The Rugby Thread

[Cormack74]

I'm shocked again. Attempting an intercept try is an 'intentional deliberate knock on'. I don't expect decisions away, particularly in Europe but this is madness.

Haha surely you aren't being serious? Now if this was teams touring SA in the days when SA refs used to officiate their own side I would agree with the bias theory . . .

But I absolutely agree that it's a ridiculous recent trend to punish almost any (attempted) intercept knock on as a deliberate slap down, when the vast majority are clearly nothing of the sort.

[Cormack74]

World rugby is in a healthy state. All of the top 8 can realistically beat eachother. France is looking stronger again too. The world cup is going to be very interesting next year.

Could be the best world cup ever if the matches are as close as current form suggests they might be. As yesterday's games showed it's going to be very small margins that decide the outcomes . . . like the fact that SA should have been reduced to 14 men after half an hour

[Zapater]

Haha surely you aren't being serious? Now if this was teams touring SA in the days when SA refs used to officiate their own side I would agree with the bias theory . . .

But I absolutely agree that it's a ridiculous recent trend to punish almost any (attempted) intercept knock on as a deliberate slap down, when the vast majority are clearly nothing of the sort.

Not too sure I agree with that. But in the old days every country had it to varying levels. Obviously the rest of the world aren't as crooked as Australia, but the same case could be made for anyone. The history of Australian cricket is built on trigger finger umpires. That's ancient history.

I just feel a bit aggrieved on the basis of this tour. I can't think of a 50-50 call which has gone in our favour. In the England game, excluding the obvious there was a major offside not called in the same sequence. With France Willie's marginal forward pass was called where Huw Jones got away with one yesterday (I mean we don't have protractors to measure degrees of fingers etc but still). Regardless, I'm pleased that the Jones one wasn't overturned. It was a fantastic piece of skill in a great try. Then the pen yesterday for 'playing the man in the air' in the lineout towards the end of the game... I didn't see that, perhaps I need to check that again - could be wrong.

I know there is a trend now to give that le Roux situation a pen or/and yellow. But it just pissed me off how he said 'it's obvious that he deliberately knocked it down...' Seriously, how? He telegraphed the pass from 10m away and misjudged the flight of the ball resulting in him not getting to it. Hardly an intentional attempt to be cynical. That rule needs to be relooked, it discourages a great art in the game. There are so few like Jean de Villiers who excelled at it. Punishing the attempt takes away from it. Although as Jean did say after the game - he should have caught the ball and we wouldn't be talking about it as contentious.

Overall though, win or loss in any of those games the officiating can't be blamed. Yesterday's game should have been put beyond doubt in the first half of the second half with ease. The England game should have been over at half time. So no real complaints.

[Zapater]

I do acknowledge this goes both ways sometimes. Like Stander getting sent off for no reason in SA. Just desserts for being traitorous I guess.

[Irishnev]

I do acknowledge this goes both ways sometimes. Like Stander getting sent off for no reason in SA. Just desserts for being traitorous I guess.

Too small you mean

[Buzzo]

Not too sure I agree with that. But in the old days every country had it to varying levels. Obviously the rest of the world aren't as crooked as Australia, but the same case could be made for anyone. The history of Australian cricket is built on trigger finger umpires. That's ancient history.

I just feel a bit aggrieved on the basis of this tour. I can't think of a 50-50 call which has gone in our favour. In the England game, excluding the obvious there was a major offside not called in the same sequence. With France Willie's marginal forward pass was called where Huw Jones got away with one yesterday (I mean we don't have protractors to measure degrees of fingers etc but still). Regardless, I'm pleased that the Jones one wasn't overturned. It was a fantastic piece of skill in a great try. Then the pen yesterday for 'playing the man in the air' in the lineout towards the end of the game... I didn't see that, perhaps I need to check that again - could be wrong.

