Welcome to Hump Day fellow G&GRs. Here’s hoping you’re having a good week and starting to think about how things will go this coming weekend. Last weekend certainly saw some interesting results and while the teams seem to be a bit closer than in previous years, there’s still a pretty consistent gap between the top and bottom levels.
Today’s a Reds sort of day. No apologies and for those who follow other teams, sorry I just felt this was more important than some of the other stuff around. Remember, this is a fan site and if you feel that you need to get your point across, please put it down and let us know. If you don’t feel comfortable putting it up yourself, try this link and let us know so one of us can then take your words and get them out here.
Referee Corner
Despite referees being a critical part of the game, and without whom the game wouldn’t go ahead, the hate just keeps on coming. To be fair there’s a lot about the refereeing that could be done differently to assist with people being less critical of the calls being made in the game. Last weekend saw a good example of this. In the Canes/Fiji game (Canes won just in case I hadn’t mentioned it) the Canes openside flanker, Du’Plessis Kirifi was given a yellow card for a high tackle that looked extremely similar to the one Fraser McReight received against Moana Pasifika last week that was upgraded to red. Despite the similarities, the yellow card given to Kirifi wasn’t upgraded during the match, nor was it looked at afterwards by the citing commission and upgraded. To a lot of people, it feels as though Kirifi got off and McReight didn’t.
Now of course all the conspiracy theorists come out about how NZ players are refereed differently to everyone else and if that had been an Australian/Fiji/Pasifika/English/Welsh/Irish/French player then it would have been a red card. Of course, being a Kiwi I don’t buy this at all. Sure a real-life conspiracy could exist. Maybe when referees get to a certain level they are then indoctrinated into a secret society where they promise to rule differently against any NZ player and if they don’t agree they’ll be forever banned from refereeing again. But really? Even the most tinfoil hat, Trump loving, anti-vax tosser couldn’t get that past a reality check.
The issue for me is that I feel we (referees) are too quiet on these types of issues. The Kirifi incident was seen by the referee, the ARs and the TMO. The citing commission viewed it as did all the other match management and coaches and yet none of them have said a word about “why” there was no upgrade. There is obviously a reason why it wasn’t upgraded. Maybe they saw the tackler lowering into the tackle, maybe they saw the first tackler bringing him down below where Kirifi was targeting, maybe they saw a different 1st point of contact. I really don’t know and for me this is the problem. If the officials had come out and said, “We didn’t upgrade the tackle because…” then at least we’d know why. We might not agree with the reasoning, but we’d know what it was and while it wouldn’t’ve satisfied everyone, it would probably have made a difference to how we all feel about the decision.
I don’t expect a referee to explain every decision in the game, that would be just stupid. But I do think there’s room for them to make a statement about why some critical decisions were made. Unfortunately for a lot of supporters who are feeling hard done by on decisions against their team (and it’s always their team, not ever the opposition) quite often the only explanation will be, “That’s the picture I saw at the time,” or “I didn’t feel it had a material effect on the game at the time.” However, I think that this would still be better than the silence and lack of any explanation.
Jordan Petaia to miss remaining Super Rugby Pacific season following shoulder injury
Reported here in rugby.com.au it looks as though Petaia will miss the rest of the season. Being off contract this year and already looking at options outside of Australia and even rugby it could be the last he’ll be seen in the Reds colours. Reds coach Les Kiss informed media on Tuesday Petaia’s season was likely over after he reeled away from an attempted tackle on Timoci Tavatavanawai during Friday’s clash with the Highlanders. Petaia left late in the 1st half and took no further part in the game. “It’s a blow without a doubt, a player of his calibre, the types of game he brings for us, his physical size, his power.” said Kiss.
The Reds really are struggling with players at the moment with McDermott, McReight, Uru, Flook and Henry all injured this is really going to test their depth. The Reds are hoping Flook will be able to join the team this weekend against the Blues after injuring his shoulder against Moana Pasifika.
Paisami played well at 13 against the Highlanders and with maybe JOC or Creighton coming in as an option at 12. Personally if JOC is injury free I’d like to see him there. While he may not be the big crash tackling inside centre that is popular, he tackles well and can distribute well out of hand and off the boot and I think he’d go well.
For me though the real issue will be seeing if Kiss and the rest of the team can come up with tactics that can make use of the players they have and not try and force players into a game plan they can’t do. I think this is a real test of the coaching group more than the players and looking forward to seeing how it pans out.
“Humbled” Reds to honour Anzac family ties as coach calls for annual clash.
Being a current serving officer in the NZ Army and having been part of that organisation since 1980, married to an Australian soldier (yes a female one) and having served with Australian Defence personnel in Bosnia, Timor, Afghanistan and the Sinai, Anzac Day is pretty special to me. So, reading this article today I felt it appropriate to bring it up for everyone.
Last week, the QRU unveiled a new-look Anzac jersey to commemorate the 60 players who have served in Australia’s armed forces, 11 of whom never returned. The 2024 Anzac jersey holds special meaning for James O’ Connor with a fantastic tale about his grandfather’s war time experiences. “He fought in the Battle of Crete and the desert war in North Africa where he was wounded and taken prisoner. He was shipped in an Italian cargo boat which was torpedoed by the British Navy. My granddad survived and made it to shore. He was a POW in Italy where he worked in a number of POW labour camps. In 1943, he escaped with several other POWs and travelled over the Apennine Mountains. They managed to travel through the German lines to reach British troops. He was transported back to Wellington. My granddad lived to the ripe old age of 93.”
Queensland coach Les Kiss has embraced the build-up to Super Rugby Pacific’s Anzac Weekend, telling media he’d like to see a Reds-Blues Anzac clash made permanent on the competition calendar. “I think it’ll be a special occasion.” Kiss said. “It’d be great to create a similar fixtures against the Blues on a year on basis and create that tradition.“
I think this is a great idea and it certainly has my backing, especially if they maintain the Anzac spirit and get both NZ and Australia Defence personnel involved in some way.
