Welcome fellow G&GRs to another Hump Day news. Some great rugby on the weekend and I was especially pleased to see my Canes win in Canberra. It wasn’t expected but they played some great rugby. The weekend had some good games: Reds over the Blues, Chiefs getting their mojo back, MP defeating the Drua and the Crusaders showing how last year was an anomaly. Time to put that behind us and start looking forward to this weekend and hoping “our” team gets it done this week.
Referee Corner
There were a couple of incidents last week. However, the first good point was that I managed to remember the law changes last week and when the ball was thrown in not straight and the other side didn’t contest I awarded a free kick and not the option of scrum or another lineout. So a win for me. Two main ones last week and the first one was the tip tackle from Tele’a on Ryan. The law on this is pretty straight forward Law 9.18 A player must not lift an opponent off the ground and drop or drive that player so their head and/or upper body makes contact with the ground. The other side of this that isn’t so clear is the way it is adjudicated and the sanction increases from a penalty to a red card. Essentially if the player lifts and drops the opponent on to the ground it starts at a penalty. If the player hits the ground hard or on his/her back or side then not is upgraded to yellow. If the head or neck hits the ground first then it’s upgraded to red. Tele’a’s tackle absolutely met the red card level. Ryan was uplifted past the horizontal and while he wasn’t driven into the ground, his neck was the first point of contact. It was dumb play and I fully support the upgrade to red card. I’m not going into then sanction because that’s just such a rock show I don’t really care. Interestingly, as a referee I don’t care what the judiciary rules on, even if I give a red card and the judiciary lets him off, they were no longer on the field when I refereed the game so I’m happy.
The second one is a bit more controversial and it’s the pass that went forward and was not called by the referee, AR or TMO in the Brumbies v Canes match (of course being a one-eyed Canes supporter I was happy with the call). The law about this one is interesting. There actually isn’t a law that mentions a forward pass. The law that applies to this is law 11.6 A throw forward may occur anywhere in the playing area. The interesting thing about this law are the words “throw forward” so nothing about the trajectory of the ball. The law is applied if a ball is thrown forward not if it travels forward. In fact the path of the ball has no bearing on the application of the law. Now for those of you who have a little understanding of physics will understand that if the ball carrier is moving forward a pass that is sent sideways will have some of the momentum of the carrier applied to it and it will travel forward. For a referee to call a forward pass, they have to be very clear that the ball was thrown forward out of the hands. Normally adjudicated as forward out of the hands. So if the officials don’t clearly see the ball thrown forward, they won’t call it – regardless of the path of the ball. Without trying to justify anything it appears that none of the officials saw the ball thrown forward and so it wasn’t called. I certainly get some of the frustration and I’m sure that if I was a Brumbies supporter I may feel a bit different. But, at the end of the day if the ball is not clearly thrown forward then a forward pass won’t be called.
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
As reported here in the Super Rugby website Ardie Savea is continuing his run at the top of the list. The calls from last week are:
Chiefs v Western Force
5 – Ben Donaldson (FOR), Harry Potter (FOR), Cortez Ratima (CHI)
3 – Shaun Stevenson (CHI)
2 – Luke Jacobson (CHI), Samisoni Taukei’aho (CHI)
1 – Bayley Kuenzle (FOR), Hamish Stewart (FOR)
Queensland Reds v Blues
5 – Tom Lynagh (RED), Tate McDermott (RED)
4 – Hoskins Sotutu (BLU)
3 – AJ Lam (BLU)
2 – Anton Segner (BLU), Zarn Sullivan (BLU)
1 – Hunter Paisami (RED), Fraser McReight (RED), Sam Nock (BLU)
Moana Pasifika v Fijian Drua
6 – Ardie Savea (MOA)
3 – Kitione Salawa (DRU), Etonia Waqa (DRU)
2 – Elia Canakaivata (DRU), Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula (DRU), Tevita Ikanivere (DRU), Lalomilo Lalomilo (MOA), Semisi Tupou Ta’eiloa (MOA)
