Kiwi wrap (Mon)
31 Mar 2008
Keo.co.za brings you the top stories from New Zealand.
Collins escapes citing
Jerry Collins will not be cited for his high challenge on Crusaders flanker Kieran Read.
Collins hit Read high in the face and was immediately penalised in the match between the Hurricanes and Crusaders last Friday.
The video replay shows Collins’s arm clearly connecting with Read’s head. However, citing commissioner Mike O’Leary found Collins had no case to answer.
Deans brushes off Carter concern
Robbie Deans believes the Crusaders will still be force even without their star player Dan Carter.
Carter suffered a ankle injury in Friday’s game against the Hurricanes and is likely to sit out for the next six weeks. The Crusaders are already without Stephen Brett, who would have replaced Carter at flyhalf if he wasn’t also on the injured list with a shoulder ailment.
Deans told the Press there’s enough depth in squad to still make a success of the season.
“We’ll just keep trucking on,” Dean said. “It’s bad luck for DC, and no-one likes to see a player suffer like that, but it’s just part of the territory.”
Deans said All Blacks fullback Leon Mac Donald may start at flyhalf when the Crusaders host the Lions in two weeks time.
“Leon’s a possibility. There’s a whole lot of things we can look at, really.”
Nuci’s breakdown blues
Blues coach David Nucifora has expressed his frustration with tactics aimed at slowing down ruck ball and how referees are equally slow to administer harsh punishment.
The Blues squeaked past the Bulls last Saturday but Nucifora was unhappy with the officiating of James Leckie, especially at the breakdown.
“Pretty frustrating, I’ve got to say. There’s obviously ways teams try to play us, and you have discussions and try to make sure ball is freed up and allowed to be played.
“We need to be better ourselves to make sure that doesn’t come into it, as far as winning the collisions better and clearing our ball better. Against these big South African sides where the collision area is quite difficult to win, once that collision is not won it becomes 50-50 ball. Then you’re really at the mercy of the whistle and how he views it. And that’s not a good place to be.
“In all honesty I felt the [full] penalties should have come out sooner than they did. The number of short-arm penalties in the 22 got a little out of hand for my liking.”
Nucifora also voiced his distaste for the rulings at scrum time. There was hardly a scrum that didn’t end in a free kick.
“We’re more concerned with [loosehead prop] Tony Woodcock. He obviously can’t scrummage any more,” said Nucifora. “Whatever he’s done to be penalised the number of times he was, that takes a lot of momentum away from us. We got penalised more times in the scrum tonight than we’d been penalised all year.
“The scrum was disappointing for us in the way it was managed.”
Meanwhile, Blues fullback Isa Nacewa has returned to training but won’t be considered for the Waratahs match this week.
This thread will be updated throughout the day.
22 Comments
31 Mar 2008, 01:07 am
“Slowing down the ball” isn’t per se against the law, unless the person “slowing it down” is failing to obey an actual rule like rolling away after making the tackle, not putting your hands into the ruck, playing the ball when you’re off your feet etc.
That is what the ref blows you up for; not for the mythical imaginary offence of “slowing the ball down”.
31 Mar 2008, 04:16 am
Nucifora has now make it a habit to attack the refs after every game his team was either beaten or narrowly won. What’s up with the guy. Seems like he has difficulty facing the pressure.
31 Mar 2008, 05:28 am
I was at the game, first try for the blues was after a mssive high tackle on a bulls player which gave blues pocession end momentum, unpunished! The blues backline was off-side the whole TIME!! I shouted to the ref to open his eyes, should’ve heard the BOOOO on TV. Only after a while did he start to notice it. The blues were constantly playing the ball on the ground slowing Bulls ball. Nucifora can be glad he had the ref Definitely on his side!!!! Also, the Bulls scrumed the blues pack to the ground, they were worthless, now he wine about the ref?!! They will not make the semi’s, not good enough, simple as that. The Bulls should’ve won that game with 10 had they kick their goals and scored the missed opportunities. good to see they are starting to click now!
