Confusion. You don’t want to feel like that as you are doing a job that is supposed to demand some kind of authority on the subject of rugby. Yet, while we all know what a crocodile roll is, fortunately I didn’t seem alone in my confusion.
In fact, because rugby is forever changing its laws and the reading of those laws, there was lots of confusion everywhere at the weekend.
And from people who supposedly know what they are talking about, like former All Blacks Jeff Wilson and Mils Muliaina in the Breakdown studio discussing the new escorting law that has suddenly brought the box kick so much back into vogue.
That was in the aftermath of the first game of the weekend in Dublin between Ireland and the All Blacks. A game that in several aspects, let it be said, did show up the laughable situation that appears to apply to any World Rugby innovation designed towards making the game more attractive - it usually brings about changes of approach from the coach that lead to the exact opposite effect to the one intended.
PROBLEM IS COACHES ARE ALWAYS A STEP AHEAD
Maybe the problem is that the coaches, who are operating in a sport that is constantly evolving, are much cleverer than the law makers and referees, and are therefore always one step ahead. The successful coaches are the ones that evolve first, and one of the reasons Australia were so strong in the 1990s was because of the influx of league strategy into their game.
That in time created problems for the lawmakers in the sense that defences became much more difficult to break down, but maybe let’s leave that as a column topic for another day. For now let’s focus on what happened in the Springbok game against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday that brought about a new wave of confusion.
I was pleased when halftime arrived and Bok legends working in the Supersport Studio, Victor Matfield, Schalk Burger and Breyton Paulse, appeared to be as nonplussed by the events that saw Scotland lock Scott Cummings red carded as I was. So it wasn’t just me.
BONGI IS EXAMPLE OF A CROC ROLL THAT DID DAMAGE
Of course it wasn’t. We know what a crocodile roll is and we know it can cause damage. Shannon Frizell, the All Black loose-forward, executed one on Bongi Mbonambi in the early minutes of last year’s World Cup final. It ruled Mbonambi out of the rest of the game and for several months after that.
There was no question it was dangerous, and it was easier to make out exactly what was happening there than in the incident involving Cummings, Rory Darge and Bok lock Franco Mostert, where Cummings and Darge, plus the commentators, appeared confused over which of them was the perpetrator who should be carded.
Yet Frizell was shown a yellow card, and Cummings, who it was felt was a bit unlucky to even see yellow, had his upgraded to red by the bunker.
Cries of “where’s the consistency” can be heard echoing around the rugby world every time something like that happens and comparisons can be made. And it happened later in that World Cup final when the All Black skipper Sam Cane was first shown yellow and then saw it upgraded to a red for a dangerous hit that was only dissimilar to one later executed by his Bok counterpart Siya Kolisi by a matter of small degrees.
There was enough of a difference between the two challenges for many of those who are well informed on the subtleties in the law book to back up the decision to keep Kolisi at yellow and not upgrade to red, but those who keep up with these things are in a very small minority in comparison to the average fan.
The referees and TMOs have about 200 calls to make on different things that happen in every game. It isn’t easy for them and it is also true that if they get 199 out of 205 things right in a game, the focus of us in the media will be on the six they got wrong.
CANE’S RED CARD BECAME MAIN RWC FINAL TALKING POINT
The point about the Kane/Kolisi situation in last year’s final though is that it wasn’t clear-cut and was open to subjective interpretation. And it was possible to argue that on another day a different referee, TMO or make-up of the bunker would have brought a different decision.
As it turned out, because Cane saw red and was off for the rest of the game, it became the main talking point after the game and it left New Zealanders feeling embittered and unlucky while it undermined the sense of achievement for some Bok fans too.
In other words, it had a negative impact on what should have been rugby’s global showpiece 80 minutes.
ALLOWING A REPLACEMENT SAVED EDINBURGH GAME
Sunday’s incident was less of a talking point because although Cummings was banished for the rest of the game, the new 20-minute red law meant that the Scotland lock could be replaced after 20 minutes. It was bad luck for Cummings, and it did cost the hosts their best lineout forward.
So Scotland and Cummings were punished for the action. But it also didn’t overtly cost Scotland the game in the way it would have been seen to had the Scots played the rest of game with 14 men.
That, in a nutshell, was a perfect example of why the 20-minute red card, which others have criticised, is a good thing for rugby. It is too easy for a red card to be shown to a player these days, and it is also too easy for it to be wrong.
And so many of the infringements that merit red cards are the result of clumsiness, an awkward fall or just sheer bad luck.
The paying spectator parts with his money to watch 15 against 15, the television viewer sacrifices his time to watch 15 against 15.
If one player kicks another in the head, then he should be sent off. That was a red card offence in any era. But the red cards such as Sundays shouldn’t lead to a whole game banishment that ruins the occasion.