Risible analysis from South African analysts after red card against Italy
World Rugby is now facing an escalating officiating crisis as players’ frustration continues to manifest itself in non-stop dialogue with referees, as James Dolmen discovered in Turin.
For the second week in a row South Africa had a player, secondrow Franco Mostert, sent off on a straight red card for an “illegal tackle” in the victory over Italy.
On SuperSport the Springboks Schalk Burger and Nick Mallett analysts were incensed at the decision making with several accusations and suggestions, among which was that the referee should not adjudicate on red card incidents. Think about that for a minute.
The man with the whistle, the designated arbiter of fact on the pitch, should now defer to a man in a van and a man in a bunker on every red card incident, even though the ref and his assistants can watch replays ad nauseam. It’s risible, and a terrible look that the sport because of the contention with the laws, can no longer be refereed to the satisfaction of anyone on the pitch.
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Ireland under-20s have the makings of a fine team
Watching the Ireland Under-20s playing in horrendous weather on Friday night, there were some excellent individual displays in a 32-22 defeat to a physically more powerful South Africa side that deserved their win.
Ireland’s mistakes were costly in scoreboard terms but there’s no doubt that given any sort of platform there’s plenty of football in the backline. Noah Byrne, Charlie Molony, Johnny O’Sullivan and Daniel Ryan have speed to burn and footwork to match while Connacht centre Sean Walsh won virtually every collision.
The challenge for the Irish pack, in which Sam Bishti, Dylan McNeice, Diarmuid O’Connell and replacement Michael O’Sullivan in particular stood out, is to provide the platform to give the team the chance to play.
Second year “veteran” Tom Wood was managing the game nicely before he was taken out of the game in an incident that should have led to a red card. There’s the makings of a good team here for head coach Andrew Browne.
Irish lineout improves considerably
Lineout problems, what lineout problems? Ireland produced a tour de force out of touch not only winning all 10 of their lineouts but also ransacking the Aussie throw to the tune of four steals, three from Ryan Baird and another from Cian Prendergast. Also, for good measure, they also forced the visitors to cough up six in total as a couple more were overthrown.
Baird, as is his wont in this facet of the game, was the pivotal performer from an Irish perspective, winning four on his ball and nicking three from his opponents. It was a rock steady platform for the home side. It wasn’t simply about winning possession though, it was being able to pick from all three options of the front, middle and back.
Paul O’Connell, though, will know better than anyone that today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s fish and chip wrapper. He should pause briefly to take some satisfaction along with his lineout lieutenants ahead of next weekend’s honours test.
Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley both impress
Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley both played well in the same match. Focusing on the positive, Prendergast enjoyed a highly influential 60 minutes, his distribution, timing of and picking passes was first-rate including scooping up an ankle-biter off his toes for one of Mack Hansen’s tries. He landed the first drop goal of his career too.
As he revealed in a post-match interview, he was none-from-two attempts previously in his career, recalling that he missed one in second year at school against King’s Hospital. His spiral kick to the corner that led to a Max Jorgenson fumble was a thing of beauty, as was another spiral garryowen, a revived art in the modern game, that forced the Aussie fullback to knock-on.
Crowley came on for the last quarter of the match, and he also managed the game beautifully, one lovely offload out the back, a high point, as was his work off the kicking tee and the manner in which he kept the Irish attack on point.
Jamison Gibson-Park is the lightning rod for Irish excellence
Jamison Gibson-Park is a lightning rod when Ireland are in their pomp. The Ireland scrumhalf was back to his influential best, bringing tempo to Ireland’s patterns in attack, choosing the pass with a predator’s eye as he varied the point of attack around the breakdown. His team gave him the quick, front foot ball, and once afforded that quality there are few better at unpicking opponents’ defensive seams.
There were many high points in the match but a couple in particular stand out. The first was when seemingly corralled close to the touchline by several Wallabies, he shaped to throw a pass, pirouetted following the dummy, scarpered from the scene and then kicked long to put his side on the attack.
The second was when he was rehomed at fullback, producing a gorgeous cross-kick on the run for Robbie Henshaw to catch and scurry over for a try.