31 Mar 2008, 05:33 am
Yea but lets face it – this ref was simply awful. Any other ref and there could well have been a different outcome. Where does Australia get them from i.e this one out of the woodwork and also Goddard for example. In a professional age where everyone gets well paid refs are still wrapped in cotton wool and protected to a ridiculous level from public criticism. But I though Lyndon Bray had a fair game refereeing the Stormers/Force.
31 Mar 2008, 06:52 am
Well said Tackles.
31 Mar 2008, 07:04 am
Lyndon Bray is ***. He can’t wait to get back to Cape Town.
31 Mar 2008, 07:10 am
Where is Big Hit these days?
Not back in prison I hope.
31 Mar 2008, 07:14 am
As bad as the ref was in the Bulls game (James Leckie)- the Bulls should still have won the game !! Last move of the game, and Fourie passes to Danie Rossouw who crashes up ALL ON HIS OWN, and gets turned over.
That ball should have gone straight to Liefling (who was already in the pocket) to slot the three. I think it was basic miscommunication that cost the Bulls the game. Silly silly silly.
Lastly, how many times do we have to see Danie Rossouw losing the ball in contact? He has now got a proud list of small guys who have ripped it off him.
Either he needs to do more arm curls, or he needs to be taught how to carry a ball into contact.
31 Mar 2008, 07:15 am
Oh, and I think Leon McDonald is a fabulous no 10. Crusaders wont miss a beat with him at 10. Move Hamilton to 15, and have Poki and Maitland at wings.
Badda bing badda boom !
31 Mar 2008, 07:35 am
Nucifora always looks for excuses. He will never admit that his team played k@k. And they have looked average the last few weeks.
31 Mar 2008, 07:40 am
cane- he’s too *** for prison. I suspect he is working on a myriad of excuses( and man hes going to need heaps)of why the Poms lost to NZ when they go on tour in June– Heres some of what we can expect:
Too muddy
Too hot.
The boys werent up for it.
Jet lag just kicked in.
(week later) Jet lag just kicked in.
The beds in the Hotel were to hard.
Jonny forgot his lubricant.
They forgot how to tie their boots without their Mam’s there.
Too wet and the ball was too slippery.
Wayne Barnes didnt ref
Wayne Barnes cant ref.
The wind wasnt right ( except for that coming out of BH’s arse)
They cant play at night.
They cant play in the morning.
They find it hard to play in the afternoon.
They got confused.
They lost their way in the showers( and the soap)
We had half our team out injured.
Half the lads werent well.
They just had a bad day.
They left their favourite boots at home.
Cipriani is going to be a star in 2011, he’s just setting Carter up for a fall( for four years).
They had feather rash on their face from the pillows.
I wasnt there to support them.
And dont forget he will also have all the usual remarks ready to go if by Gods choice they win one!!
31 Mar 2008, 08:03 am
Good timing for the bye for the Crusaders – hopefully the injuries to Brett and Carter wont keep them out too long.
31 Mar 2008, 08:31 am
From the look in his eyes it appears Nucifora has got two major problems:
Constipation and his teams numerous handling errors.
Unless he addresses these two problems as a matter of urgency they will not make the semis.
The blues are playing K@K rugby at the moment and they must admit it and rather try and rectify the problems before blaming referees.
31 Mar 2008, 08:45 am
Nucifora should just keep his trap shut! It’s BECAUSE of Leckie and the TMO that his team won. They are blatant cheats, but are untouchable. When SA refs like Willie Doos have bad games they get relegated to TJ (*** ref) jobs, but the Aussies like Leckie, Goddard et al just carry on, ******** SA teams week after week! When is this going to stop? Just think where a team like the Cheetahs could’ve been sitting now, were it not for refereeing stuff-ups.
