Tony Johnson
Before we start treating an All Blacks victory in Brisbane as a fait accompli its worth considering a few things.
It is true that the Wallabies are in a state of disarray, and must be vulnerable.
Their legacy of player power has come back to bite them, and it is extraordinary that their captain should be publically defending a repeat offending player ahead of the team unit, and by extension the coach.
Ewen McKenzie has tried to take a firm line in the past, but despite his strong actions on the end of year tour last year has been unable to instil a sense of no nonsense in the team.
Sky Sports
From this distance it’s hard to tell whether it’s a case of him losing the support of his team, or whether the team is split with some for and others against.
He not only has to deal with that, but also a media contingent that pushed his case relentlessly during the Deans era but appears already to be clearing a path for his replacement by Waratahs coach Michael Cheika.
Yes, it looks like a very dysfunctional family right now, and one can only imagine there are two possible outcomes in Brisbane. Either they fire in defiance and cause the All Blacks all manner of bother, even win the game, or they continue to implode and cop a hiding.
You would suspect the chaos in the Wallaby ranks might have the All Blacks licking their chops at the prospect of an easy kill, but I rather suspect the state of affairs will have the coaching staff a little uneasy.
They’re expected to win, and if they don’t it will be damaging. Back to back losses right now would not be a good thing a year out from the World Cup.
They will have to be very careful to manage what cricket coach David Trist used to refer to as “arousal issues”.
This game is sandwiched rather awkwardly between an energy sapping, gut busting, rapid fire round the world trip to Argentina and South Africa and an end of year tour that starts enticingly in Chicago.
Already this year they have produced a sub-par effort in Australia and it cost them a win. They will need to be well up for this, regardless of the perceived state of the Wallabies.
On another matter there has been much talk since the Johannesburg test about the TMO call against Liam Messam and the role of the TV director in bringing the incident to the attention of the crowd, the players and the referee via a succession of replays on the big screen.
In the end it was a fair penalty, but the danger is in ensuring that incidents are treated consistently.
The case that leaps to mind is that of the Millennium Stadium and All Black tests in 2009 and 2010.
In 2009 Dan Carter made a desperate try scoring tackle that was shown at least 6 times on the big screen. It was high without being life threatening, and worthy of a penalty, which did not happen at the time. However passions were so inflamed after the repeat screenings that the citing commissioner was leaned on heavily to cite Carter and he was duly banned for a game.
And yet a year later, when at the very same stadium, in a game covered by exactly the same TV company, Andy Powell swung a full blooded roundhouse, closed fist, into Richie McCaw’s face near the end of the game, in the guise of a “tackle”, it was neither replayed on the big screen, nor acted upon, despite being a far more injurious act than that committed by Carter.
My point is if such incidents are to be treated in the same inconsistent and clearly parochial manner as seen in the Cardiff tests in particular, then we will have a new type of bush justice.
It might be best that replays on the big screen for anything controversial should only be aired at the request of the ref, his assistants, or the TMO.
It is their job to run the game, not the crowd, and not someone in a TV van.
@ grootblousmile:
I was just translating UFOs milkshake comment.
Just in case Hondlak actually thinks there is a concrete milkshake flavour and he tries to order one at his next visit to the Oranje Spur.
😆
I’ve been thinking of adding a Picture Plugin, allowing you okes to load pictures in the Comments sections, just like I did with the Youtube Video thingies.
What do you okes think, Celler dweller?
@ BrumbiesBoy:
You mean it doesn’t happen in Australia.
😆
31 @ gunther:
No problem!
@ grootblousmile:
Good idea.
Hondo can show us letters he has learned today.
BrumbiesBoy wrote:
88
My, my you lucky fella, you:
Just think, Saturday you get to watch the Wallahs being keelhauled in the Land of “non-selective viewing, unbiased commentators & women-respecting men”
How lucky can one dude be!
the advancement of technology in sport has done wonders for the viewers and the games in general.
if i take golf, they can now show the flight of the ball from behind the player in a graphic line on the screen. for the average joe this gives insight into the power and skill of the pros.
by the same token, close ups are now exposing players for slight infringements which makes every pro a much more honest individual 😎
32 @ grootblousmile:
You want that Gator picture to start coming back on a regular basis?
Your hosts will take exception!
