McCaw’s Hurricanes hell
8 Apr 2006
Richie McCaw was strangled by a Hurricanes forward and feared for his life after being trapped in the headlock for 24 seconds.
McCaw may be the All Blacks captain-in-waiting and the best opensider in the game, but in New Zealand there’s no love lost when he wears red and black and not just black.
The New Zealand Herald on Sunday’s Gregor Paul reports that a Hurricanes forward strangled McCaw in last weekend’s brutal match-up — and that McCaw feared for his life after nearly blacking out.
The Herald reports that television pictures failed to capture McCaw’s distress when he was being throttled by an opposition player at the bottom of a ruck, but the All Black has told Crusaders management he was starting to panic before his team-mates came to his rescue and physically restrained the opposition player.
One Crusaders source who has timed the incident using video footage and heard McCaw’s version of events has described the act “as the most despicable thing I have ever seen on a rugby pitch”.
The referee, Paul Honiss, dealt with the incident at the time as a fracas broke out when both sides rushed to break up the struggle between McCaw and the other player.
The other players only became aware there was trouble when the ruck cleared. But the opposition player’s hands had been round McCaw’s neck for some time before the other bodies were shifted.
Last year Blues lock Ali Williams stomped on McCaw’s head in a Super 12 match and was banned for six weeks. McCaw in the last week was also branded a cheat by New Zealand teams, who have come unstuck against him in the competition.
However, he responded in brilliant fashion with a monumental performance against the Waratahs. He made 25 tackles and did not concede one penalty at the breakdown.
16 Comments
8 Apr 2006, 21:28 pm
He is in the best form of his life, undoutedly helped by excellent team mates.
Looking at the ugly thing with Garth Wright in it just before the game there were a couple of valid comments about the consistently low standards regarding foul play. Missed some of it because I thought the Moto GP would be better than looking at Super Rugby’s ventriloquist’s dummy talking to Flekkie. Come back Naas, bring your udder brudder Darren wif U, all is a forward pass.
I think that, even if it is more than 12 hours later, the IRB representative should be able to force SANZAR to pick up on these irregularities. Smack the referee, TMO & player if necessary.
8 Apr 2006, 21:33 pm
Jealousy?
Offer him sa residency and a bok contract.
Otherwise,
jammer om van sy kak te ****.
8 Apr 2006, 22:03 pm
Perhaps I’m beginning to sound like a broken record.
Many NZ coaches are on record as saying they choose a no. 7 openside flanker first, then build the team around him. This position is considered ABSOLUTELY VITAL, along with no.10, the most important on the field. All NZ professional teams have this approach. And all no.7′s play a similar style.
SA coaches have little idea about this and SA flankers play a hodge-podge of different styles and are usually well beaten to the breakdown by NZ and even Aus teams. Some SA teams don’t even have openside flankers and others use players that are big and powerful but TOO SLOW in this position.
Come on SA coaches, WAKE UP. Your antipodean counteparts are streaks ahead of you in this regard.
8 Apr 2006, 22:06 pm
P.S
It’s not that SA coaches don’t have the players to make effective no.7′s. They just don’t know how to develop and use them.
8 Apr 2006, 22:43 pm
Is Jerry Collins the attempted murderer?
8 Apr 2006, 23:10 pm
tialata(hurricanes prop) had his hands around mccaws neck for a good hold. mccaw went sheet white with fear, possibly shock. not a good thing to see on the field, but it certainly kept mccaw in check for the rest of the game.
9 Apr 2006, 01:37 am
um, i always thought that no 6 was openside, was i confused?
9 Apr 2006, 01:40 am
NZ and Oz rugby numbering works differently to SA’s. Down Under it’s always the open-sider — the “fetcher” — who wears the #7 shirt.
9 Apr 2006, 02:34 am
maybe SA’s numbering is the problem. if they were wearing 7 they would have more clue about what they are supposed to do on the field.
9 Apr 2006, 05:59 am
Naima Tialata – Canes Tighthead.The ‘Choker’
Another PI thug in the AB setup.
Gets his advice from Collins I guess.
9 Apr 2006, 07:50 am
So does anything happen to Tialata?
It looked serious.
9 Apr 2006, 10:49 am
Lay criminal charges and then move on. A similar thing happened to me in the UK and people tell you to shrug it off and that it’s part of the game. I paraphrased Tana Umaga in a posting last week that made reference to rugby and tiddlywinks. Strangling somebody to the point of blacking out is going too far and does give cause for concern about the perpetrators mental state. There is intimidation through aggression but assualt or attempted murder is just pushing it a bit too far.
As for John Robbie’s comments the other night about letting ex rugby players make disciplinary decisions, for the first time in a long while I have to disagree with you JR. The problem I have with this idea is that rugby is a huge product being consumed by a huge cross section of society. Rugby should therefore be subject to the same standards that apply to the rest of society. Rugby players are forged in a very macho enviroment, I for one remember discussing at length punch ups and stamping incidents during a game over a beer after a match. I never ever once heard a player complain about on field thuggery because the prevailing attitude was and still is ….it’s part of the game ….if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.
Ex rugby players would err on the side of leniency simply because it is part of the macho enviroment mentioned above.
Rugby players prefer clarity my recommendation would be:- Set suspensions for offences, such as
1. Throwing a punch – 6 weeks ( if its a **** punch, so what you shouldn’t have thrown it in the first place)
2. Stamping – 8 weeks
3. biting – 2 year ban and mandatory legal prosecution
4. Dangerous tackles to be split into 2 categories
High tackles- accumulative totals eg. after being pinged 5 times in a season automatic one match ban.
Spear tackles- immediate 4 match ban
The list is endless but in rugby league they introduced these type of ‘draconian’ measures and unnecessary violence has pretty much vanished from the code. The intimidation levels however have remained the same because the tackling is far superior.
I expect to be ridiculed for these comments because they are not in keeping with the prevailing macho “I am hard nut” mentality in rugby but so what.
If i was to punch somebody in the street I would be liable to prosecution. If I attempted to strangle somebody I would be charged with attempted murder, just because its on a rugby field a player can’t use ” I got a bit carried away” as a legitimate excuse.
9 Apr 2006, 11:44 am
DEE DAH
I fully support your idea with set sanctions for your inability to maintain discipline on the field.
Hopefully the IRB will do something soon but don’t hold your breath, they are a bunch of old farts who prefer tea parties and meeting than taking action.
9 Apr 2006, 14:30 pm
Should be one independent committee, that meets 2 weekly made of 1 rep from each country. Not this rubbish that it happens the next day. Clearly the Oz, Nz & SA administrations cannot be trusted to discipline each others players & so should not.
Hell, I don’t care, if they are all single let them stay in one place & video confrenece the disciplne hearings, but at least lets have some consistancy.
9 Apr 2006, 21:03 pm
it was the hole canes side they have got to be the dirtiest players on earth!!! that (******* ugly ***) prop an collins an rodney (****** face) so,olilo or how ever u spell his twisted name
1 Jul 2006, 08:55 am
Jason you bigot! Have no choice but to get use to them…they’re awesome, takin’ no ****…not even the worse we have match up to them. We might not like their style, but they play the game incompromisingly, with flair & skill we can only dream of, e.g. offloading in the tackle!
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