Introducing the Rugby Championship.........

**josephusdaniels** · 15th-September-2012, 10:13

3-0 to Argies so far.
5 mins in and Oz have made a few mistakes, Cooper will have to get it together, he's had one or two brainfarts already.

**sewa** · 15th-September-2012, 11:14

Pumas puke rugby leads an oz team who keep shooting themselves in the foot.

**sewa** · 15th-September-2012, 11:16

And another dreadful mistake puts them out to a two try lead, definite foot in touch but try given

**Cowboy** · 15th-September-2012, 11:28

Originally Posted by sewa

And another dreadful mistake puts them out to a two try lead, definite foot in touch but try given

Score please?

**sewa** · 15th-September-2012, 11:36

Oz got two tries back so now Oz lead 20 - 19. Even if they scrape home (10 mins left) which I think they wil,l Deans needs to be sacked

**sewa** · 15th-September-2012, 11:43

Great scrum leads to argie penno, up the line then the throw in was crooked, despite the tight scoreline game is meandering to a finish

**sewa** · 15th-September-2012, 11:44

Now Oz destroy Argie scrum, strange sight to behold!

**sewa** · 15th-September-2012, 11:46

Beale kicks a beauty of a penno, 23 - 19 2 mins left

**sewa** · 15th-September-2012, 11:49

Game over, 2 poor teams

**The Outlaw** · 15th-September-2012, 11:56

Originally Posted by sewa

Game over, 2 poor teams

I think argentina are improving. Wont be long before they'll have a team in the Super 15 and be able to keep their players at home. Its been a massive success for them.

**Thomond78** · 15th-September-2012, 11:58

Argentina threw that away by trying to be too complicated instead of just remorselessly smashing the Crim pack and racking up three pointers from it.

Both teams eminently beatable.

**The Outlaw** · 15th-September-2012, 12:05

Originally Posted by Thomond78

Argentina threw that away by trying to be too complicated instead of just remorselessly smashing the Crim pack and racking up three pointers from it.

Both teams eminently beatable.

I doubt Argentina will be overtly worried about playing us either

**sewa** · 15th-September-2012, 12:21

Are we the standard by which these things are judged? Perhaps three or four years ago when we had a serious side we were but no longer

**The Outlaw** · 15th-September-2012, 12:38

Originally Posted by sewa

Are we the standard by which these things are judged? Perhaps three or four years ago when we had a serious side we were but no longer

But who are the great sides in international rugby sewa? Outside the all-blacks its fairly average these days.

**sewa** · 15th-September-2012, 14:25

Originally Posted by The Outlaw

But who are the great sides in international rugby sewa? Outside the all-blacks its fairly average these days.

60 points to 0 losses and lets not forget how easily a medicore England tore us a new one either. Its pretty grim

**josephusdaniels** · 15th-September-2012, 19:52

Two points:

1: No red, I know it's Poite but it couldn't have been more blatant.
2: McCaw is a machine. A player of rare ability and seems a gent to boot.

**Thomond78** · 15th-September-2012, 20:33

McCaw is a role model for any player, in all facets. All class, all the time.

**sewa** · 15th-September-2012, 22:05

I agree T78, enjoyed that game this morning and Ritchie was absolutely superb today, as for the red card the way Greyling played SA would have been better off if he had been red carded. What is it about average players who think they can cheap shot Mc Caw? He laughs it off and comes back even better

**stickman_sa** · 16th-September-2012, 12:03

Greyling gets a two week ban for his idiocy. I've never seen home fans in such despair about the leniency of the sentence. I certainly can't recall a "tactical" substitution backfiring that badly in a test match.

On a more general note, there is some laughable inconsistency in the citing procedures. Case in point was Eben Etzebeth's two-week suspension for the attempted head-butt on Sharpe last week. Certainly not condoning his daft behaviour, but I've lost count of the times that missed punches go unsanctioned. Why is a head-butt worse than a punch, and why are players saved from citation only because of their own inadequacy in delivering the blow? Intent is the issue. Not the outcome.

And, yes, McCaw is a rugby god. Said it many times on this forum before, but undoubtedly the finest player of the decade... And quite possibly of all time.

**stickman_sa** · 16th-September-2012, 12:29

Some quick thoughts on the Rugby Championship so far:

1) With respect to Argentina (whom I'm very glad are finally getting proper international recognition), the tournament has largely failed to deliver in either rugby or entertainment terms.

2) The problem, as I see it, is predominantly a matter of all-round exhaustion: dulled spectators, knackered players and some pretty tired gameplans to boot. Only the geniuses at SANZAR could find themselves presented with the screaming signals of too much rugby, just to prescribe a remedy of "more rugby"!

3) Largely as a consequence of being overplayed, the tournament has been severely undermined by injury-enforced absences. Australia and South Africa are particularly affected... You remove the likes of James O'Connor, James Horwill, David Pocock, Will Genia, Bismark du Plessis, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, JP Pietersen, etc... from ANY tournament and it will suffer in terms of quality.