1 – Tevita Ofa (MOA), Miracle Fai’ilagi (MOA)
Highlanders v Crusaders
5 – Folau Fakatava (HIG), Will Jordan (CRU)
4 – David Havili (CRU)
3 – Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens (HIG)
2 – Timoci Tavatavanawai (HIG), Ethan de Groot (HIG), Christian Lio-Willie (CRU)
1 – David Havili (CRU)
ACT Brumbies v Hurricanes
6 – Kini Naholo (HUR)
3 – Cam Roigard (HUR), Tom Hooper (BRU), Allan Alaalatoa (BRU), Luke Reimer (BRU)
2 – Du’Plessis Kirifi (HUR), Tuaina Tualima (BRU)
1 – Brad Shields (HUR), Andy Muirhead (BRU)
The top 10 people in the ladder are:
30 – Ardie Savea (MOA)
25 – Timoci Tavatavanawai (HIG), Tom Hooper (BRU)
23 – Carlo Tizzano (FOR)
22 – Damian McKenzie (CHI)
21 – Cam Roigard (HUR), Langi Gleeson (WAR)
19 – Will Jordan (CRU)
18 – Ben Donaldson (FOR), Kini Naholo (HUR)
17 – Du’Plessis Kirifi (HUR), Elia Canakaivata (DRU), Miracle Faiilagi (MOA)
16 – Allan Alaalatoa (BRU), Christian Lio-Willie (CRU)
15 – Beauden Barrett (BLU), Harry Potter (FOR), Peter Lakai (HUR), Tate McDermott (RED)
14 – AJ Lam (BLU), Etonia Waqa (DRU), Hoskins Sotutu (BLU), Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii (WAR)
I just admit I am quite intrigued by this list. It makes a lot more sense to me than any of those other polls where the players vote on each other and seems to be more of a suck up from the players than anything meaningful. When we look at this list and then start looking at the TotW that RAWF has put up I like that there is actually a lot that seem to synch up. It will be interesting to see if any of the players who are voted by the coaches and captains miss out on selection for the ABs and Wallabies.
England rugby women edge France in thriller for Six Nations slam
As reported here in rugby.com.au, and a good lead into the WRWC later this year with the Wallaroos showing some good form, England has snuck in as the winners of the 2025 W6N. The Red Roses saw a 31-7 lead after 23 minutes vanish on Saturday before a thrilling French fightback that eventually ran out of time, with Joanna Grisez’s marauding try with two minutes left their final score.
England are favourites to win their home World Cup but their descent from being in complete control to scrambling to save the game will have given their title rivals encouragement. “This is ideal for us. After a really good start we could have put them away but they got energy through the middle and that’s what French sides do. Once they get into you, they feel success,” said former All Blacks coach Mitchell. “That will continue to happen in 2025 and that will help us raise our game. And we have to raise our game, which is really clear.” Mitchell’s chief concern was the alarming defensive collapse that saw France run amok out wide with England players falling off tackle after tackle. “I wasn’t happy with the defence. They got through us in the middle too easily. We adjusted at half-time and the girls did a good job in that area in the second half. But the edge defence was not the standard of the Red Roses,” the said.
France were never out of it and when Grisez scorched over down the left to reduce the deficit to just one point with a minute left, the upset for an England team that had not lost a Six Nations game since 2018 looked on. It was a showcase of attacking rugby from both sides that left serious questions about England’s defence ahead of the global showpiece they are desperate to win while exorcising the demons of their defeat in the 2021 final to New Zealand.
If you haven’t seen this game it is well worth going back and having a look at it. There was some great rugby and some really good play and skills from both sides. I think both Australia and New Zealand will take some good points off this game. England have looked unbeatable for a couple of years, but as France showed, they are as beatable as anyone if you get your game right. I think in some respects teams have gone into these games looking at how they can stop England rather than how can they play their game and I think this is a big lesson. I firmly believe that on their day any team can win if a few things go their way. Some teams may need a bit more than others, but get it right and you can beat anyone. Let’s hope the girls focus on this going forward. They start against Fiji this Saturday so let’s support them and hope they go well.