I know there is a trend now to give that le Roux situation a pen or/and yellow. But it just pissed me off how he said 'it's obvious that he deliberately knocked it down...' Seriously, how? He telegraphed the pass from 10m away and misjudged the flight of the ball resulting in him not getting to it. Hardly an intentional attempt to be cynical. That rule needs to be relooked, it discourages a great art in the game. There are so few like Jean de Villiers who excelled at it. Punishing the attempt takes away from it. Although as Jean did say after the game - he should have caught the ball and we wouldn't be talking about it as contentious.

Overall though, win or loss in any of those games the officiating can't be blamed. Yesterday's game should have been put beyond doubt in the first half of the second half with ease. The England game should have been over at half time. So no real complaints.

Its always the same when you watch Rugby the decisions for you are great the decisions against are ridiculous. The one eyed nature of the supporter.

You certainly got one major decision going your way yesterday after 30 mins...! This one will be cited for sure, should have been a red and though deserved would probably have ruined the game as a spectacle.

[ame]https://twitter.com/GLove39/status/1063858102464851968[/ame]

There was also a trip on Finn Russell which was missed by the TMO. And Du Toit illegally cleaning out Hamish Watson near the end, which looked like a yellow to me.

First half was great, and from my point of view the teams were about level (the stats say the same). There was a decent amount of edge to the game and the pace was insane in the first half, second half it became an arm wrestle which doesnt suit us and you lot just about edged it.

IF we'd taken the points to go to 23-23 it may have been interesting, but each time we went for a maul with intent to score it was defended well, though I have some suspicions about the demise of the last maul, but you lot played the ref well. You also dominated the breakdown, which ultimately won you the game.

I agree with the knock on (ish) but was baying for the yellow at the time. We have suffered one of these in the 1/4 final of the WC with Sean Maitland against the Aussies, where the ref gave them everything.

It says a lot about the progression of the Scotland team that there was a lot of disappointment after the game.

Our two trys were things of beauty.

[ame]https://twitter.com/Scotlandteam/status/1063851107431141376[/ame]

[ame]https://twitter.com/Scotlandteam/status/1063854777610711041[/ame]

[Zapater]

The headbutt is basically nothing. If that happened 10 years ago, no one would be speaking about it. People are turning rugby into football, pampering to every little thing. Also worth noting that he was being held illegally too.

No citation, regardless. Storm in a teacup. Either which way, as well as Scotland did, the better team on the night did win.

On Sean Maitland, he was desperately unlucky not to play for the ABs. Was so good for the Crusaders some years ago.

[ChesterDave]

Weren't you grumbling about the no arm tackle two weeks ago?

[Zapater]

Weren't you grumbling about the no arm tackle two weeks ago?

What relevance does that have in relation to last weekend?

[ChesterDave]

You're moaning about rugby going soft when a South African player beadbuts someone and moaning about the tackle when a South Africa were on the receiving end of that rough play. As someone said earlier in the thread most fans tend to be a little myopic

[Buzzo]

The headbutt is basically nothing. If that happened 10 years ago, no one would be speaking about it. People are turning rugby into football, pampering to every little thing. Also worth noting that he was being held illegally too.

No citation, regardless. Storm in a teacup. Either which way, as well as Scotland did, the better team on the night did win.

On Sean Maitland, he was desperately unlucky not to play for the ABs. Was so good for the Crusaders some years ago.

You guys edged it, but it was closer than you think.

As I mentioned, in the current climate if noticed on the night he would have got a yellow at least. The fact he was being held was part of the reason he wasnt cited, but it is a yellow everyday of the week, and I only highlighted it as you were moaning about no decisions going your way.

You do seem quite one eyed in the sport, only seeing the SA pens. Id have a grumble about how our maul was stoped near the end too....

Maitland qualifies for Scotland through his Glaswegian grandparents not residency if thats where you are headed with that one

[Buzzo]

You're moaning about rugby going soft when a South African player beadbuts someone and moaning about the tackle when a South Africa were on the receiving end of that rough play. As someone said earlier in the thread most fans tend to be a little myopic

We all see what we want to see.

