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'Scumbag' - Ref mic picks up O'Mahony firing off at serial offender Lavanini
An exchange between Ireland skipper Peter O’Mahoney and Argentina’s Tomas Lavanini during their one-sided Autumn Nation Series in Dublin this afternoon caught the eye – or rather the ear.
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Ireland have made it a clean sweep of November Test victories as they followed up their memorable triumph over New Zealand with a record 53-7 thrashing of an indisciplined Argentina side at the Aviva Stadium.
After Mateo Carreras caught the hosts napping to give Argentina an early lead on Sunday, Ireland rattled off 53 unanswered points, with Josh Van der Flier, Andrew Porter and Caelan Doris grabbing first-half tries.
Van der Flier added his second while Pablo Matera was in the sin bin and the floodgates opened after Tomas Lavanini saw red shortly afterwards with Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy and Tadhg Beirne making it seven tries from Ireland’s increasingly impressive pack.
Lock Lavanini became the first man in Test rugby to be sent off three times after leading with his shoulder into the neck of prop Cian Healy, who wasn’t near the ball at the back of a ruck.
Lavanini becomes the first man in Test rugby to be sent off three times 🟥#IREvARGpic.twitter.com/HpZl42yMSC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 21, 2021
He was also red-carded against South Africa in 2017 and England at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
However, it was the words of Ireland’s Peter O’Mahony for the giant Puma, which were picked up by the ref mic that may well have chimed with many a rugby fan around the world who are equally tired of the cheap shots that the 6’7, 128kg lock doles out on a semi-regular basis.
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“That’s a ****ing red. You’re a scumbag. You know exactly what you’re doing,” said a fired-up O’Mahony. “He knows exactly what he’s doing.
“Scumbag.”
“Hardman, aren’t you? Good man yourself,’ said the veteran flanker, ‘That’s very unlike you, isn’t it?’
Argentina seeing red! 🟥#C4Rugby | #IrishRugby ☘️ | #IREvARG pic.twitter.com/lVTtWQCsNx
— Channel 4 Sport (@C4Sport) November 21, 2021
He then apologised for his comments to referee Matthew Carley. You dare say some of his Argentine teammates are as exasperated with his discipline issues as O’Mahony was.
The victory, almost as wide Ireland’s opening 60-5 win over Japan, also made it a weekend sweep of wins for the northern hemisphere nations over their southern counterparts, setting up an exciting 2022 Six Nations in which Ireland should be genuine title contenders.
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– with AAP
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
24 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
24 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
24 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments