstanding in recent weeks that he is in the Bok Barometer as No8 and in the Super XV as the blindside flank.
The Super XV for Week Eight:
15 Loki Crichton (Chiefs), 14 Rico Gear (Crusaders), 13 Mils Muliaina (Chiefs), 12 Rua Tipoki (Blues), 11 Sitivini Sivivatu (Chiefs), 10 Dan Carter (Crusaders), 9 Jamie Nutbrown (Chiefs), 8 Sione Lauaki (Chiefs), 7 AJ Venter (Sharks), 6 Luke Watson (Stormers), 5 Jason Eaton (Hurricanes), 4 Bakkies Botha (Bulls), 3 BJ Botha (Sharks), Corey Flynn (Crusaders), 1 Deon Carstens (Sharks).
The Springbok Barometer for Week Eight:
15 Johan Pietersen (Stormers), 14 Odwa Ndungane (Sharks), 13 Adrian Jacobs (Sharks), 12 Jean de Villiers (Stormers), 11 Henno Mentz (Sharks), 10 Naas Olivier (Stormers), 9 Fourie du Preez (Bulls), 8 AJ Venter (Sharks), 7 Warren Britz (Sharks), 6 Luke Watson (Stormers), 5 Gerrie Britz (Stormers), 4 Bakkies Botha (Bulls), 3 BJ Botha (Sharks), 2 John Smit (Sharks), 1 Deon Carstens (Sharks).
Match of the Week: The Crusaders showing all the others how it’s done by travelling to Wellington to play the Hurricanes and systematically taking the points. And, oh yes, the match also contained the best rugby.
Try of the Week: Rico Gear showing the value of a player who can change pace - slowing down to wrong-foot defenders and then hitting top speed again in a twinkling of an eye to outflank them â€" to send hooker Corey Flynn, supporting up the middle, over. As Murray Mexted said: “Hell it’s a good game when you see it like that.â€
So this is what’s meant by the Super 14: The Crusaders’ 20-11 victory over the Hurricanes on Friday was their 14th win in a row, taking in last year’s semi-final and final. The last time the Cantabrians tasted defeat in Super Rugby was against the Bulls at Loftus on April 9 last year.
Welcome back: To the heel against the head; three of which went the Sharks’ way on Saturday; adding to the worries of Jake White whose two top props, Os du Randt and CJ van der Linde, seem incapable of playing more than 40 minutes these days.
OTT: SMS slang for Over The Top. Luke Watson’s crazed reaction after scoring what turned out to be the winning try against bottom-of-the-log the Force. We prefer the way Joe Roff and Christian Cullen used to mark their tries â€" and between them they got 113 so it would be easy for Watson to take a look.
And talking of DVDs: or whatever the Bulls are using to record matches. Their match against the Blues was almost as if someone had written a script to show what’s wrong with Bulls rugby. Heyneke Meyer and the other coaches would do well to look at Vili Waqaseduadua’s try (if they can stomach it!) and note how Joe Rokocoko makes the extra man by joining the line from the blind side. We’re thinking Bryan Habana….
People in glass houses… “McCaw: the best, or the best cheat?†That was the headline in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday. Clearly the Waratahs are once again in the grip of Jade Stadium fever by targeting the ‘Saders skipper as they approach this weekend’s top-of-the-log clash against the Crusaders because they’ve completely forgotten that barely legal poachers such as Phil Waugh, George Smith and David Croft play their rugby in Oz!
Mysteries of rugby: Help us if we’re wrong but we’re sure Law 20, governing the scrum, contains something about the scrumhalf having to “throw the ball straight along the middle line?â€
Quote of the Week I: “He has scored one or two individual tries, but his throw-ins at the lineout have not been great and the Stormers have been pushed off the ball in one or two scrums.†â€" Jake White having another uncalled for pop at Schalk Brits.
Quote of the Week II: "I've been involved in some slow games, but ... I've never seen so many injuries in my life. I was falling asleep in the coaches' box. The game ran over time. I think they ran out of videotape in the end. "I understand tactics ... but there's also a responsibility to deliver a product. In the end, we're in the entertainment business and if we all played like that every week no one would ever bother turning up. I thought it was ridiculous. I can't believe so few people can be injured so often. There's an abnormal aspect to it." â€" Waratahs’ coach Ewen McKenzie joining the chorus questioning the Cheetahs’ frontrow tactics.
Quote of the Week III: "I'm no expert on South Africa, having been there only as a rugby tourist, but what I do know is that here, there or anywhere else, tradition is a most valuable commodity. It can't be bought with money, only time. Since I first picked up a rugby ball, the names and venues of the best South African teams have been amongst the most evocative in rugby. As it stands the Stormers and the Cats are the South African sides closest to the relegation zone. I consider it unthinkable that one or the other won't be in the competition next year, for a start because they represent the nation's two biggest cities. Imagine not having Newlands or Ellis Park as regular stops on the Super 14 circuit. Both are stadiums that youngsters dream of playing in." - Western Force skipper Nathan Sharpe in his column in the West Australian on South African rugby’s hot potato.
As posted on http://www.superrugby.co.za/
Events of Week Eight of the Super 14 plus an astonishing admission by Ben Tune have once again highlighted the chaotic state of the administration of rugby’s laws.
For live and the latest Super 14 scores on your cellphone, SMS RS14 to 34911 (R2 per SMS). For more details and subscription offers, go to SuperSMS.
Inconsistency in the application of the laws has previously been highlighted in the SuperWrap and after the 51st match of the new tournament there is little doubt that the governance of the game itself leaves much to be desired.
In the latest round inconsistency was again apparent in the manner in which games were controlled but the most glaring contradictions were in the application of the judiciary process following incidents of foul play.
Questions have to be asked how it is possible that Noël “Valie†Oelschig was cited for punching and suspended but Tony Woodcock escaped unpunished for an uglier incident of striking against Victor Matfield?
How come there was no citing of Neemia Tialata after he attempted to throttle Richie McCaw?
The latter two incidents were probably captured more graphically by the television cameras than Oelschig’s inexcusable double-fisted shove on Tatafu Polota-Nau but only the Cheetahs scrumhalf will sit out the next round after having been suspended for a week.
And that brings one to Ben Tune, giving credence to a view once expressed by new Wallaby coach John Connolly that Australian sportsmen can be prize hypocrites (talking big about sportsmanship but Matthew Hayden and Brett Lee not walking?), confessing that he punched Sharks hooker Bismarck du Plessis after the final whistle of their match in Durban.
Forgetting that we live in a global village Tune, who once expediently escaped an alleged substance abuse banning when it slipped out that his case had been swept under the carpet, told the Brisbane-based Courier-Mail newspaper that Du Plessis had held him in a headlock and that is why he punched the Sharks player. The players were shoving each other around after the final whistle, Tune admitting afterwards that he had landed a punch on Du Plessis. "I snapped. He didn’t need to go on with it after full-time and there was some frustration in it [the punch] as well."
This is not the first time Tune has been candid, and apparently quite chuffed, about his pugilistic abilities.
After a bellicose test between the Springboks and the Wallabies in Brisbane in 2002 he boasted to his local newspaper, the same source of his latest brag, that he had punched Bok skipper Cornè Krige. Never mind that Krige was on his hands and knees at the time and that his eye was quite seriously damaged.
With the Australian judiciary, as we have now become accustomed, concentrating on South Africa’s misdemeanours Tune escaped censure, in spite of his confession, but at least Krige had the satisfaction of exacting his own revenge in the next test at Ellis Park â€" not laudable but perhaps understandable given the lack of official justice.
There is a long history of South African players suffering at the hands of Australian citing commissioners and disciplinary panels and one has to wonder whether in the light of Tune’s “confession†he should not be cited? After all he has publicly pleaded guilty.
As with refereeing the game all one can ask for is consistency. If one player is punished for overstepping the mark so should all the others.
Oh, by the way, there was also some rugby played! And once again the SuperWrap “selectors†had a hard job compiling a Bok Barometer based on form shown in the latest round of matches.
Symptomatic of the whole season, there were no stand-put performances in all the backline positions, scrumhalf for instance going to a player who came on as a substitute in Fourie du Preez.
However with the Sharks setting the tone South Africa’s forwards were excellent â€" especially among the loosies with AJ Venter, Warren Britz, Luke Watson, Schalk Burger and Jacques Botes going great guns and tight men such as BJ Botha, John Smit, Deon Carstens, Bakkies Botha, Gerrie Britz and Johan Ackermann showing why South Africa’s forwards continue to command respect.
Venter has been so outstanding in recent weeks that he is in the Bok Barometer as No8 and in the Super XV as the blindside flank.
The Super XV for Week Eight:
15 Loki Crichton (Chiefs), 14 Rico Gear (Crusaders), 13 Mils Muliaina (Chiefs), 12 Rua Tipoki (Blues), 11 Sitivini Sivivatu (Chiefs), 10 Dan Carter (Crusaders), 9 Jamie Nutbrown (Chiefs), 8 Sione Lauaki (Chiefs), 7 AJ Venter (Sharks), 6 Luke Watson (Stormers), 5 Jason Eaton (Hurricanes), 4 Bakkies Botha (Bulls), 3 BJ Botha (Sharks), Corey Flynn (Crusaders), 1 Deon Carstens (Sharks).