31 Mar 2008, 09:29 am
“I was at the game, first try for the blues was after a mssive high tackle on a bulls player which gave blues pocession end momentum, unpunished! The blues backline was off-side the whole TIME!! I shouted to the ref to open his eyes, should’ve heard the BOOOO on TV. Only after a while did he start to notice it. The blues were constantly playing the ball on the ground slowing Bulls ball. Nucifora can be glad he had the ref Definitely on his side!!!! Also, the Bulls scrumed the blues pack to the ground, they were worthless, now he wine about the ref?!!” Now doesn’t this sound like the Sharks after the S14 Final last year? I firmly believe in Karma! Habana High tackled Monty and went unpunished, although it was clear to all that Monty played the remainder of his time on the parck dazed! The Sharks outscrummed the Bulls all over the Parck! And finally as to playing the ball on the Ground we all know how Habana got the ball that he knocked on before scoring that try! All in front of the NZ touch judge and Ref whose National team then went on to lose the World cup through a forward pass that went unpunished! Thats Karma!
31 Mar 2008, 10:33 am
9
They’ll miss a few things. DC is the best in the business. MacDonald will kick goals at 10% lower success rate, won’t kick those perfect cross kicks and won’t get the backline away as quickly or as wekk. Also, should MacDonald get injured… who else? Carlos Spencer? Anyway, still 3 games of rugby without Brett, and 5 without Carter. Tough times looming for the’Saders, with the Sharks and Blues still lying in wait. If the Sharks could get some ******* bonus points they have the chance to take 1st, but having a look at the table their 6 wins are actually only equivalent to 5 bonus point wins. Bug ******* deal that they’re unbeaten.
15
I really hope so because the Stormers had some terrible luck in Week 1 and 2, meaning Karma will help them win some dodgy games. Go Karma.
31 Mar 2008, 11:22 am
Ziyaad, there is no way that the Stormers outplayed the Sharks! They came close but were not the best! Go back and watch the CC and you will realise that Roos dislikes the Sharks as much as the Stormers! And the Sharks were the first to come up in defence of Burger! So maybe karma will be seen with the Stormers trying to defend and an oposition player obstructing JDV like Mujati did to Muller and go unpunished like Mujati in that game!
31 Mar 2008, 13:32 pm
Pffft. Schalk got sent off for nothing in that game. 12-10 with you guys getting the rub of the green thanks to some home-town officiating. Take way that Doos call by Roos, it’s 9-10? What? 10 minutes without our star flanker and you guys get another penalty? 6-10? Thought so…
Sharks are so lucky. They’re unbeaten but they play the worst style of rugby in the tournament. Terblanche’s try should never have been awarded… Kockott threw a 2metre forward pass.
31 Mar 2008, 14:14 pm
Ziyaad I guess we will never agree on that particular point. Stormers playing best rugby and Sharks the worst? a bit far fetched! Yes Stormers are playing well! You can see Rassie’s influence the Stormers are no longer just pretty boys! As far as the Sharks being lucky the Sharks have had more calls against than for them, if you watched the game on Saturday, and I was at the stadium almost on the parck, the amount of the off the ball incidents and the general cynical play by the Reds that was not blown were shocking! so if it was a forward pass I guess it evened out the other calls! Not to mention that try that was suposedly held up, on the big screen in the Stadium it showed it was grounded! Didn’t see the highlights as only got home Sunday evening but will go home and watch it tonight, but Luck is not the reason the Sharks are in 2nd position on the log! Hopefully Lady luck will also assist the Stormers in coming up and joining the Sharks on the top of the Logs.
31 Mar 2008, 15:36 pm
Ziyaad – The ref did play a factor in that game, but with the new rules they play a HUGE factor. That’s why I hate the new rules. However I think it was our own fault that we lost games 1 & 2. We didn’t have a proper warm-up game. By the time our backline started to get their attack in order we were playing the Chiefs in round 5. The same thing with our loose forwards. However I’m still positive that we can make the semi’s.
The sharks need to shift Steyn to 12 to help their midfield. Steyn has everything I like in a inside center. Strong for attack and defence, can play 10-channel if the flyhalf is at the bottom of a ruck. Good boot to help relieve the pressure from the flyhalf.
31 Mar 2008, 15:42 pm
16 ziyaad
Carlos Spencer can only get to play for the team if the Crusaders get brought out by the Auckland pony club and moved to Auckland!!!!!!! (in which case I will no longer be supporting them)
The Crusaders would field a deformed hamsters **** from Mt Eden before Carlos Spensor was considered!!!!
31 Mar 2008, 17:49 pm
21
Was joking. Haha.
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