Welcome to Hump Days fellow GAGRs, bit of a sad weekend past but time to put that behind us, support the team for this week and look forward to seeing the Wallabies take down Italy. This won’t be an easy game as Italy beat both Scotland and England in the 6N. As they showed last week they are very good at times and like the Wallabies struggled a bit in the last 40. Maybe this game will come down to who lasts out the back 40 best.
I must admit I have been impressed with this Nations Championship. Initially I didn’t think it would be much or have much going for it, however the games have been good and I am really enjoying it. I do like that it’s North vs South but still not sure it will actually prove anything in the end other than who is better at managing players at this time of the year.
Referee Corner
Gus & his natural pose refereeing Kiwis
Referee Nika Amashukeli of Georgia during the 2022 Castle Lager Incoming Series match between South Africa and Wales at Loftus Stadium, Pretoria on the 02 July 2022 ©Muzi Ntombela/Sports Inc
The games are tending to be officiated as expected with a much more technical application of the laws and a lot more interference from the TMO as the officials try to get the calls as correct as possible. This makes for a game that doesn’t flow as well as what Super rugby flowed as both of these tend to make the game more stop / start.
There were a few cards this week and some of them certainly got the supporters talking. As usual it was generally those people supporting the team that received the cards bemoaning the decisions, although to be fair both Red Cards also received some questions about the decision from people other than their supporters. Not a lot of issues with the YC, except for the one in the AB game that got rescinded. That certainly had a few questions asked.
My view on them is that the correct decision was made, although to be fair if they had gone the other way I wouldn’t have been too upset. The main reason for this is that while both cards, Cannone head butting Roigard in the face and Kuruvoli kicking Genge absolutely meet the foul play level, especially in an international level match, I did think both were more reckless than a deliberate intent to hurt the player they impacted. Cannone was trying to free himself from the ruck but doing that towards the opposition 9, especially after looking at him first and then hitting him in the head made it look a lot worse than it was. Kuruvoli was also trying to free himself and you could argue Genge had held on too long and should have released him earlier, but kicking back to him was always a dangerous option and making contact with a kick in front of the referee was never going to end well.
Both of these incidents are covered under Law 9.11; Players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others….. and Law 9.12 A player must not physically or verbally abuse anyone. Physical abuse includes, but is not limited to, biting, punching, contact with the eye or eye area, striking with any part of the arm, shoulder, head or knee(s), stamping, trampling, tripping or kicking.
Law 9.12 in particular covers almost everything so no issues with the law itself and while people may question the intent of the player, as a referee you cannot make a ruling on intent. You have to make them on the face value of what you see occur. Intent is something we can’t see and guessing at it will only make it worse.
Supporting the RC to Cannone is that the Nations Championship Foul Play Review Committee (FPRC) just issued him with a four week ban, so whatever he or his coach submitted regarding intent was not agreed with. Kuruvoli is still waiting to have his ban length approved at the time of writing this piece. I’ll update it if I hear more.
The rescinded YC to Rueban Love is a more interesting one and certainly something I hadn’t seen before at this level. The card itself was given as the referee ruled he had deliberately knocked the ball down as he contested the loose pass from Leonardo Marin to halfback Stephen Varney. However this was rescinded after the TMO came on and suggested that there was a Knock Forward before the incident. Law 11 covers the everything around this but the real issue here is the formal definition of it. This is now termed a Knock Forward rather than a knock on – possibly due to that incident in England a few years ago where the referee adjudicated the ball did not go forward and so was not a Knock On. The actual definition is: When a player loses possession of the ball and it goes forward, or when a player hits the ball forward with the hand or arm, or when the ball hits the hand or arm and goes forward, and the ball touches the ground or another player before the original player can catch it. [previously knock-on] This issue for the Italians is that when Varney went to catch the ball it hit his hand and went forward into Love. If it hadn’t he could have caught it and carried on, like Carter did for Roigards try. However as the ball went forward from his hand and then hit Love it was ruled a Knock Forward. The ruling is that the Knock Forward caused Love to knock the ball down.
