My first sales manager always used to tell me; ‘Don’t come to me with problems, come to me with solutions’.
With all the bitching in recent weeks and column upon column of views regarding the ‘favouritism’ the All Blacks enjoy at the expense of the Springboks and Wallabies I was again reminded of that very important line I learned as a 19-year old.
South Africans of course have been the most vocal but that is to be expected when you sit on the bottom of the log without a single point, but there has also been murmurs from Australia and New Zealand that there might just be an issue at hand here which needs to be dealt with.
The issue, or problem of course, is the perceived belief that the All Blacks cheat.
Well let me not beat around the bush with the issue, the All Blacks do break the rules but from where I sit the fact that they do not get caught says a lot more about the Springboks and Wallabies than it does about the All Blacks.
The controversial area I am referring to is mainly the ruck so let’s deal with what they do there first.
In the last couple of years the focus of referees and the media, and even spectators have been around one player, or one position – the fetcher. The obsession with this player has reached astronomical proportions infamously making its most controversial appearance first with Jake White and his quote and belief on what fetchers does for him in his team every Sunday.
Since then enough column inches to go to the moon and back has been spent on the issue and the player, from George Smith, Richie McCaw, Heinrich Brussow, Pocock, Louw and many, many more and their role and their ‘importance’ in the game of rugby.
They are usually labelled as ‘cheats’ or the guys that push the letter of the law the furthest.
The effect of this was immediate. In recent years we had law changes, law variations and the flavour of the month now is law interpretations… All basically focused on the same thing and largely focused on one specific area, the ruck or tackled ball situation, the domain of the animal they call the ‘fetcher’.
Since it became fashionable to focus on these players it also became very easy to base all problems, or perceived strengths and weaknesses on these players. The recent rumblings being no different in my view.
Now to come back to the All Blacks and cheating.
Breaking the laws is wrong, there is no question about it, but for my money, you can only be called a cheat if you get caught.
Personally after studying all the games in the Tri-Nations this year so far, I came to the conclusion that the All Blacks are not cheats, in fact, I think they are bloody clever!
Before I explain let me share a secret with you…
Any coach or management team worth their salt spend hours and hours studying the laws, the current trend with the application in the laws, their own team, the opposition and also (believe it or not) the referee.
Now if you believe this is done only to identify strengths and weaknesses in opposing teams and players you are living in cuckoo land… Any possible advantage that can be found in the laws, law interpretations and trends in application are also identified.
Let me give you an example. The All Blacks knew Craig Joubert, one of the top referees in the Super 14, awards 80% of penalties at the ruck against the defending teams. They therefore knew that Craig’s focus is 80% on the defending team and more importantly, the defending fetcher or players who play directly to the ball to steal it, or slow it down.
In other words current trends in law application is placed directly on the ball and players directly on the ball at rucks or tackled situations. Just think to how referees want to see this ‘daylight’ from tacklers, have to make call on tacklers and arriving players etc., etc.
The All Blacks identified this in Craig (and most referees as this is an international trend in law application) and came up with a plan, the plan was quite simple – gain an advantage, even if a bit unfair, or against the laws in areas around, or away from this point of focus to benefit ourselves. How or what did they do? Well quite simply they tasked specific players at the ruck or tackled situation to disrupt, obstruct and generally spoil opposition players away from the focus point (the ball) to gain an advantage. They identified by clearing players a meter or so further than what they normally would, or a meter or more away from the ball than they usually would, they gained a clear advantage in disrupting defensive structures, momentum and lines of opposition teams… Genius!
They identified that by gaining an advantage at a crucial part of the game, the ruck, where it is unlikely they will get penalised because it is seldom seen given the current trends and focus, and you know what, bloody good on them!
This now leaves us with my opening line and ‘problem’ for South Africa and Australia…
Well first off there is no point in bitching about a team or coach if they managed to identify something to benefit them before you did. It says more about you than it says about them.
Also, you are mainly left with two options, or solutions…
Either you try and beat them at their own game or devise methods to counter this or even beat them (yes Peter at times you do coach players to cheat!), or you make the whole world (most importantly the IRB) aware of exactly what is happening and put pressure on them to ensure that the area you feel ‘cheated’ on is better policed!
You see, you are actually only a cheat if you get caught…
Morne, its the era of the law interpretation as you say.
So, if you get caught you can claim that it was never your intention to break the law, its just that you had a different interpretaion of the law at the time of the “offence”. 😉
Anybody who has played any sport at any level knows that you always play the ref/umpire – always…
Sorry Morne couldn’t disagree with you more on your last line “you are only a cheat if you get caught”, I cannot believe that as a true rugby fan that is your honest opinion.
@ Bullscot:
A rugby fan I am.
But I was also a rugby analyst, administrator and assistant to coaches in the game of rugby.