4) You add to this the list of names who are "unavailable" due to playing overseas (Guthro Steenkamp, Bakkies Botha, Jaque Fourie, FDP, Jerome Kaino, SBW, and entire legion of others) and suddenly the drop in standard becomes all the more understandable.

**Tobyglen** · 16th-September-2012, 14:04

2 weeks for that? Ridiculous. That should be a 2 month ban, pure thuggery.

**sewa** · 16th-September-2012, 14:31

Heaslip ludicrous kneeing incident only missed two games (5 week ban but in effect two games) so its comparable. Why anyone would take off the Beast particularly to bring on that lump is beyond me though

**B.A.** · 16th-September-2012, 21:45

Originally Posted by josephusdaniels

Two points:

1: No red, I know it's Poite but it couldn't have been more blatant.
2: McCaw is a machine. A player of rare ability and seems a gent to boot.

How he stood up after that I'll never know. The man is made of teak. M. Steyn was shocking by his standards though. Don't think I've ever seen him miss that many.

**Old Dog** · 17th-September-2012, 11:53

Originally Posted by josephusdaniels

Two points:

1: No red, I know it's Poite but it couldn't have been more blatant.

One point.

1: Poite wasn't behind that camera. From his angle, it was much less clear. Even the Kiwi commentators didn't realise how bad it was until they had seen that replay.

**the plastic paddy** · 17th-September-2012, 12:00

Originally Posted by Old Dog

One point.

1: Poite wasn't behind that camera. From his angle, it was much less clear. Even the Kiwi commentators didn't realise how bad it was until they had seen that replay.

Sorry OD, he had a completely clear view from seven yards at most, that was a cast iron red card and should have been advised as such at the time. For it to only warrant two weeks is absurd, should be a season ender. However, I would be extremely surprised if he pulls on a springbok jersey again, the man is a complete plank.

**NotreDameRFC** · 17th-September-2012, 12:03

being a plank won't rule him out paddy

its the boks ...if anything he is on his journey to match bakkies botha's 75 caps!

**Thomond78** · 17th-September-2012, 12:29

Originally Posted by Old Dog

One point. 1: Poite wasn't behind that camera. From his angle, it was much less clear. Even the Kiwi commentators didn't realise how bad it was until they had seen that replay.

OD, the attached screen shot from about 0:03 shows the situation roughly at the moment Greyling made contact (or microseconds before). Poite is seven metres away, level with it, with an utterly unrestricted view, no-one between him and the point of impact - Richie "Ysterkop" McCaw's jaw - at any stage, with the best view in the house.He has no excuse.

**Old Dog** · 17th-September-2012, 12:34

Originally Posted by the plastic paddy

Sorry OD, he had a completely clear view from seven yards at most, that was a cast iron red card and should have been advised as such at the time. For it to only warrant two weeks is absurd, should be a season ender. However, I would be extremely surprised if he pulls on a springbok jersey again, the man is a complete plank.

I disagree 100% about Poite and agree 100% both re. Greyling and the 2 weeks' suspension.

It doesn't matter how close Poite was to the incident, the key fact is that from his vantage point on the touchline he would have required x-ray vision to have seen Grayling's elbow hit McCaw's head. Now, although Poite's eyesight has been analysed and discussed in considerable depth by many posters on this site, he's never yet been accused of possessing the vision of Superman!

**Old Dog** · 17th-September-2012, 12:41

Originally Posted by Thomond78

OD, the attached screen shot from about 0:03 shows the situation roughly at the moment Greyling made contact (or microseconds before). Poite is seven metres away, level with it, with an utterly unrestricted view, no-one between him and the point of impact - Richie "Ysterkop" McCaw's jaw - at any stage, with the best view in the house.He has no excuse.

Another man who believes that Richie McCaw's head is transparent. No great surprise there!

Poite knew that Grayling had made contact with McCaw, that's why he flagged for dirty play - but he couldn't have seen the extent of the impact.

Removing your anti-Poite blinkers and trying to be objective for a moment, if Grayling was your client and Poite was the sole witness to the alleged assault (i.e. without that camera angle being available) do you not reckon that that you'd get him off quite easily?
Because I do!

**Thomond78** · 17th-September-2012, 13:05

You would, because you'd demolish Poite on his previous claims to have seen nothing or his view being blocked. Here, he had an uninterrupted view, with no-one between McCaw sitting up and a gigantic Springbok diving clean over the ruck leading with his elbow. On the balance of probabilities - which is the citing standard, btw - he saw or should have seen him.He saw it for the yellow: and if he saw it for the yellow, he saw it for the red it should have been. Not giving the red was a Bryce Lawrence/Dave Pearson-esque duck-out.The attached screen shots show exactly what happened. McCaw sitting up. There is no-one, at any stage, between him and Poite. And you see Greyling diving over, clearly leading with the elbow, clearly making contact with the elbow into the jaw. It was a red, he saw it, and he ducked it.