This is the sort of pedantic adjudication that international rugby brings to the game and it certainly c
an be annoying and does nothing to help make it a good spectacle. The issue for World Rugby is that if they didn’t do this they’d get 2 hour videos from Rassie telling the world why the referee cheated, or they’d get every 2nd game with a coach and management requesting that a decision be changed and stating to the world that referee X made a mistake. We see enough here and on other forums to know that referee mistakes are never going to be accepted as much as player mistakes are and so World Rugby has a referee, 2 AR’s, a TMO and a Foul Play Review Officer to try and ensure that the calls are as correct as they can make them. To a certain extent the issues we have with this is of our own making because we cannot accept that the on filed officials are allowed to get it wrong, as we see it.
Another NRL star to (possibly) switch codes
In another statement designed to make even more current rugby players leave Australia for elsewhere and to ensure that the rugby supporters get even more dissatisfied with RA, Phil Waugh has declared “the door’s always open.” for Wests Tigers co-captain Jarome Luai who may become the latest NRL star to switch codes ahead of Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia. Luai will leave the Tigers after the 2026 NRL season, before linking up with expansion club the PNG Lions in a couple of years and is looking for options between these two. There’s a 12-month window where Luai remains uncontracted and rugby union looms as a potential landing spot. Rugby Australia haven’t ruled out a move for Luai, who could potentially jump codes in time for next year’s World Cup with the Wallabies.
“Our proposition is very different to an NRL proposition and our door’s always open,” Waugh said, adding “We want to create an environment that attracts the best talent in Australia and around the world, and the door’s always open for those that want to come and experience that experience.” Luai could potentially join a list of recent NRL converts who have either made the switch to rugby union, or returned to the 15-player code. The list includes Suaalii, Crichton, Lomax, Gordon and Nawawaqnaitawase who is going to the Japanese league but still available for the Wallabies if wanted.
This just beggars belief to me. Lomax proved in his year with the Force that he will not be ready for Wallaby selection for at least another 2 years as he learns the game and there is no way that Crichton and Luai would be able to make the transition between the start of the super season and the RWC. Bringing them in would just ensure that a good rugby player with good IQ would be left out. I sort of understand the picture with Nawawaqnaitawase, but from what I’ve seen in the little bit of NRL I’ve watched, his one on one defence has got worse since he’s been playing league and there’s no way I would want him back as a Wallaby. While he may score the odd try, he’d probably let in 3 for every one he scored with the poor tackling I saw.
This whole thing and the comments from Waugh are something I have a big issue with. I get that RA spend a lot of time crying about how so many rugby players get parched by league, but pandering to them and bringing in players who have never proved themselves just adds to rugby getting worse, not better. I am honestly starting to worry that these comments and decisions will come to bite us and next year the Wallabies will look absolutely foolish and will crash out much earlier than people are planning on. I think that will be disastrous for rugby here.
Ben Donaldson is backing himself to be fit for Saturday’s clash with Italy in Perth.
Ben Donaldson has resumed training with the Wallabies after missing last week’s defeat to France with a calf issue. “I trained today, I’ll train tomorrow and if I get through training, then all is good,” he told reporters. “I ran Saturday morning and did some skills as well, and it felt good, pulled up well, so train tomorrow as per normal, and then hopefully good to go.” His injury last week left Wallabies down their two main playmaking options, with Carter Gordon also suffering a calf injury that has kept him out of the Test against France leaving debutant Declan Meredith to become the latest flyhalf thrown into the Wallabies set-up and being backed up by Jock Campbell who had never played at 10 in an international match prior to this game.
Donaldson is confident of his return and commented “We’ve got a great coaching staff and great S&C so we look after ourselves, we do all the right things, and sometimes injuries happen.” adding “There’s nothing more we could do, or the staff could do, if sometimes you just get unlucky with an injury.”
The Wallabies certainly have been struck with some tough injuries that haven’t helped their cause in this competition. Hooper going down was a big issue and against France they never had anyone who could replicate the drive Valentini demonstrated when he was on. I personally thought Meredith went OK, although not great, and I would have left him on as he will only get better with more game time at this level. It will certainly be better for the Wallabies if Donaldson does come right for this game. He has a very good boot and this year he has been attacking the line fore often and has pulled off some great moves at times.
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