McCaw finds a new way to cheat

[Dan54]

Actually Scarfie ,if you are serious what is difference between thye Lions player and Wallaby 1 in next ruck shown?? I don't see any.

 

[Scarfman]

Here is a beauty I remembered from last year. You might not catch it the first time, but on the replay you can see how Piatau is lucky to still have a head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=W_4S5aM1yfQ#t=21s

The Lions again.

I'm still not sure what any of this has to do with McCaw though.

OK, I'm being completely non-trolling here. McCaw cleaned out that way all night. It was really noticeable that he has adopted this method as his Plan A in the ruck.

 

[Karl]

Here is a beauty I remembered from last year. You might not catch it the first time, but on the replay you can see how Piatau is lucky to still have a head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=W_4S5aM1yfQ#t=21s


I'm still not sure what any of this has to do with McCaw though.

that was bad

 

[ChargerWA]

It was really noticeable that he has adopted this method as his Plan A in the ruck.

Well lets face it, he is getting pretty old now, and if he can use their momentum it takes less of his withering strength to clean them out.

 

[Sully]

The same technique tore Horwill's hamstring.


Sent using Tapatalk on a very old phone

 

[Alex]

Been seeing a lot of this tactic in the Northern Hemisphere in the past season........watch a tape of a Leinster game and see how often Leo Cullen does it - if it wasn't so dangerous and obviously illegal it would be funny.

 

[Lee Grant]

Instead of clearing out by pushing players back, he's clearing out by pulling them from the opposition side.

Perhaps that is from playing so much with Rodney So'oialo in the past. He was an absolute shocker in that regard. I remember once when George Smith was acting Oz captain and he complained to the ref in a Bledisloe match that he couldn't get to his own ruck because Rodders was always in the way.

I can't remember that he was ever penalised for it and I can't recall either anybody else on the forum mentioning Rodders as a bad guy.

But if McCaw is doing that as Scarfman mentioned, and generally taking up space which he definitely does - and he is getting away away with it, opponents have to do the same thing. If then the playing field is not level with the officials (as it wasn't with lbw decisions against Oz batsmen in their days of pomp) then can we whinge.

Rather than criticise McCaw we should do what he does until there is a crackdown on taking up space.

Then there are his blocking lines of run in front of the ball carrier, as the Reds noticed one afternoon in Christchurch town.

It wasn't spotted - brilliant.
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[FrankLind]

But if McCaw is doing that as Scarfman mentioned, and generally taking up space which he definitely does - and he is getting away away with it, opponents have to do the same thing. If then the playing field is not level with the officials (as it wasn't with lbw decisions against Oz batsmen in their days of pomp) then can we whinge.

Rather than criticise McCaw we should do what he does until there is a crackdown on taking up space.

Then there are his blocking lines of run in front of the ball carrier, as the Reds noticed one afternoon in Christchurch town.

It wasn't spotted - brilliant.
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Exactly. And that is the heart of the reason I have for disliking Scarfman's constant whiny bitching.

McCaw is playing the ref.

I could rattle on about Pocock doesn't really support his bodyweight at half the breakdowns and is slightly kneeling on the opposition player, (hell I could even make a YouTube video if I knew how) but I don't, because Pocock is playing to the ref and what he can get away with.

That is the mark of a great number 7. They study the laws and adapt.

It's got nothing to do with someone criticizing "Saint Ritchie", it's the sour bitchiness of it (pretending to be trolling)

 

[teach]

If Pocock wore Black there would be whingers complaining he is a cheat.

 

[Scotty]

It wasn't spotted - brilliant.
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Some would say it was so blatant that 'it wasn't spotted = incompetent refereeing'

 

[Sully]

Can we get away from the McCaw side of it because there are a shitload of players doind it. I don't know if it's illegal but I do think it's dangerous. It's causing injuries and someone could end up in a wheelchair if it goes wrong.

 

[disco]

What I have noticed that McCaw does more often than not is instead of rolling clear of the ruck he rolls to the oppositions openside of the ruck & slowly gets up one one knee & then the other which obstructs the halfback from passing or getting quick clean ball.

So he can't get done for lazy runner if you pass the ball into him & he can't get done for not rolling away.

 

[Lindommer]

So (St Richie the Invisible) can't get done for lazy runner if you pass the ball into him & he can't get done for not rolling away.

He should get pinged for putting himself in an offside position. Simple. As George Ayoub once put it so succinctly: "if there was a snake there you'd find a way to get out".