Like I said, this is the reality mate, there are no points for taking the moral high ground when it comes to competitive, professional sport.
@ Morné:
If this is what its really become then whats the point as a fan, do you have to find a team to support that can cheat the best to be assured of success. It is a fact that players try to gain an advantage in many ways in various sports but as a fan and viewer I don’t think that just because they get away with something they shouldn’t then its ok. I hear all the time from rugby fans that is supposed to be such a better sport than football because of all the diving and conning of refs that goes on there, but from your viewpoint its sounds as if rugby is not really that different.
@ Bullscot:
Winning is everything, the reality is 1 or 2 years from now no-one will remember that video from that Aussie highlighting the AB indiscretions – the results will however stand forever.
I said the solution is simple, either you do the same (identify areas in laws to push the limits) or you make the people who can change all of this aware of what is happening and ensure it is better policed. And that is where the line comes in that its only cheating when you get caught.
Do the AB’s break or bend the laws?
Yes.
Can something be done about it?
Yes.
What is scary is that a mug-punter in Aus and people on blogs can highlight this and even offer solutions but our administration or management seems incapable of doing this?
@ Morné:
very interesting read Morne
What i wonder is if the IRB has the steel to sort out the discrete clearing out of defenders way past your attacking rucks, and to sort out the obstruction of lazy runners way past the offside line at defending rucks.
IMHO no, they are the same sort of animal as FIFA and years from now, well maybe in the soon future, rugby will evolve into the same farce as soccer is currently.
@ Morné:
Yes but the problem seems to be that doing the same is not going to work as long as there is the inconsistency in the blowing of the games that we seen in our last few games against the All Blacks, I do admit that the margin of victory was so much that it wasn’t only the bias towards them that won them the games but it doesn’t help. We have seen the article that worked out for every 6 penalties the Boks got a yellow card and the Aus number was similiar, yet the All Blacks figure was way more penalties related to cards. So if we are to ‘do the same’ against them and the ref trend continues how many more players are we going to end up getting carded?
One of your answers if to alert the people responsible to the problems and ‘ensure it is better policed’, it seems as if there have been numerous attempts to do this (maybe not in the right way) already so it remains to be seen whether the relevant authorities have the will to fix the problem.
As far as being on a blog offering solutions, its just the same as opposition politics, you can just stand on the side and shout your opinion and disagreement but don’t really have to do/implement anything and take the responsibility. I have said for ages if I got another chance in life I would come back as and opposition politician, easiest job in the world 😉
Maybe the heading of this Article is a bit misleading…
In life, it certainly is not morally right or correct to cheat and only consider yourself to be wrong, if you get caught. In other words, be a criminal it’s OK, you are squeeky clean till you are caught and prosecuted… sorry but that is plain wrong!
This is sport though, and one plays the referee, one studies the referee interpretations, one plays according to what is ALLOWED. One gets away with some things and others not.
So, in essense what I’m saying is that the ALL Blacks DO NOT CHEAT, they only play what they are allowed. It means living close to the borderline but it also means gaining valuable advantage over teams who do not do their homework.
They are clever, they’re not cheats!
@ ps in CT:
It will all depend on the reaction to the issues highlighted.
Question:
Do you think me writing this calling the AB’s geniusses highlighting what they do will benefit them or not?
@ Bullscot:
You have to remember with any article penned using statistics it can be skewed quite easily.
For one thing, where did the respective teams receive those penalties (i.e. rucks, tackles, scrum, line-out, etc)? And for what did they get yellow cards? It makes a big difference in the stats.
@ Morné:
How it will benefit them in writing an article on it is surely not possible. Learning from them and playing their new way depends on who you play for. GBS reasoning in #8 relates to getting a ref on the day that is not falling for a captain’s diplomacy could lead to more yellows and bigger losses, or another thumping victory. And that is because of inconsistent rule applications. Deviously clever in that way yes. It stays cheating though and in my view the wheel turns against cheating, always. That’s perhaps why I did not study law, cause my interpretation in the rule of law is what is the right thing to do should be the right thing to do, consequences notwithstanding. Please GBS, I desperately do not want to go into an argument about law. Will take me back to my student days where arguing the t*ss about the application of law was the order of the day at Varsity.
In conclusion, in doing things wrong until you are being blown up by the ref is not the way forward for the sport. It should be interpreted consistently and currently is not. It’s the IRB’s problem to resolve very soon else another soccer-like sport is on the way.
I realise that as Saffers we feel hard done because calls have not gone our way. I also believe that stats are available that suggest that visiting sides generally tend to take the brunt of a ref’s displeasure. Yes, I know – it should’nt be that way but still it happens…
The Boks have not had a home game yet.
If the Boks are going to be favoured in the home games that remain and the stats over the full Tri-Nations balance out or end up favouring us, will we still be complaining about the refs?
