Hopefully refereeing idiocy won’t add further to cloud
With the Covid cloud already hanging heavily over the fourth round of the Carling Currie Cup the last thing that is needed is for further refereeing talking points to be added to the distractions.
The game between the log leaders, the Vodacom Bulls, and Tafel Lager Griquas was cancelled on Thursday due to a Covid outbreak in the Bulls camp.
The Bulls have thus become more vulnerable to the chasing Cell C Sharks, who play a tough game against the Xerox Lions this weekend, as the cancelled game sees them share points with Griquas.
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That means they are now seven points, less than two wins, ahead of the Sharks, but the Sharks have two games in hand.
The Sharks though also go into this weekend with Covid having impacted on them.
The loss of hooker Dan Jooste and lock Ruben van Heerden to Covid protocol concerns has added to a clutch of other enforced changes to the pack that leaves the Sharks tight five looking very different to the unit that did duty in the win against the Bulls last time out.
But while Covid is hopefully temporary and the day will come when the uncertainty caused by Covid will be consigned to history and there will also be fans welcomed back into the stadiums, there are issues around rugby that are being highlighted in both this competition and overseas that require some thought from the lawmakers.
One of those issues was encapsulated in a sarcastic comment made by Bulls captain Duane Vermeulen when he and his Sharks counterpart Lukhanyo Am were interacting with referee Marius van der Westhuizen when the second yellow card for a dangerous tackle was issued during last week’s game at King’s Park.
“Lukhanyo, should we maybe just play touchies (touch rugby),” said Vermeulen as the second yellow card in the space of a few minutes was confirmed for a challenge that merited a penalty but not a card.
Okay, let’s rephrase that - it did merit a card according to the law, but given the ironic grin that creased the referee’s face when Vermeulen uttered those words, maybe even he agrees that this is most emphatically a case where the law is an ass.
Vermeulen is 100 percent correct and probably echoes the sentiments of rugby people the world over when he wonders aloud whether maybe the sport has become so sanitised that we should take away the contact element.
A few high-profile court cases overseas are placing the safety aspect, relating in particular to head injuries, of rugby under particular scrutiny at the moment.
But there is a greater danger, that of driving spectators away from a sport where too frequently games are ruined by cards issued for incidents that might be clumsy but which are so seldom intentional and malicious.
The rugby lawmakers need a rethink. If cards are going to be an unavoidable consequence of any tackle that slips up and makes contact with an opposing players head, then the carded player should at least be replaced from the bench so the essential 15 versus 15 element can be retained.
For you are not just punishing the player and his team when a red or yellow card is shown, you are also short-changing the many fans who have paid to watch the game.
If you are going to make player safety such a high priority, another option is to make head-gear, meaning a scrum cap, compulsory. But to continue on the current path without consideration to how the over-sanitisation of the sport might be impacting on the number of eyes that want to watch it is idiocy.
And hopefully we don’t see more of this idiocy being enacted this coming weekend.
The one bit of really good news ahead of this week’s round of action was the appointment of South Africa’s one really good referee, Jaco Peyper, to officiate in the big game in Johannesburg.
But even Peyper has his hands tied by law interpretations that are odds with the contact nature of the sport and which seem to overlook the reality that, like a mountain biker about to fly down a tricky and rocky downhill course, every player that goes onto a rugby field should surely understand the risk involved.
A risk that unfortunately just comes with the territory, and always will unless we turn rugby into…well, until we just turn it into touch rugby.
PHAKISA PUMAS v TOYOTA CHEETAHS (Nelspruit, Friday 7pm)
For the Toyota Cheetahs, what is required from them from here to retain the Currie Cup title they won last year is that they win every remaining game. They have two tough home games over the festive week (two days after Christmas and then 2 January) against the two coastal teams, the Cell C Sharks and DHL Western Province respectively, which they can use to dent the challenges of two of the other contending teams for places in the play-offs. What they can’t afford to do now though is drop their last away game before they go into that sequence.
The Pumas have threatened periodically this season, and with a bit of luck could have won against WP at Newlands last week. In October they were unlucky to lose to the same team at home, and if the Cheetahs encounter a Pumas team in similar mood to what they were in then, they could be in trouble. It is, though, a big ‘if’, as the Pumas have only won twice this season, and both of those victories came against Tafel Lager Griquas.
Devon Williams is back at flyhalf in the most significant change to the Pumas team that played last week, while Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie has made six changes to the backline that played in the defeat to the Xerox Lions. The most notable of those changes is the shift of two times World Cup winner Frans Steyn from inside centre to flyhalf.
Teams Phakisa Pumas
Toyota Cheetahs – Clayton Blommetjies, Duncan Saal, Dries Swanepoel Howard Mnisi, William Small-Smith, Frans Steyn, Ruben de Haas, Jeandré Rudolph, Aidon Davis, Andisa Ntsila, Reniel Hugo, Carl Wegner (captain), Khutha Mchunu, Marnus van der Merwe, Boan Venter. Replacements: Louis van der Westhuizen, Cameron Dawson, Erich de Jager, Oupa Mohoje, Chris Massyn, Tian Meyer, Reinhardt Fortuin, Rhyno Smith.
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
TV: SuperSport Grandstand and Rugby
Prediction: Cheetahs to win by 8
XEROX LIONS V CELL C SHARKS (Johannesburg, Saturday 7pm)
The Lions haven’t won against the Sharks in this competition for three years but seldom in that period have they gone into a game against their coastal rivals with the momentum they have after their wins over WP and the Cheetahs. They were particularly impressive last week in Bloemfontein, with the performance of their pack paying off the decision to contract experienced players around which the newcomers that are part of their rebuilding plan can gain confidence.
Unfortunately for the Lions, one of those newcomers, blindside flank Vincent Tshituka, has been rendered doubtful for Saturday night’s game because of injury and has been bracketed with Wilhelm van der Sluys, a journeyman who has played mostly as a lock. The Lions will be hoping Tshituka is able to play as he was a deserved man of the match against the Cheetahs. There is another bracket in the forwards, with Sti Sithole also having his participation in the game subject to a late fitness test.
If Sithole doesn’t play, the capable Dylan Smith will, and the Lions’ depth at tight forward might just be what gives them the edge against a Sharks team that could sorely miss Thomas du Toit in the front row as well as the two locks that started last week. Hooker Dan Jooste and lock Ruben van Heerden were unavailable for the game due to Covid protocols, while the other lock Hyron Andrews is missing the game because of a family bereavement.
Teams Xerox Lions:
Cell C Sharks: Manie Libbok, Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am (captain), Marius Louw, Yaw Penxe, Curwin Bosch, Sanele Nohamba, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Henco Venter, Dylan Richardson, Aston Fortuin, JJ van der Mescht, Michael Kumbirai, Kerron van Vuuren, Ox Nche. Replacements: Fez Mbatha, Mzamo Majola, John-Hubert Meyer, Thembelani Bholi, James Venter, Phepsi Buthelezi, Jaden Hendrikse, Jeremy Ward.
Referee: Jaco Peyper
TV: SuperSport Grandstand and Rugby
Prediction: Lions by 7 or less
Tafel Lager Griquas v Vodacom Bulls cancelled due to Covid.
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