Keo’s rants & raves: Aussie cricketers weren’t the only cheats at Newlands

The Reds were a disgrace to the Super Rugby and don’t expect anything but an all-New Zealand final later this year.

Top Rave: I thought the Highlanders’ home victory against the Crusaders a few weeks ago could easily be a preview of the 2018 final later this year. But watching the Hurricanes beat the Highlanders in Wellington, I thought that could be the 2018 final. Three doesn’t go into two so take your pick of the three, but two of them will be making up an all New Zealand final. The rugby skill, the defensive intensity and the general spectacle was sensational. This was Super Rugby as it should be played, led by the freakish attacking talents of All Blacks Beauden Barrett and Waisake Naholo.

Top Rant: Australia’s Reds rugby team were as big a cheat as their national cricket sporting colleagues with the most cynical of performances at Newlands. While the cricketers admitted to premeditated cheating, you won’t find anyone in the Reds camp owning up. So, in the absence of half their team being stood down for cheating in most areas of the game, at least one of them is in the dock for a thuggish act of cowardice. Taniela Tupou’s late and head high no arms hit on Craig Barry was disgusting and warranted an immediate red. Equally shocking was how South African referee Marius van der Westhuizen saw it, noted it and then never went back to it. Tupou was cited for a red card offence. Van der Westhuizen should also be red carded as a referee. He isn’t up to it.