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'It's not out of his job description' - Schalk Burger weighs in on Paul Willemse cards
France lock Paul Willemse has been suspended following his double sin-binning during France’s 38-17 loss to Ireland in the Six Nations opener in Marseilles on Friday night.
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The South African-born second row, who missed the world cup due to injury, will be unavailable for both the Scotland and Italy upcoming tests after picking up a suspension.
Willemse was shown two yellow cards for foul play, the second of which was upgraded to a red following a disciplinary committee hearing on Tuesday.
“You’ve got to feel sorry for Paul. Because the first one, you can see what he’s doing,” commented Schalk Burger on the latest episode of RugbyPass TV’s Boks Office.
“If you’re a coach and your player’s going there and you’ve got the player and he turns his back, sort of, and you sort of place it there, the best time to hit him and get momentum is right at that time, instead of waiting for the ruck to form and then clean it.
“He makes head contact, it’s unlucky and then the second one we all know about this, the adjusted defender.
“Look, he’s a big unit and he comes in to put a big shot on [Caelan] Doris and I think it actually looks worse than it was.”
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Hosting the popular South African based show, sitting alongside former Springbok captain Jean de Villiers, Hanyani Shimange questioned if a change in technique is required, saying: “It’s the risk. Is it worth even attempting that, rather go for the legs or bail out?”
De Villiers, who severely injured his knee just minutes into his debut against France in 2002, felt that some players are put in difficult positions.
“Is it worth making a tackle like that from a Willemse point of view? Everybody that’s seen him play, he’s the enforcer. You don’t want that out of his game, but how do you find a way to do it differently? Because that is the change in behaviour that World Rugby is looking for, in terms of if you’re in that situation, don’t go for that because of the risk of the head contact. And I suppose that’s the difficult thing.”
Burger added that Willemse was probably only following instructions and sticking to the role he’s been given.
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“Also, it’s the second one (yellow card), so he would have been frustrated with the first one. Nothing of it is outside of his job description. He wants to hit rucks. We played with Bakkies (Botha). Bakkies hit the ball carrier and the defender. He took all of us out.
“Doris is one of their big carriers, [Shaun] Edwards would have said ‘You’ve got to shut down Doris’. He gets a carry… you want to put a big shot on him. I would have been in the same position to adjust and carry him back and unfortunately he hits him that much [too] high and he gets a yellow card. I don’t think it’s anything more than that.”
The French second row was given suspensions of four weeks and three weeks for the offences, to run concurrently, meaning a ban of four weeks.
The disciplinary committee found his actions “reckless” but accepted “there was no evidence to suggest the player acted maliciously or with intent in either case”.
He can further reduce the ban to three weeks by applying to take part in World Rugby’s coaching intervention programme – the ‘tackle school’.
You can watch the full latest episode of Boks Office exclusively on Rugbypass TV
Six Nations
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Ireland
1
1
0
0
5
2
England
1
1
0
0
4
3
Scotland
1
1
0
0
4
4
Wales
1
0
1
0
2
5
Italy
1
0
1
0
1
6
France
1
0
1
0
0
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
4 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
4 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments