'That's what's sad about rugby': Tony Brown hits out after ill-disciplined Crusaders defeat Highlanders
Highlanders head coach Tony Brown has vented his frustration at the lack of punishment dished out for repeated infringements after his side lost to the Crusaders in the opening match of Super Rugby Aotearoa.
The 26-13 defeat at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin left Brown questioning how the Crusaders were able to walk away with all four competition points despite a lop-sided penalty count that went against the visitors.
The reigning champions were penalised 15 times by referee Ben O’Keefe, as opposed to the eight the Highlanders gave away, as Ethan Blackadder and Scott Barrett both spent time in the sin bin for various infringements.
The temporary dismissals of Blackadder and Barrett lifted the Crusaders’ yellow card count to six since last Saturday, with the Christchurch-based franchise picking up four yellow cards in their game-of-three-halves matches against the Blues and Chiefs.
The Highlanders, meanwhile, spent almost a quarter of Friday’s match inside the Crusaders’ 22 and enjoyed 71.6 percent of the territory.
However, the southerners weren’t able to take anything from the match, and Brown didn’t shy away from those figures while speaking to media at the post-match press conference.
“If you look at tonight’s game, that’s what’s sad about rugby at the moment,” he said.
“We had 60 percent possession, 60 percent territory. We only concede eight penalties, they’re conceding 19 penalties and numerous penalty advantages against them and then two yellow cards and they still win. That’s the sad thing about footy.”
Crusaders head coach Scott Robertson was pleased with how his side kept the Highlanders at bay, though, noting that yellow cards have become common in modern-day rugby.
“We defended really well and then someone would get half a foot in front and you’d get penalised and we’d be in the corner again,” he said.
“It was a pretty evil cycle for a long time for us, but it’s just the way rugby is now. There’s going to be cards – not that we were cynical, it’s just a judgement of error about how deep you are, so we’ve got to be squeaky clean.”
When pressed further on the matter and asked whether his side deliberately pushes the letter of the law, Robertson maintained his side doesn’t intentionally set out on giving away penalties as a means of thwarting opposition attacks.
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“When you’re on defence, you’re under so much pressure and the ref can pick up a lot of things, so there was no intent behind it.”
That, however, is of little consolation to Brown, who said the Crusaders were “potentially” lucky to only have two players sent to the sin bin.
A scuffle between Crusaders prop Joe Moody and Highlanders lock Jack Regan, where the former hit the latter with multiple open-palmed strikes to the face, could be seen as one particular instance where the Crusaders evaded severe punishment.
Brown wouldn’t be drawn into commenting on whether he believed Moody’s actions warranted a yellow card, but he did suggest the Crusaders have work to do on their discipline.
“Referees are doing their job, but I know they’ve had five yellow cards in two games, so something’s not working.”
Robertson agreed with that sentiment as he challenged his side to question how they can “self-discipline better”.
Nevertheless, Brown conceded the Crusaders were impressive on defence as they repelled wave after wave of Highlanders attacks as the home side tried and failed to score from their normally effective rolling maul.
“We got lots of penalties, we had a lot of maul opportunities, but the Crusaders were just too strong and we just couldn’t execute there,” he said.
“Hats off to them. From our side it’s frustrating, but from their side they defended really well.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Can’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
11 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
11 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
81 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
81 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to comments