Charo wrote:
If only they could show us how to emulate the flight!
I have made my view of this issue clear after the match already, hence I mentioned that their are 2 schools of thought.
I won’t change my view, the same way I don’t expect those that are pro change their views.
Quite simple really. The deleting of the post wasn’t an issue IMO, it was posted very early when no one was online ( except Angos)
The only reason I took it off was because I simply didn’t feel like going through this whole spiel once again.
Nothing to do with hardening up UFO and Gunther.
As can be seen by subsequent posts afterwards, it just reiterates why it was removed.
After I made my view clear on how I dislike producers influencing the outcome of a match we have seen Jonothan Kaplan and now Tony Johnson also write that they also don’t like it.
So, for every person happy with a producer’s influence, there are others who feel differently
@ Angostura:
Hahahahahahaha exactly.
He’s acting like Fox Sports weren’t the inventors of the selective viewing and analysis concept.
However some scenes may not be suitable for family viewing.
😆
37 @ Charo:
😆 Especially those for shoulder people in the head
37 @ Charo:
What for me is absolutely amazing about the Pro-Tracer shots is when someone like that skinny kid from Hollywood hits a “draw”, it always looks as if the ball starts straight, then draws somewhat, and then gets back on a “straight” path or even a slight “fade” path.
I can hit a “controlled” slice of hook, but certainly not like the top pro’players do.
It’s enough to make one cry into the Captains brew.
42…for=who
grootblousmile wrote:
88
An absolute must (but you’ll have to limit the image size, otherwise it will eat up bandwidth & take forever to download onto end-user screens; I’m talking from experience at another chat room where that facility was much appreciated but sometimes abused by inconsiderate dimwits)
Here is the offending comment for those who would like to see.
“It might be best that replays on the big screen for anything controversial should only be aired at the request of the ref, his assistants, or the TMO.
It is their job to run the game, not the crowd, and not someone in a TV van.”
Precisely what some of us here have been saying, much to the chagrin of others.
@ nortie:
I am also not a fan of deleted posts, because you do it often 😛 and it makes people’s subsequent replies appear out of context.
46 @ nortie:
and in another reply, suggesting there should be no more replays on the big screen unless requested by the ref, would just be”going backwards” technologically.
Might as well let the wing throw in at the line out.
@ MacroBlouBul:
My sum total was “Precisely what some of us here have been saying, much to the chagrin of others.”
I took it off simply because afterwards I thought that it would probably lead to this type of argument again, and I wasn’t in the mood for arguing today.
Each person can make up his own mind whether or not it was a provocative sentence or not, and whether it is worth an argument 😆
@ MacroBlouBul:
or the scrummie throw in STRAIGHT 😀
45 @ Angostura:
I’ve been contemplating that much… and as a result I am looking at a suitable Plugin to accomodate.
However, I already run a specific picture Plugin, called WP Smush.it, which immediately reduces picture sizes considerably, without losing much or pixelating images.
Angostura wrote:
None of them here on RT are there?
@ MacroBlouBul:
The issue is not just replays, but selective replays and angles that can sway a ref into changing the outcome of a match.
You saw with the Bulls v EP how a try was disallowed after it was given because of this very thing.
Because it “has happened to us” in the past doesn’t make it right if we do it to suit us IMO, two wrongs don’t make a right.
It will continue happening and will get even worse in future, so the pro group can relax and unclench their butt cheeks, some people don’t like it and will merely continue to dislike it and accept that games will be influenced like this
53 @ nortie:
I’m going to Call YOU Mr Anal Retental soon!
Flok jy kan lekker kerm… hie hie hie
@ nortie:
It has happened for and against us for the last twenty years, but this time the ref got it right… Not the TV producer, people should not blame the tv producer but get tough on referees that make shit game changing choices (wrongly). The TV producer is just a scape goat for referee blemishes that happen way too often and 100x times more often than odd camera angles.
@ grootblousmile:
Id like the pictures plugin too.
53 @ grootblousmile:
Nou hoe is dit kerm? 😆
Ek dog dis n mening
Angostura wrote:
Pot/kettle working overtime again, eh?
@ nortie:
Sit n paar artikels op en trek ons aandag af 😛
BrumbiesBoy wrote:
haha vica versa vica versa
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