Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

The incredibly dangerous tactic the Wallabies got away with in win over All Blacks

By Online Editors
The Wallabies. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

By Patrick McKendry, NZ Herald

When the All Blacks reviewed their defeat to Australia in Perth they would have been horrified by not only how many defensive errors and penalties they gave up which contributed to a big Bledisloe Cup setback, but also what the Wallabies got away with at the breakdown.

It was lawless – a throwback to the times before television match officials when anything went as long as the referee didn’t see it. Which begs the question; what exactly was TMO Marius Jonker watching throughout the Wallabies’ 47-26 Bledisloe Cup victory at Optus Stadium?

The Herald has counted at least 14 neck rolls by Wallabies players attempting to clear out All Black bodies at the breakdown, including an extremely obvious one by centre James O’Connor on Anton Lienert-Brown in the direct lead-up to Nic White’s try.

ADVERTISEMENT
Anton Lienert-Brown is neck rolled by James O’Connor. Photo / NZ Herald.
Lienert-Brown is caught in an awkward angle in O’Connor’s cleanout. Photo / NZ Herald.

Neck rolls – the act of grabbing an opposing player, whose attention is on the ball in the ruck, and twisting his head or neck to force him to the ground – are extremely dangerous and illegal. The minimum sanction is a yellow card, the maximum a red. Not one was penalised at Optus Stadium.

“This type of contact also applies to grabbing and rolling/twisting around the head/neck area even if the contact starts below the line of the shoulders,” according to World Rugby’s laws.

The allowance of the tactic put every player at risk last Saturday, but few would have disliked it more than Sam Cane, the All Blacks flanker who had surgery on a broken neck last year.

“To be honest, I wasn’t aware of it until I looked at my game yesterday but there were times when you’d get over the ball and you’d know you were in a good position and then for whatever reason you get taken off it,” he said today. “Sometimes it was because players were coming blatantly in from the side, sometimes it’s those neck rolls. I’m not sure there’s much you can do in the game.

“I remember at the 2015 World Cup there was a real clampdown on it. It was taken very seriously. It’s just one of those things; the laws of the game. They focus on one area and then another area seems to slip off. But I’d like to see it ruled.”

It was odd that the Wallabies should resort to such tactics because they have been extremely vocal opponents of it in the past, particularly when David Pocock has been on the receiving end.

Owen Franks was penalised by referee Wayne Barnes for wrenching Pocock’s neck in the Bledisloe Cup test at Eden Park 12 months ago, an act which left the loose forward injured and out of the return match in Sydney a fortnight later.

Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper said at the time: “We as a coaching group sent in clips to World Rugby and as far as we know — or the coaches have told me anyway — it doesn’t meet the red-card threshold.

“Now neck injuries are a pretty big part of the game and I know, from being in a similar position to David, you want to be protected and safe and that’s what this is about, player safety.”

Maybe it’s a case if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, because the Wallabies’ ruck speed was mightily impressive at the weekend, the All Blacks saying afterwards they just couldn’t slow the home side’s ball. As Cane said, on review it became clearer why.

The All Blacks were magnanimous after the defeat, despite the red card for lock Scott Barrett in the final minute of the first half, and so they should have been, for they were outplayed and the Wallabies were dominant until Barrett’s departure.

They can probably accept the red card too because while Barrett made accidental contact with the back of Hooper’s head, the All Black had put himself in a compromised position by keeping his shoulder and arm low.

And while coach Steve Hansen called Ardie Savea’s push on the back of Hooper’s head shortly before that a “dumb act”, for referee Jerome Garces to penalise it shows a remarkable lack of empathy and feel for the game. Hooper pushed Savea in the back of the head by way of retaliation, a penalisable act in itself.

How Savea’s push merited a penalty, and the late tackle on Richie Mo’unga in the first half, which put him down for a considerable time, and Kurtley Beale’s shoulder charge on Jack Goodhue in the lead-up to Anton Lienert-Brown’s try, didn’t, beggars belief.

The same goes for the neck rolls because they are in no way accidental and they can’t be allowed to continue at Eden Park in the return match.

This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and was republished again with permission.

The Bill Ellis Podcast:

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

39 Go to comments
A
Adrian 12 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

39 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Dean Richards set for return to rugby management Dean Richards set for return to rugby management
Search