The Springbok Barometer for Week Eight:
15 Johan Pietersen (Stormers), 14 Odwa Ndungane (Sharks), 13 Adrian Jacobs (Sharks), 12 Jean de Villiers (Stormers), 11 Henno Mentz (Sharks), 10 Naas Olivier (Stormers), 9 Fourie du Preez (Bulls), 8 AJ Venter (Sharks), 7 Warren Britz (Sharks), 6 Luke Watson (Stormers), 5 Gerrie Britz (Stormers), 4 Bakkies Botha (Bulls), 3 BJ Botha (Sharks), 2 John Smit (Sharks), 1 Deon Carstens (Sharks).
Match of the Week: The Crusaders showing all the others how it’s done by travelling to Wellington to play the Hurricanes and systematically taking the points. And, oh yes, the match also contained the best rugby.
Try of the Week: Rico Gear showing the value of a player who can change pace - slowing down to wrong-foot defenders and then hitting top speed again in a twinkling of an eye to outflank them â€" to send hooker Corey Flynn, supporting up the middle, over. As Murray Mexted said: “Hell it’s a good game when you see it like that.â€
So this is what’s meant by the Super 14: The Crusaders’ 20-11 victory over the Hurricanes on Friday was their 14th win in a row, taking in last year’s semi-final and final. The last time the Cantabrians tasted defeat in Super Rugby was against the Bulls at Loftus on April 9 last year.
Welcome back: To the heel against the head; three of which went the Sharks’ way on Saturday; adding to the worries of Jake White whose two top props, Os du Randt and CJ van der Linde, seem incapable of playing more than 40 minutes these days.
OTT: SMS slang for Over The Top. Luke Watson’s crazed reaction after scoring what turned out to be the winning try against bottom-of-the-log the Force. We prefer the way Joe Roff and Christian Cullen used to mark their tries â€" and between them they got 113 so it would be easy for Watson to take a look.
And talking of DVDs: or whatever the Bulls are using to record matches. Their match against the Blues was almost as if someone had written a script to show what’s wrong with Bulls rugby. Heyneke Meyer and the other coaches would do well to look at Vili Waqaseduadua’s try (if they can stomach it!) and note how Joe Rokocoko makes the extra man by joining the line from the blind side. We’re thinking Bryan Habana….
People in glass houses… “McCaw: the best, or the best cheat?†That was the headline in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday. Clearly the Waratahs are once again in the grip of Jade Stadium fever by targeting the ‘Saders skipper as they approach this weekend’s top-of-the-log clash against the Crusaders because they’ve completely forgotten that barely legal poachers such as Phil Waugh, George Smith and David Croft play their rugby in Oz!
Mysteries of rugby: Help us if we’re wrong but we’re sure Law 20, governing the scrum, contains something about the scrumhalf having to “throw the ball straight along the middle line?â€
Quote of the Week I: “He has scored one or two individual tries, but his throw-ins at the lineout have not been great and the Stormers have been pushed off the ball in one or two scrums.†â€" Jake White having another uncalled for pop at Schalk Brits.
Quote of the Week II: "I've been involved in some slow games, but ... I've never seen so many injuries in my life. I was falling asleep in the coaches' box. The game ran over time. I think they ran out of videotape in the end. "I understand tactics ... but there's also a responsibility to deliver a product. In the end, we're in the entertainment business and if we all played like that every week no one would ever bother turning up. I thought it was ridiculous. I can't believe so few people can be injured so often. There's an abnormal aspect to it." â€" Waratahs’ coach Ewen McKenzie joining the chorus questioning the Cheetahs’ frontrow tactics.
Quote of the Week III: "I'm no expert on South Africa, having been there only as a rugby tourist, but what I do know is that here, there or anywhere else, tradition is a most valuable commodity. It can't be bought with money, only time. Since I first picked up a rugby ball, the names and venues of the best South African teams have been amongst the most evocative in rugby. As it stands the Stormers and the Cats are the South African sides closest to the relegation zone. I consider it unthinkable that one or the other won't be in the competition next year, for a start because they represent the nation's two biggest cities. Imagine not having Newlands or Ellis Park as regular stops on the Super 14 circuit. Both are stadiums that youngsters dream of playing in." - Western Force skipper Nathan Sharpe in his column in the West Australian on South African rugby’s hot potato.
