• Cheetahs v Sharks - Rd.13 – At 53 mins BdP gets a yellow card for one shoulder charge too many, as wussy as it was. At 57mins the Sharks get a lineout and reserve hooker Burden comes on to throw the ball in and 6. Botes goes temporarily to the bench – or so they think.
Jonathan Kaplan reminds them of the law. If a front rower is in the bin, a temporary front rower can only come on (and a team mate go off) when the first scrum is set. 16. Burden had to go back to the bench and 6. Botes returned. 8. Daniel had to throw the ball into the lineout and it was a shocker: not straight – to Botes.
It would have been OK if it was a permanent replacement: ex winger Burden is quick and as hard as nails; he could have played on the flank when BdP came back, but apparently the Sharks wanted Botes to come back on later.
It would have been interesting if Kaplan had not noticed the temporary swap and Botes had attempted to come back onto the field with BdP when his time was up. Supposing that the off-field officials followed the protocols properly, Burden would have had to stay on and Botes not be allowed back because his original departure would be deemed to be a tactical substitution from which he couldn't return except for “blood”.
Of course, the not straight throw by Daniels meant a scrum would occur and the Burden/Botes temporary switch happened legally.
But wait – there's more.
At 61 mins there is a forward pass and a scrum is needed. BdP runs on from the bin and Burden returns to the bench. Not so fast Bismark – an official has made a mistake: you can't come back until the 63rd minute. He runs back to the bin and Burden returns to the field; so Botes also has to go off for the 3rd time.
This reminds me of something: Der Rosenkavilier?
Or: Much Ado About Nothing,
.
