'Who butchered that?' - Ian Foster panned over All Blacks blunder
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster was panned by many over a critical personnel blunder, which lead to the best player in the first Test spending most of the second on the sidelines, helplessly watching on as Ireland claimed their first victory over the men in black on NZ soil.
When All Blacks lost Angus Ta’avao to a 30th-minute red card and with Ofa Tuungafasi already in the sin bin, Foster’s side found themselves defending their line with Irish camped in their 22.
Ireland were awarded a penalty within 10 of the All Blacks’ try line, a situation which would 99 per cent of the time would have seen Ireland kick to touch in order to maul off the lineout.
However, realising the All Blacks who were down to 13-men and would be obliged to commit eight players to a scrum, a quick-thinking Johnny Sexton called for the setpiece from match day referee Jaco Peyper.
The All Blacks then critically called for Ardie Savea to be subbed off to allow Aidan Ross take the field for the scrum. They were then forced to make up the eight with backs – centre Quinn Tupaea and first-five Beauden Barrett both drafted into the back row in a scrum that was uncontested.
It was at this scrum that things got a little confused.
What Peyper appeared to miss was that the All Blacks had forced uncontested scrum through foul play, and should have been obliged to remove another nominated player, a fate that befell Italy in this year’s Guinness Six Nations game, also against Ireland.
The Law reads: “If a front-row player is sent off , and the team cannot continue with contested scrums with players already on the field, then the team nominates another player [Savea] to leave the playing area to enable an available front-row player to come on. The nominated player may act as a replacement.”
In this case it would have meant New Zealand should have gone down to 12 men. They got away with it, so to speak, and went on to play with 13 and then 14-men when Tuungafasi returned to the field.
Ireland didn’t score off the scrum but it forced New Zealand into removing a player, which crucially ended up being Savea. It was a major blunder, as it ultimately lead to Savea not returning later in the contest.
There was some confusion when Tuungafasi did return from the bin, with Savea looking to return with him, until it was pointed out that they had 15 players on the pitch.
The All Blacks made a second, potentially more crucial mistake though, as they didn’t realise that they could bring Savea back on as a replacement. Under the Law 3.20, Savea would have been able to replace one of his teammates later in the game.
A small number of people did pick up that the All Blacks should have been down to 12 and not 13-men and that Savea could have returned as a replacement in the back row had Foster called for it.
Foster has since said he was advised that Savea could return by the officials.
Worth noting that under the laws of the game, Ardie Savea can absolutely return to the field at any point in this match as a substitute – so he should have been able to return in place of Dalton Papalii. #NZLvIRE #AllBlacks
— Tom Vinicombe (@TomVinicombe) July 9, 2022
Richard Gordon wrote: “For those confused about what happened in the #NZvIRE game, under law: 1) Savea can return as a replacement. 2) Papalii cannot return. 3) The ABs should have dropped another player and gone to 12 when uncontested scrums.”
For those confused about what happened in the #NZvIRE game, under law:
1) Savea can return as a replacement.
2) Papalii cannot return.
3) The ABs should have dropped another player and gone to 12 when uncontested scrums.— Richard Gordon (@gordo_nz) July 9, 2022
The loss of Savea was certainly picked up on social media, where the call was pilloried – Foster the scapegoat in chief.
Former All Blacks flyhalf Lima Sopoaga wrote: “Damn you really wanna play without Ardie Savea? Who butchered that?”
Damn you really wanna play without ardie savea?
Who butchered that ?????— Lima Sopoaga (@LimaSopoaga) July 9, 2022
Dylan Jack wrote: “Ian Foster butchered the Ardie Savea call. No matter what, Savea should be the last player you bring off.”
Ian Foster butchered the Ardie Savea call. No matter what, Savea should be the last player you bring off.#NZvIRE
— Dylan Jack (@dylmjack) July 9, 2022
South African rugby scribe Mark Keohane posted: “Leaving Sam Cane and sacrificing Ardi Savea summed up everything you need to know about Foster’s thinking.”
Leaving Sam Cane and sacrificing Ardi Savea summed up everything you need to know about Foster's thinking.
— Mark Keohane (@mark_keohane) July 9, 2022
https://twitter.com/bchanakira2/status/1545690319026589700
In the end it didn’t matter the mess up by officials didn’t stop Ireland winning the game, not least as they already had a one man advantage. It does however question how on the ball the coaching ticket were when they decided to take arguably their most influential forward off.
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments