The game hasn't gone soft and Australia need to stop complaining - Andy Goode
World Rugby have acknowledged that the World Cup didn’t start well from an officiating point of view but the game has evolved and Australia need to stop complaining.
It is difficult straight after a match when you’re in the heat of the moment but Michael Cheika saying he was “embarrassed” as a former player isn’t helpful. World Rugby have done the rounds and everyone knows the state of play regarding the laws and the high tackle framework.
What Michael Hooper was saying during the game about not being able to run into a tackle any more is pretty silly as well. You’ve never been able to lead with the forearm and, if anything, Australia have actually got away with one or two rather than been hard done by.
Samu Kerevi Incident
It is 100% a penalty, at least. You can lead with the ball and your arm into contact but you absolutely can’t lead with the other forearm, which is what he did. We saw Pierre Schoeman sent off for exactly that in the PRO14 last season for Edinburgh against Leinster.
The only reason Kerevi was saved from suffering the same fate as Schoeman was because he made contact with the chest of Rhys Patchell initially before slipping up to the neck. The Wallabies don’t have any grounds for complaint at all though.
Michael Hooper Incident
I thought his late hit on Dan Biggar was a yellow card every day of the week. It didn’t look like he really made a great attempt to wrap his arms and it was late as well.
In terms of the post-match comments, it’s part of what makes Cheika entertaining that he’s always having a whine and feeling like the world’s against him but, in the cold light of day, I think he might reflect on the mistakes he made in team selection a bit more than the refereeing.
It all comes on the back of Reece Hodge becoming the first player to get a ban at this tournament. A couple of red cards and a few other bans have followed since then but the Aussies still obviously feel aggrieved about the length of his suspension.
Hodge’s hit is exactly what World Rugby are trying to outlaw, though, and they were completely correct to act retrospectively but the lengths of the bans at World Cups is an interesting talking point.
A three-week ban across a 40-week season is one thing and players will accept that but a three-game ban at a tournament that is only a maximum of seven games and is only four games for a lot of teams is a different story.
The flip side of that is that World Rugby are trying to change behaviours in the long run and look after player welfare so they can’t be seen to be more lenient on the biggest stage of all.
Any Australian that looks at the Hooper, Kerevi or Hodge incidents and says there’s nothing wrong with them hasn’t moved with the game.
Sir Clive Woodward even weighed in on the Hodge one on Twitter, saying he thought it was only a yellow card, but the laws and directives from World Rugby are very clear and players and pundits need to change along with them.
The one bit of dialogue I did have sympathy with was David Pocock’s with Romain Poite at the start of the second half when he was asking about what words would be used around the breakdown. That’s a recurring debate about French referees’ communication in that area but not a lot is said at all and you can understand the frustration there.
For me, more than the high tackle framework and controversy around the collisions, the offside line needs to be policed a bit more. I think there needs to be some sort of daylight between the back foot and the defensive line now.
Defences are so quick and are flying up and if they are offside, that means we aren’t going to see as much good, attacking rugby.
I think assistant referees need to get involved a bit more in terms of monitoring for offside decisions and it’s also true that if you’re hot on it early on in a game, teams will be more reluctant to try and get away with it later in the piece.
Having said all that, in the Australia v Wales game, Will Genia is a scrum half who does take a couple of steps away from the breakdown quite often and Gareth Davies is so good at reading that.
He was 100% onside for the try in the first half and it was sort of irrelevant whether he was offside for the near intercept in the second half because he dropped the ball and the play would’ve been called back anyway.
When it comes to the major incidents in other games, the sending off of John Quill in USA’s game against England is one of the most obvious red cards I’ve ever seen. It’s up there with my one against Tom Croft where I nearly took his head off and it doesn’t get any easier than that in terms of decisions on the field and then regarding a ban as well.
Poite did miss a couple of red cards in Samoa’s game against Russia and those two Samoan players have rightly been retrospectively banned for three games so action is being taken.
There is more scrutiny on decisions and referees than ever before, as well as it being an incredibly tough job as everybody knows, but everyone wants consistency and it’s only right that they’re held to account.
So, I really like the fact that a statement was issued acknowledging that “the match officials team recognise that performances over the opening weekend were not consistently of the standards set by World Rugby and themselves”.
I said before the tournament that there were going to be some big decisions and controversies around the tackle area and so it has proved but, on this occasion, Australia don’t have too many grounds for complaint.
It amazes me when you hear players, coaches and ex-players talk like some have in the aftermath of Australia’s game against Wales. Of course, the game has changed and evolved, but you’ve never been able lead with the forearm. The game hasn’t gone soft.
Some of the comments from players and coaches aren’t a great look for the game at all but, from an English perspective, it’s always entertaining to look on from the outside and see the Aussies having a bit of a whine!
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments