Henry thrilled with Joubert appointment
18 Oct 2011
All Blacks coach Graham Henry believes that referee Craig Joubert’s good rapport with the players bodes well for Sunday’s World Cup final.
On Monday, Joubert was announced as the man to handle the showpiece match. In a tournament where referees have been heavily criticised for some dubious calls and in some instances a lackadaisical approach, Joubert has stood out as the most fair and consistent official. Many feel he deserved the final appointment, and Henry is among his admirers.
‘He’s a very good referee, relates well to the players, is very clear in his instruction, has got a lot of composure and has developed as one of the top refs in the world,’ Henry told stuff.co.nz. ‘It’s pleasing because the players enjoy playing when he’s referee, and that’s a sign of a good ref.’
Joubert handled the breakdown well in last week’s semifinal between the All Blacks and Wallabies. While France have no out-and-out fetcher to counter New Zealand’s Richie McCaw, they have also been impressive in this facet of play. If they dominate the collisions, then they could also obtain just reward from Joubert, a referee who favours a dominant, attacking side.
Meanwhile, Henry has confirmed that the All Blacks have no serious injuries following Sunday’s game in Auckland. Centre Ma’a Nonu (shoulder), Cory Jane, Andy Ellis (both nose) and Piri Weepu (virus) are expected to be available for the final.
195 Comments
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18 Oct 2011, 01:25 am
Of course he is happy – he gives them all the decisions.
18 Oct 2011, 01:30 am
Why not? Craig seems to be quite competent.
18 Oct 2011, 01:36 am
@jeest(jeest)-1:
All the decisions?
This is the millionth time you have exaggerated
18 Oct 2011, 02:46 am
Surprised more hasn’t been made of Piri’s “virus”. Was difficult to see but it looked like he spewed his dinner up when he came off. I hope it’s not a test run by Suzie
18 Oct 2011, 02:48 am
Really sad fokkers here, one day Craig is very best, now again kak (gives Blacks all the decisions), as soon as GH says something good about him.
Sad clowns and whingers.
18 Oct 2011, 03:05 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-3: Ha – I’ll pay that
18 Oct 2011, 03:08 am
World class ref. Great occasion. Wish the Boks were there but not to be.
18 Oct 2011, 04:22 am
@rugbypedia(rugbypedia)-7: yep would have been perfect for the Boks to have jagged this stint….this is how wrong the WC tournament can be ( and is) when a team that has played like France is in the final. Surely there must be a way that a points indicator over the years play could have some influence rather than an average team lifting for one or two games?
In all honesty, I think it is why alot of Kiwis take exception to the WC when all else has been won through great play on a very high average and then get the boot in a one off.
I personally would have loved for the Boks and AB’s to meet in the final…that would have been a real sweaty palm job, but now its the end of an era for alot of these guys it will never be.
18 Oct 2011, 06:12 am
according to Neels Liebel paddy planned it this way all along – screw the boks by giving them lawrence and then give the ABs Joubert back to back
personally i’m over it now , good luck to both the AB’s and France also good luck to Joubs , may the best team win
18 Oct 2011, 06:23 am
The kiwis just have ALL the smarts, don’t they?
18 Oct 2011, 06:25 am
Now it’s all falling into place for Paddy’s master plan……and ironically it has taken a South African to be the only moral pinnacle of all things decent and good in this RWC.
Once a convict always a convict….kissing cousins.
18 Oct 2011, 06:56 am
well, at least there is one Saffa involved in the final. Good luck ABs. Based on what I saw last week you should smash them by at least 20.
18 Oct 2011, 07:43 am
well, nothings below them in the low, dirty, cheating stakes…isn’t it…
18 Oct 2011, 07:45 am
so he would be thrilled.
18 Oct 2011, 07:54 am
Oh good grief – will you fools stop with your idiotic whinging and ridiculous conspiracy theories! Not only does it make all Saffas look like village idiots, it’s also providing the individual foreign knuckleheads with ammo to support that very point.
Gawd.
18 Oct 2011, 08:19 am
Eat your hearts out Yappies
All Blacks are the greatest sporting team in the history of world sport’
Read all about it on Fox Sport
18 Oct 2011, 08:20 am
If you believe – and said it at the time – that Bryce Lawrence’s refereeing the 1st Test against the B&ILs was grossly bent in favour of the Boks, then you may have a point questioning AGAIN Lawrence’s handling of the Boks game Vs Aus.
If you thought it was a fair performance then in 2009, you have no right to complain now!
Mc Caw got his 1st Offside callon the 62nd minutes Vs Aus, so much so for Joubert’s great performance!
18 Oct 2011, 08:22 am
Burp!
18 Oct 2011, 08:26 am
@Black Power(Black Power)-16:
RWC crown is no indicator in terms of rugby proper, only a best of 3 series is a meaningful competition
The ABs will not get far without Carter, ‘His Masters’ Voice’ Craig Joubert will hand them the RWC crown but then PdV and his quota lords did enough to suppoert the ABs road to glory
Give them too a credit !
18 Oct 2011, 08:27 am
To all kiwi’s…your team rocks and would be worthy champions. It’s going to be great fun with our new team playing against you guys as world champions and even sweeter when we beat you. Good luck for the final.
18 Oct 2011, 08:48 am
An AB victory in the final will transform rugby globally. It will take a step up in the professionalism stakes. If SA had won it with a clown coach and a geriatric self centered captain, rugby would have stagnated as a sport. The message sent out would have been that you can appoint a clueless coach and still win the showpiece of the sport. It would have meant the end of professional coaching. All you have to do is to appoint a consultant a month before the tournament and you could still be competitive.
Now, with the AB’s set to make history, the message that will go out is that you have to take every game seriously and that there are no more excuses entertained that you are building towards the WC. SA cannot afford to make another token appointment in the coaching position and we can less afford to have token players in certain positions. There is no place for sentimental appointments in the leadership – the best players have to play because we are realistically the only team that can compete with the AB’s and they are going to be even more of a force when they get rid of the WC ****** on their backs. The AB’s winning the WC is the best things that could ever happen to the sport.
Of course, if the French win it, we are screwed
18 Oct 2011, 08:50 am
@Couchcoach(GI POT)-21: m onkey
18 Oct 2011, 09:06 am
I’m glad for Joubert. He has worked hard for this honour and has done very well. I saw an interview where he said as much, and has flown his family into NZ for this week ahead of the match, so that they can be there for his big moment. Congrats Craig, we are proud of you.
18 Oct 2011, 09:29 am
Joubert is right inside Paddy and Teddy’s back pockets plain as daylight to see. Of course they happy he didn’t give Aussie half a sniff in the semi.
Seems this WC gone nice and perfectly to plan, only Frenchie can go and spoil the Paddy party now, Teddy better hope and pray they don’t.
18 Oct 2011, 09:42 am
Something that hasn’t been pointed out for some reason is that Bryce Lawrence is the son of Keith Lawrence, the NZ head of referees at that time who had to apologise for sending the notorious ‘lets get the Japies’ email. Read it here…
Bryce Lawrence’s dad is none other than Keith Lawrence http://ht.ly/70nIb
18 Oct 2011, 09:42 am
I heard part of an interview with Craig on the radio going to work this morning.
He was justly proud to get the appointment, but said his first preference would have been to be sitting in the stand and watching the Bok’s scrap it out.
I know that is the type of thing all these top guys are expected to say, but he genuinely sounded sincere.
All that aside, I think he is a top ref, probably the best in the world at the moment.
18 Oct 2011, 09:48 am
I have just been watching a highlights package…. interesting coverage of the Wales v Island match. it wasn’t commented on, but there was a slow mo clip of Warburton lifting an Irish player in the tackle. Same technique – he was standing still with bent legs, tackled the Irish player low then drove upwards rather than forward. In this case, Warburton didn’t lift the player’s legs above horizontal, but he then drove him in to the ground.
I.e. this isn’t a case of a dominant tackle hooking the tackled player up to take their weight off their feet as the tackler drives forward. In both cases Warburton was stationary, and drove vertically with no forward momentum.
He isn’t a dirty player and doesn’t seem to have any intent to tip the tackled player right over, BUT his technique is very risky, as it can easily go wrong as was the case on Saturday. Bad luck, but red card was required by the rules.
18 Oct 2011, 09:53 am
@skopskiet. I completely agree with you. It was clear to see in this year’s S15. Why on earth did Lawrence get to ref the S15 final. He had a shocker in the Sharks Crusaders game and everyone knew either Joubert, Mark Lawrence or Kaplan is the best there is. It was all part of the plan to promote Bryce. Having said that, if Brussow and Steyn were out of the semi, would we have had a chance against an All Black team that clearly adressed their chokers issue.
I said befor the World Cup that we had a good chance if J Smith and Brussow were fit and if the All Blacks played like the chokers they were.
18 Oct 2011, 09:54 am
Of the course the coach of the home team is happy with Mr Hometown reffing the match. Duh.
18 Oct 2011, 10:04 am
Good ref. Kiwis are firm favourites. Got to keep the Cup in the south!!!
18 Oct 2011, 10:06 am
Go France!!
18 Oct 2011, 10:06 am
@Michael(mikeybrass)-30:yep, if the AB’s win this it will be 7 WC’s, 6 won by SH sides, 1 by the NH.
18 Oct 2011, 10:09 am
@corporal punishment(corporal punishment)-32: It’ll re-confirm the south’s rule of world rugby. Got to keep the arrogant northerners in their place
Go ABs!
18 Oct 2011, 10:11 am
One worry I hvae in this game is the French managing to target Cruden better than Aussie did. If he gets injured, Donald will be on the park…. while he seems like a nice guy he isn’t of test standard.
18 Oct 2011, 10:15 am
@Michael(mikeybrass)-33: yeah, particulalry the pompous English team.
i do think the Welsh rated themselves too highly as well… they had a good win against Ireland but that was about it. While it was close against the Boks, they weren’t able to maintain the intensity for long enough. Jacques Fourie sensed that, and went for the touch line to set up the try that effectively won SA the game.
Ditto against France. A winning team would have closed that game out with all of the chances Wales had. But they didn’t have the BMT to do it.
18 Oct 2011, 10:21 am
funny how the new zealand press actually have the one-eyed gall to call these the most controversial refs at the tournament:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby-world-cup-2011/news/image.cfm?c_id=522&gal_cid=522&gallery_id=122235#8174294
and yes…you guessed it…no mention of mr kiwi you know who…
18 Oct 2011, 10:27 am
@corporal punishment(corporal punishment)-35: Good ridance to the English. They were an utter disgrace. That they don’t believe they did anything bad speaks volumes for their lack of character, humility and professionalism. Bunch of overhyped, overpaid yobs.
18 Oct 2011, 10:28 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-36: Surprise surprise.
18 Oct 2011, 10:37 am
@Michael(mikeybrass)-38:
they have no shame in some of the stuff they do, i mean honsetly…
18 Oct 2011, 11:03 am
@CK(CK)-25: Thanks for posting this. I’d heard about it but not seen the details. Sort of makes a mockery of Tackler’s comment at 10 above ie “The kiwis just have ALL the smarts, don’t they?”
18 Oct 2011, 11:08 am
@Hondo(Hondo)-17: Have another look at the video and you’ll also see that the Wallabies’ first penalty came when No. 7 (ie McCaw) was penalised at a ruck near the NZ tryline.
18 Oct 2011, 11:12 am
Boks played to a dumb script, its our dumb prestige conservation and conservative cowardice that killed us. We should have bust a gut and played our young lion go getters vs Aussie we wouldn’t have looked back. Carrying passengers and relying on prestigious over awed experience is actually what took our WC chances apart. Plain and clear as day to see, staid cowardly pre programmed reliance on set structures and strategically inept with single dimensional ball carriers into the midfield fray consistently, and slow overrated players is what destroyed any hope of a Bok success this year.
18 Oct 2011, 11:12 am
Craig Joubert is a very powerful man at the moment.
Just like we got BRYCED he now has the opportunity to immortalise himself.
He can be a South African hero; just as one man sunk us so too can this one man, Craig Joubert, sink a nation.
Will kiwis regard it as unfair if Craig does exactly what Bryce did to us?
I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for Craig…
18 Oct 2011, 11:14 am
@41 I wondered how long it would the saffas on here to pick that up. An obvious professional foul by McCaw, if it was later in the game McCaw would probably have got a yellow card
18 Oct 2011, 11:15 am
Sun is shining, birds are singing, girls are smiling, sore clowns keep performing.
Another wonderful day.
18 Oct 2011, 11:15 am
Apart from that incident, The ab’s were incredibly disciplined during that game. Limiting penalties allowed them to keep the pressure right on the Aussies.
18 Oct 2011, 11:16 am
Here is the article as posted on the link by CK
So Keith Lawrence the father of Bryce Lawrence once wanted to “teach the Japies a lesson”
The pieces of the puzzle is coming together quite nicely
*************************************************************************8
By NZPA
An embarrassed New Zealand Rugby Football Union yesterday smoothed over a potentially harmful row with South Africa, saying the incident had been dealt with internally.
NZRFU chief executive David Moffett would not say if the perpetrator, New Zealand manager of referee development Keith Lawrence, had been reprimanded.
Lawrence was forced to apologise to his South African counterpart Freek Burger following the sending of an e-mail which contained derogatory remarks about Burger. The e-mail had been sent to arrange a conference call between the three Super 12 referee managers but is understood to have contained earlier dialogue – not intended for South Africa – which had taken place between Lawrence and his
Australian counterpart.
Keith has spoken to Freek Burger and has apologised to him and Freek Burger has graciously accepted that apology and they between them have decided to move on and put it behind them,” Moffett said.
“It’s something we would have preferred not to have happened, it was a mistake and it has been apologised for.”
Both the NZRFU and South African Rugby Union have said there was no conspiracy involved in the e-mail in which the Anzac partners agreed to “teach the Japies (South Africans ) a lesson.”
The message went on: “We won’t tell Freek what we have decided and make sure (SARU chief executive Rian) Oberholzer doesn’t get involved.”
Moffett said the issue stemmed from a frustration related to the assessment criteria and standards to be used in assessing referees.
“There was a degree of frustration in respect to this which boiled over into the e-mail,” he said.
“It should not have happened and Keith is aware of that and he’s apologised for it. That is the issue and it does not involve anything else.”
Moffett said the refereeing assessment procedures had now been resolved between the Super 12 participants.
Changes to the interpretations of some rules and the referees’ ability to carry them out have been at the root of a less appealing Super 12 competition this year, but Moffett said the laws would be in place until the World Cup in October/November and it was up to the players to adapt.
The laws will be then revisited by the International Rugby Board and Moffett said it was likely New Zealand would be keen for a closer look at some of the issues.
18 Oct 2011, 11:18 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-36: you know whats the funniest thing in the world at the moment though??
people like you whinging incessantly and complaining about everything, especially after the last four years when you were quite willing to mock NZ for complaining about barnes and all the other *****..
karma, what a beautiful sight…. enjoy watching the WC final!
18 Oct 2011, 11:19 am
joubert will be in for a he’ll of a match. The French backs may be a rudderless rabble at the moment but their forwards are hard and will go at it 110%. there will be more blood spilt…..
18 Oct 2011, 11:23 am
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-43: still crying Sheriff? LMFAO… wipe them eyes man, I thought SA wasnt for sissies???
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