[Zapater]

You're moaning about rugby going soft when a South African player beadbuts someone and moaning about the tackle when a South Africa were on the receiving end of that rough play. As someone said earlier in the thread most fans tend to be a little myopic

Completely different situations. It was a blatant pen - often carded. That's all. I didn't condemn the player - these things happen. If it was just a pen without a yellow/red I wouldn't have brought it up again. One of my favourite players, Butch James was a frequent exponent of the no arm tackle, doesn't make it right.

This weekend had nothing to do with play, except from the fact the Scottish player was holding Kolisi on the ground, preventing him from returning to play. The aggressive reaction isn't necessarily ideal but in the context of rugby these things that happen, it's quite tame. Not one player on the pitch complained about it. I include other incidents which have nothing to do with this which have happened over the last 5 years. Bismark on Carter, Stander on Lambie, that Parisse incident against Tolouse etc spring to mind. The way some people are going on about it is like it's from the Dylan Hartley handbook.

Eye gouging, I would say there is no place for, but handbags is a non-issue. Oversanitisation and following rules are different things. I didn't expect this topic to blow up when I complained about Willie's yellow in the heat of the moment. I've reiterated that none of the results have really been influenced by the officiating, particularly that England game which should have been put to bed much earlier. In the same way if the Boks have lost on the weekend that awful attempted box kick from Papier leading to a pen and Pollard not finding touch resulting to the try in addition to getting into their 22 on numerous occasions and throwing it away stupidly would have been more in question.

[Zapater]

Maitland qualifies for Scotland through his Glaswegian grandparents not residency if thats where you are headed with that one

I'm aware Just saying he was very good and was unlucky not to get a call. You guys are so sensitive when it comes to some banter. We all know there are always several Southern Hem players in each Northern Hemisphere international team. Doesn't really matter at the end of the day, but it does amuse me how people react when I point out that the quality of game and player here is superior. Especially when you consider this is perhaps the worst Australian and South African teams in the last 15-20 years.

I remember my friends and the media over there trying to bait me for the entirety of the Lions Tour in 09. We only lost when giving the reserves a run out in the final game. The level of bitter and twistedness was unbelievable.

[Buzzo]

Completely different situations. It was a blatant pen - often carded. That's all. I didn't condemn the player - these things happen. If it was just a pen without a yellow/red I wouldn't have brought it up again. One of my favourite players, Butch James was a frequent exponent of the no arm tackle, doesn't make it right.

This weekend had nothing to do with play, except from the fact the Scottish player was holding Kolisi on the ground, preventing him from returning to play. The aggressive reaction isn't necessarily ideal but in the context of rugby these things that happen, it's quite tame. Not one player on the pitch complained about it. I include other incidents which have nothing to do with this which have happened over the last 5 years. Bismark on Carter, Stander on Lambie, that Parisse incident against Tolouse etc spring to mind. The way some people are going on about it is like it's from the Dylan Hartley handbook.

Eye gouging, I would say there is no place for, but handbags is a non-issue. Oversanitisation and following rules are different things. I didn't expect this topic to blow up when I complained about Willie's yellow in the heat of the moment. I've reiterated that none of the results have really been influenced by the officiating, particularly that England game which should have been put to bed much earlier. In the same way if the Boks have lost on the weekend that awful attempted box kick from Papier leading to a pen and Pollard not finding touch resulting to the try in addition to getting into their 22 on numerous occasions and throwing it away stupidly would have been more in question.

FFS, The laws stipulate it was a yellow. The citing official said it was just short of a red. You'd be howling for it for sure the other way and it does fly in the face of your 'not getting' any in decisions in the northern hemisphere argument. Amazing that the TMO didnt notice it.

There was a decent amount of edge throughout the game and Kolisi lost his discipline for a second.

Overall you guys deserved the win - but that decision at that point could have been pivitol.