If you believe “it’s only cheating if you get caught”, rugby aside, it says a lot about your character as a person. Sorry not trying to be insulting or anything before some people get on their high horses, it’s just how I feel. I accept that my morals might differ from yours.
Lets break this down to real life, and lets see the similarities:
In SA the speed limit is 60km/h or 120km/h. Most cars speedometers tend be calibrated to travel slower than the indicate speed. So for arguments sake your car shows you to be travelling at 120, but your GPS shows your speed to be 115. So what do most road users do? They travel at an indicated 130, this gives an estimated true speed of 120km. So what do some drivers do, drive at an indicated 140km, because they are under the impression that the traffic authorities give you a 10km leeway because of speedo error. That is the motorists interpretation of the law, and to a large degree, this interpretation also applies to the traffic cops. In effect the driver is breaking the law yet he gets away with it until he gets caught by a cop who acts according to the letter of the law.
So all the AB’s are doing is seeing what the rules are, and they have it easier (because the pool of refs or traffic cops is so much smaller its easier to know what to expect), because as Morne says, certain refs are stricter in certain areas, but by and large they keep an eye on the defending team, so all the coaching staff needs to do is before each game tell their team exactly how far they can push the ref, and what to watch for.
Lion4ever,
Great analogy, broer! See, we need you Lions ouks here more regularly…. 😉
@ Lion4ever:
and if your speedo aint working?
@ rugbybal: :rofl:
Well if your Speedo ain’t working, buy a wetsuit and a surfboard – there is a certain kinda woman that will go for that.
Alternatively, buy an even smaller Speedo from Knop Stores…..
fender wrote:
bwahahahahahaha
I tried putting a sock in it once, and everyone ran away, no one told me to put the sock in the front. Old Leon Schuster joke.
And one of my biggest gripes is the fact that each ref has his own interpretation of the interpretation. The rules should be written in such a way that they leave very little open for interpretation.
Hehe, ja what will RSA be without old Leon! 😉
19@ Lion4ever:
L4E, The likes of Paddy O’Brian and the IRB should merely get the worlds top 100 ref’s together for a week or two in a remote place and tell them “Sort out the interpretation nonsense. We see it this way, make sure that all of you agree on the same interpretation and control the games accordingly.”
Is it so freekin difficult?
The referee interpretation BS poisons the game at ALL levels, but the Almighty IRB seem incapable of clearing the sewerage from the pipes that they’ve blocked by flushing their used sanitary towels down the crapper!
@ rugbybal:
#12 you are nicely summarising what i tried to say in #10.
Methinks there is absolutely no moral high ground in soccer and if the IRB does not act soon, that’s where rugby is going.
Soon we’ll see theatrics from players in allegedly getting tripped, pushed around, high tackled, hell you name all the penalty offences and they will start acting it to get penalties or yellow cards.
Ironically this is also not knew in rugby but not yet that visible…..
If your speedo don’t work just flaunt it
@ ps in CT:
Yeah, I tend to shoot from the hip sometimes. For me it’s just sad to see the All Blacks, being the great rugby nations they are, resorting to cheating to get the upper hand over their foes. That is the direction McCheat is taking them in. I’ve lost a lot of respect for them. It’s much worse than being so called thugs, in my book.
@ rugbybal:
@ ps in CT:
Hate to burst the bubble guys, this is happening in rugby all over, and all teams look where they can manipulate the laws for their own benefit.
What is highlighted above is just how quick the AB’s were in identifying one aspect of the new law interpretations that came into effect this year…
@ Morné: tooo true Morne
Agree, Scrumdown.
I am just an average supporter/fan. And it amazes me that one can see so many different interpretations in one weekend of rugby.
I accept that refs make mistakes, and due to being at the wrong angle, may miss a forward pass, or could give a knock on the wrong way when 2 players contest the ball in the air. That is acceptable. But what gets my goat, is when the very important aspect of the breakdown is so badly reffed. Its not a mistake or two, its normally the whole game.
@ AB:
That still begs the question, does that make it right? cause it happens all over. If your best friend jumps in the fire, should you too? I don’t understand your reasoning.
@ Morné:
#25 not living in a bubble Morne.
But seeing where the game is going, especially after watching the SWC. It was seriously entertaining at times but there were other periods when i realised I’ll only watch it during an international level competition, or during the Champions league, or the African Cup or similar.
It will p*ss me off big time if rugby goes the same route where coaches teach their players when to dive before they teach them how to pass or kick.
And THAT is where the current AB team is taking the game.
Habana has tried on occasion to dive, and win a penalty without much success
Users Online
Total 72 users including 0 member, 72 guests, 0 bot online
Most users ever online were 3735, on 31 August 2022 @ 6:23 pm
No Counter as from 31 October 2009: 39,596,001 Page Impressions
_