The “Crooked Feed” continues with a drought broken and freezing looks, commentators probably getting in wrong, youngsters on the rise, touching moments, and speling misteaks.
Rebels v Lions
●Breaking the drought – When Tom English scored in the 27th minute against the Lions in Melbourne last Saturday it was the first try the Rebels had registered since April 15th when Sefania Naivalu scored against the Brumbies in the 16th minute.
Sure there was a bye week during that, but there were 253 minutes of elapsed time between the tries of Naivalu and English. And that’s not counting any “extras” when play continued after the siren sounded six times in that period.
●Frozen glance – Mitch Inman gets a dominant tackle from Armand van der Merwe and is driven back. He gets a withering glance from him afterwards too.
Kafer described the stare from the Lions’ reserve hooker:
He was like a White Walker from “The Game of Thrones”.
Armand van der Merwe look-a-like
●Commentators probably got it wrong – At 61 minutes Callum Retailick pulled down a maul from a lineout drive starting five metres out from the Rebels’ goal line. He got a card, and a rest for ten minutes, though he probably didn’t need one because he had been on the field for only 50 seconds.
The Lions were awarded a penalty try—and well done Japanese referee Shuhei Kubo, for not waiting for the second or third time before doing so.
Commentator Stephen Holies says:
I would have assumed they’d get another crack.
Commentator Rod Kafer gave his expert opinion on the matter:
It’s maybe an early call for the referee—were they always going to definitely score that?
Rod – love your work but “definitely” is the wrong word to use. Law 10.2(b) states:
A penalty try must be awarded if the offence prevents a try that would probably otherwise have been scored.
So it’s not “…definitely otherwise have been scored”.
That’s definite.
The young guns
●Esei Ha’angana
The Rebels’ lock turned 18 less than three weeks ago.
He first represented West Juniors in Sydney and later was chosen for the 2015 Sydney U16s.
Last year he represented Sydney Metro West who won the U17 Junior Gold Cup final by thrashing Brisbane.
He was also selected for Combined States in the Australia Schools’ Rugby Championships and was chosen for the Australian Schools’ main team that played in NZ.
He also joined Randwick Colts but the Rebels had their eyes on him and recruited him for their Development Squad.
He played a few minutes against the Lions last Saturday when no. 8 Amanaki Mafi had to retire briefly, and a few more at the end of the game.
It was a pity that he wasn’t selected in the Aussie U20 team announced last Sunday, but at least he is eligible to play in 2018 and 2019.
●Aussie Under 20s
The young Aussies didn’t play well in in the Oceania Under 20s tournament but it is not all doom and gloom. Only half of the 28 players in the Australian Under 20 squad chosen for the World Rugby Under 20 Championship in Georgia played in the Oceania event.
Expect the lads to do better with the Super Rugby and Sevens players available.
Only in France
●Toulon v Bordeaux-Bègles – The teams are lining up side to side inside the stadium the week before last—the two sides usually run on together in the Top 14.
The Toulon winger recognises an old friend playing inside centre for Bordeaux about to line up next to him. He reaches over sideways to hold hands with him for a moment and they say “G’day” to each other.
That was a touching moment when Drew Mitchell reached out to Adam Ashley-Cooper.
In that game James O’Connor made his return for Toulon after being nicked for off-field foul play.
Adam Ashley-Cooper and Drew Mitchell – best of friends
●Toulon v Pau – We’ve all seen flankers in French sides, in tests or club matches, pack down on the left-hand side or right-hand side of the scrum every time, whereas in other countries a flanker usually scrums on the open side or blind side exclusively.
Australian Liam Gill was invariably on the open side in Super Rugby and South African Juan Smith on the blind side; so you’d expect them to scrum in those positions for Toulon whatever the French did, wouldn’t you?
But no – whenever Toulon scrummed last weekend, Smith packed down on the right and Gill on the left. It was strange to see Gilly scrumming near to touch.
●Montpellier v Stade Français – It was the last round of the season for all Top 14 sides; this game was tight and Montpellier won because Morne Steyn missed a conversion after the siren.
But according to the affable commentator, Robbie Nock, Montpellier should not have played their South African lock Jacques du Plessis because he was suspended for picking up his third yellow card for the season in the previous game.
If true, and Montpellier is docked the game points for the match, it won’t affect them for the final series because they will finish third regardless.
But if the points for the game are awarded to Stade Français, Racing 92 will be livid—they will end up 7th not 6th. They thought they were still in the race to defend their title after Dan Carter scored a late try to beat Bordeaux at the same time as the other game was ending.
And if Nock is right, as he often isn’t, and Stade Français leapfrogs Racing, will they feel sorry for the other Paris team they were supposed to merge with, but the deal fell through?
No – I don’t think so either.
Look at the scoreboard
●Scots v Joeys – NSW Schools trials.
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