 

[Jiggles]

Scarfie, what exactly is it that you are accusing McCaw of?

If its that neck grapple, well thats not confined to him at all. That has been used by pretty my every team to get fetchers off the ball. Personally attacking the neck should be a yellow card, its just outright dangerous.

If its the tacking space at the ruck thing, well again all teams do that. The Reds do it very well. Pretending to roll away and accidentally fall in the way isn't confined to just McCaw, but he is better at it.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Then there are his blocking lines of run in front of the ball carrier, as the Reds noticed one afternoon in Christchurch town.

It wasn't spotted - brilliant.
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As far as the taking up space in an offside position at the ruck goes if a player isn't getting picked up for it then I as an opponent would start doing it myself. So I believe I'm on the same page as you that regard.

However, the part of your quote above is where I probably disagree. Unless I'm mistaking this with something else (which I well could be in my flu state) what you describe here is something that just about every Rugby book/doc I've ever read says you should do as an open side Flanker.

An example from the English Rugby Union pdf on Open Side Flanker play.

http://www.rfu.com/TakingPart/Coach...rticles/PositionalSkills/opensideflanker.ashx

On the pdf's page 4

4) Shepherding: understand the need to run lines from line-out which allow you to support your backs quickly while slowing opposite number and preserving space for backs to possible attack (between tail of line-out and opposite No10).
On the pdf's page 8

1) Off line-outs and scrums – skill of shepherding. Understand the need to run lines off line-out which allow you to support your backs quickly while slowing opposite number and preserving space for backs to attack.

I believe the same process could be attributed to rucks also. To me, this is all McCaw was doing against the Reds.

 

[ACR]

If its the tacking space at the ruck thing, well again all teams do that. The Reds do it very well. Pretending to roll away and accidentally fall in the way isn't confined to just McCaw, but he is better at it.

McCaw has a vast catalogue of dodgy manoeuvres, which are coming out to play more often now that he's slowing down. I've also noticed the Reds 'taking up space' very often, Beau Robinson is one of the more blatant ones. The Highlanders do it a little bit but in our case it's more that we just plain old fall over the wrong side of the ruck (looking at you Thomson, Hoeata, King, Mackintosh). We get duly penalised though.

But shit, it's rugby, there's an infringement at every ruck so kudos to those who don't get pinged.

 

[Dam0]

But shit, it's rugby, there's an infringement at every ruck so kudos to those who don't get pinged.

That's it exactly. One has to admire top players pushing the law and the refs as much as they can. I thought there were a couple of questionable turnover's by Pocock last night, but that is what its all about. If there wasn't one or two he isn't doing his job properly (and I am a referee).

This constant whinging about McCaw is unbecoming of a rugby fan.

 

[Slim 293]

McCaw has a vast catalogue of dodgy manoeuvres, which are coming out to play more often now that he's slowing down. I've also noticed the Reds 'taking up space' very often, Beau Robinson is one of the more blatant ones. The Highlanders do it a little bit but in our case it's more that we just plain old fall over the wrong side of the ruck (looking at you Thomson, Hoeata, King, Mackintosh). We get duly penalised though.

But shit, it's rugby, there's an infringement at every ruck so kudos to those who don't get pinged.

Yep.

Simmons and Higginbotham are also major players when it comes to holding back opposition players in an offside position of the ruck in order to create space around the fringes.

It's a tactic the All Blacks have done for a while that the Reds have picked up.

 

[drewprint]

It's proven to be extremely effective for the Reds and ABs too, when you look at their recent success rates. It'd be good to see some of the other Aus teams play as smart too, might roll into a stronger national team.

 

[Lee Grant]

1) Off line-outs and scrums – skill of shepherding. Understand the need to run lines off line-out which allow you to support your backs quickly while slowing opposite number and preserving space for backs to attack.

I believe the same process could be attributed to rucks also. To me, this is all McCaw was doing against the Reds.

I'm glad the illegal shepherd is being taught in Oz, assuming players are playing in front of the ball. I even noticed Higgers doing it in Newcastle.

But that blocking line by McCaw in Christchurch (from a scrum) was egregious because it was started so early and when he was so far in front of where the ball was.

It began when he was 8 metres in front of the ball carrier and play switched from behind the scrum as he knew was going to happen. Gill had to wait because he was holding for a possible switch and once he moved in the right direction found McCaw, still running forward in front of the ball carrier, though sideways also, blocking his way.

You could have driven a semi-trailer through the artificial gap that was created by the absence of Gill.

Have a look: there's a clip in the game thread.
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