Happy Hump Day fellow G&GRs, Not the easiest of weeks as two of our favourite teams crashed out of the semis and those damn cowbell clangers and JAFAs will fight it out for the title this year. After a few days sulking I did manage to go back to both games and try and look positively at them. They were both enjoyable games with some good rugby, and just a few controversies that’ll help the conspiracy theorists work on their plots about how the referees/World Rugby/NZRFU/RA and anyone else is working behind the scenes to torpedo their team’s chances of ever getting a few more wins and past the quarter or semi-finals of a competition.
Onwards and upwards to the final though. I know a lot of people, especially here in Australia, won’t actually give a toss about the final now that their team is gone – TBH I do feel a bit like that myself now. But what I would say is that it’s a perfect chance to watch some good rugby as a neutral spectator who’s able to enjoy the rugby without the anxiety that comes from watching our team.
As we say in the army, time to embrace the suck!
Referee Corner
This weekend wasn’t without its moments from the officials of the matches and certainly James Doleman received a fair bit of stick for his performance in the first semi-final. Now, I’ve been on record sticking up for this guy and despite what I saw last weekend I still don’t believe he’s as bad as some people make out. I also disagree that he’s incompetent or that he isn’t good enough to referee at this level. He absolutely has a different approach to some other referees, and you know that if he’s adjudicating your game then you’ll be given more leeway in attack than you might in some others. How you adapt to his style will play a huge part in how your team goes in the game. However, I will say he didn’t have his best game and I think it got away from him a bit. There were a couple of incidents in particular that I’ll comment on.
The first incident that seemed to upset most, judging from comments, was when Tele’a was tackled by Toole and appeared to be held but kept going and therefore in contravention of law 14.7.a “make the ball available by releasing, passing or pushing the ball” because he was in the tackle. They believe he should have released the ball and then got to his feet and continued and been penalised for not releasing the ball. My take on this is a bit different. Firstly, I don’t think Toole did hold on to him after the immediate tackle. To me it looked as though Toole knocked him down but as they were both sliding forward, he lost contact with Tele’a and so therefore the tackle wasn’t complete. If this occurs, then the ball carrier does not need to release the ball and can keep going. It was certainly close and one of those times that I thought could’ve gone either way. With Doleman’s natural bias towards the attacking team his picture was that the tackle wasn’t completed and so play on was fair.
The second one is the apparent knock on by Christie close to the Blues line. Law 11 deals with knock ons and throw forwards. Law 11.1 says “it may occur anywhere in the playing area (so includes the in-goal area), law 11.2 says “It is a knock on when a player, in tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent, makes contact with the ball and the ball goes forward” Law 11.6 says “a throw forward may occur anywhere in the playing area” So nothing there covers what occurred as Christie wasn’t attempting a tackle and the ball wasn’t thrown forward. However, in the definition part of the law it says that a knock on occurs; “when a player loses possession of the ball and it goes forward, or when a player hits the ball forward with hand or arm, or when the ball hits a hand or arm and goes forward……” So, this would be what could be applied to the action that occurred with Christie. He went to pick the ball up but didn’t get it properly and it bounced out of his hands and back to the ground. The technical part of this is, did it go forward? Now forward is also defined and is, “towards the opposition dead ball line“. Doleman was at about a 45-degree angle to this incident and about 4 metres away. He clearly indicates that for him the ball went sideways and not forward (he says this by saying and indicating it went backwards which is something all referees do to ensure people understand we don’t believe it went forward). So again, a call from some players and commentators who had a different view from Doleman’s of what occurred.
Both of these incidents are great examples of how so many of the events during a game can be viewed differently. In most cases decisions made by referees are subjective and could go either way depending on the bias of the referee, where he/she is standing and whether a player from one team or another has pissed them off at all. I also watched the Canes/Chiefs game again and while I think Gus had a better game than Doleman. there were a lot of players diving off their feet at the rucks, some clear offsides that weren’t called, and I thought Jacobson was give far too much leeway in taking people way past the rucks and mauls. Something he better watch, or he may receive either a penalty or a smack in the face if he continues with it. I guess with 2 Kiwi teams in this game, there wasn’t as much biased viewing and so not so much was picked up over here.
Wales call on Botham for test against Springboks
Reported here by Reuters Wales have added versatile loose-forward James Botham to their squad for their one-off test against South Africa in London on Saturday. Botham, 26, the grandson of former England cricket great Ian, could get the chance to add to his 10 international caps despite having been left out of coach Warren Gatland’s original selection.
He can play anywhere across the back row of the scrum and made his debut in 2020 but has been in and out of the side since then. Wales now have 38 players in camp ahead of the clash with the world champion Springboks, with that number to be cut to 34 for a two-test tour in Australia in July.
This tour by Wales is going to be a pretty important tour for both countries. Australia with a new coach and new selections trying to come back from a disastrous Rugby World Cup and Wales working to come back from a pretty disastrous 6 Nations. Both countries have a lot to prove, and both need to use this tour as preparation for the big games later in the year.
I’d actually be pretty happy for Joe to take some risk in this tour. Unlike Jones, he’d do that in a proper way with some rugby IP instead of the self-anointed BS that Jones did, and I think it’s a great chance to set things up for the Rugby Championship.
Highlanders Connor Garden-Bachop passes away, aged 25
Sorry, couldn’t find an image that WordPress would allow me to upload.
In a sad item of news Highlanders outside back Connor Garden-Bachop has died aged 25 after an unspecified “medical event”, New Zealand Rugby said Tuesday.
“Connor passed away on Monday following a medical event, and rugby’s collective focus at this time is on supporting his family,” New Zealand Rugby said in a statement. “Connor was a fantastic young player, an exciting New Zealand age-grade representative and a proud Māori All Black. Wherever he played, he was a committed and popular teammate with infectious energy and someone who could light up the room. Most importantly, he was a loving father to his twin girls, a brother, a son and immeasurably loved by all those who knew him.”
His mother, Susan Garden-Bachop, played for New Zealand’s Black Ferns, while his uncle Graeme Bachop also played for the All Blacks. Garden-Bachop, who was the father of twin girls, made his debut for the Highlanders in 2021, going on to make 30 appearances in Super Rugby.
In a recent post on social media platform Instagram, Garden-Bachop praised the Dunedin-based team. “Thank you @highlandersteam for an unforgettable five years,” he wrote. “Thank you to everyone in the south for making me feel at home and thank you to the boys I have been honoured to share the field with, it’s been a pleasure, I will miss you all. Till next time.”
Pretty sad news and I hope his family are being looked after.
