- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Roar Rookie
Joined January 2014
0
Views
0
Published
60
Comments
Fan and supporter of the All Blacks, the Blues and North Harbour, while also supporting Scotland in the 6 Nations and Japan.
Published
Comments
I’d say there are two factors:
1. Does the disruptive player’s behaviour affect the rest of the team’s performance in any way?
2. Does the player demonstrate any contrition?
I used to be involved in high school rugby, for the 2nd XV, where I managed and acted as assistant coach.
We had one player who was incredibly talented, but was a disruptive influence. He, and another player (who had been suspended for his role in a post-match punch-up) were hugely disruptive influences during training. The next day, I had a quiet word with him, where he showed no contrition. I made it clear to him that after a post-training meeting with the team leaders, his attitude would determine his future on the team. He made it clear he didn’t care about the team, so I thanked him for taking the decision about his ongoing role in the team out of my hands, and making the call for me.
Long story short, he was immediately dropped from the squad.
They went on to make the final of their competition and were runners-up. The squad may have lost a hugely talented player, but they also lost a disruptive influence, which meant they were able to maintain their focus and be the best team they could be, rather than a team of 1 jerk and 21 players that increasingly hated his guts.
Should disruptive behaviour be punished?
Pretty much. There’s quite the log-jam at the moment.
Looking at the Super Rugby sides:
Blues:
James Parsons – All Blacks
Matt Moulds – All Black Sevens
Leni Apisai – Maori All Blacks
Chiefs:
Nathan Harris – All Blacks
Liam Polwart – NZ U-20s
Samisoni Taukei’aho
Hurricanes:
Asafo Aumua – All Blacks (non-test)
Dane Coles – All Blacks
Ricky Riccitelli – NZ U-20s
Crusaders:
Ben Funnell
Andrew Makalio
Codie Taylor – All Blacks
Highlanders:
Liam Coltman – All Blacks
Ash Dixon – Maori All Blacks
Greg Pleasants-Tate – NZ U-20s
Further, Ben Funnell and Ricky Riccitelli have been included in All Blacks training squads, indicating they’re rated reasonably highly. JP Sauni could have gotten past a few of these guys, but it would’ve been a tall order.
Waratahs lure potential All Blacks hooker
I suspect Cheika will always insist on playing two openside flankers, with a lanky blindside, forever clinging on to that one time it worked when he fielded Hooper and Pocock together.
Wallabies must bring the angry: Byrne
Or, you know, the players could be a little less reckless? Amazing how this revolutionary and radical notion never entered your train of thought.
The Crusaders and the Lions have saved Super Rugby with a super final
Repeat infringements like Itoje constantly being offside eventually earns a team yellow down here, where there’s a warning to the offending team’s captain, and then usually the next offense leads to the ref digging into their pocket.
Other than that, there was the shoulder to Barrett’s head from Vunipola that Garces decided was not red-worthy, despite the precedent he’d set for himself earlier, and the swinging arm to the back of Naholo’s head that Garces clearly did not care about.
Five talking points from All Blacks vs British and Irish Lions second Test
If Super Rugby is insistent on its current course, SANZAAR could do worse than look at how the J-League in Japan expanded almost to its own ruination, and how they were able to recover.
There needs to be a promotion-relegation system of a 2-tiered professional structure (12 teams up top, and something like 10 down below).
What we’ve seen with some players missing out on Super Rugby contracts in NZ is that there’s more talent here than can be served by the available berths, but not enough to sustain another competitive Super Rugby side – this includes talent like North Harbour’s Bryn Gatland (who just got a short-term call-up to the Crusaders as injury cover), Michael Little (who was shortlisted for the Mitre 10 Cup player of the year) and Chris Vui, who got a call-up for Samoa and is now plying his trade with Worcester. I think this opens up the way for 3 distinct Pacific Island teams, with the squads being supplemented by the odds and sods from the Mitre 10 Cup that were unlucky to miss out on a contract.
To further supplement numers, it may not be a bad idea to follow the J-League 3’s example of having development sides specifically there to live in that division to foster the available talent.
There are geographical issues that this obviously creates, as it would be a globe-spanning competition that covers 4 continents in 2 hemispheres, but I think those sorts of vagaries can be sorted out later, once a better structure is thought up.
Personally, I do love that we have the Sunwolves involved and they deserve the patience required to get them to a level where they’re competitive for the long-term health of the game, but I think the team itself requires a serious re-think.
What's around the Super duper bend?
England were out-thought and out-coached going into the game, and almost had the game taken away from them because they weren’t able to adapt.
What is more telling is that they had Nathan Hughes playing at 8. This matters, because he plays for the Wasps, and they used the same bloody tactic just prior to the game. Surely, he’d have some familiarity with it.
Further, the English players out there are guys who’ve been in the game for quite some time. Haskell and Hartley, who had a moan to the ref, have been playing test rugby for about 10 years now.
Jones is right to be filthy, but his frustration and anger is completely misdirected. It should be his own players and himself that he should be angry at – his players for not being able to think on their feet and himself, for not coming up with a strategy to combat the Italian approach.
Italy's ruckless rugby was in the Webb Ellis spirit of the game
He should move into the forwards in the latter stages of his career where he will have to learn an entirely new set of skills unique to the specific position he should be thrust into, where he would be expected to then compete against players already established there.
Makes perfect sense.
After 2019, SBW should move into the forwards
What I find most curious is this apparent obsession with Quade Cooper that appears to have been built in the Aussie rugby circles, like it’s some sort of divine obligation to place him in the an Australian rep side no matter what the cost may be. It’s practically like a cult of some sort.
He has proven time and time again that he lacks the temperament to handle the high pressure situations, and has fallen apart each and every time.
Is “rugby’s Usman Khawaja,” code for a rugby player that is talented at one facet of the game, but is severely deficient in several others, specifically ones that are now central to his chosen position? Because that’s exactly what Cooper is.
Quade Cooper has become rugby's Usman Khawaja
They have to have been retired for 10 years. I don’t think Matt Burke is eligible yet. Horan will definitely be in there sooner or later.
Who should be in the 2016 ARU Hall of Fame class?
Not without some mistakes, particularly in the final, but I think he has enough goodwill to have the benefit of the doubt when he says he will get better. His track record states that this is highly likely.
How did SBW fare at his first sevens tournament?
This site was crying out for this type of analysis since Scott Allen’s departure. Please keep it up, as the Rugby section is better for it.
Australia vs Fiji: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Jerry, don’t forget Quade Cooper, Will Genia and Radike Samo.
Poaching Pacific Islander players is weakening rugby
I get your argument, Andrew, but the fact remains – Cheika unnecessarily tinkered with a team and made some bizarre selection. I guess you’re right in that the Wallabies (and by extension, the fans) knew what was in store for them, but selecting players that have been long-term non-performers like Wycliff Palu or Quade Cooper should open him up for criticism. He picked the team, right?
The Wallabies knew what was coming
If Spiro’s thesis statement is true, how come France have never won the World Cup? They’re 4-for-4 against the Boks at Ellis Park.
I’d also point out that the Springboks have lost 3 of their last 5 tests at the venue.
SPIRO: Win at Ellis Park against the Boks, win anywhere
Why can’t a resident not represent their adopted country? Are they not part of the culture of that nation? Are they to be forever relegated to an existence as an “other?”
Citizenship would only be fair if every country had uniform regulations.
Test rugby eligibility: It's simple, play for your nation of birth
“He will also likely spend the bulk of the rest of his life in New Zealand. How is he not a NZer?” Absolutely. The more you try to defend your idea Owen, the more you sound like Hando and his gang of thugs at the start of Romper Stomper. “This is not your country.” Give us all a break and stop digging.
Test rugby eligibility: It's simple, play for your nation of birth
I’ve spent 18 years in New Zealand, went to high school here, went to university here and I have not lived anywhere else. I pay my taxes and have voted at every election, both local body and general. I am also now employed in the education sector in this country, having trained at a New Zealand university to be a teacher. However, I was born overseas. And Owen, if you were to tell me I had to prove to you, or some imaginary tribunal that you’ve cooked up in some apparent fever dream, I would not hesitate to tell you where you can stick your tribunal, and it would be somewhere uncomfortable, like the backseat of a VW Beetle.
Test rugby eligibility: It's simple, play for your nation of birth
No, it shouldn’t. Especially when it’s someone with prior form like Tuilagi. If he wants to be a dickhead, then that’s his prerogative, but so is Lancaster’s apparent decision to impose a “no dickheads” rule when selecting his players.
Manu Tuilagi assault charge rules him out of World Cup
Well, when a dad and a mum love each other very much, that leads to the birds and bees procreating and a stork constructing and delivering a baby to them 9 months after the parents… do whatever it is that they do. But sometimes, mum and dad might be living in one country and after the baby is delivered, they might move to another country. Like Stephen Moore’s parents did when they were in Saudi Arabia.
Or maybe the baby is one of those ones that gets left behind, and a mum and a dad or two dads or two mums might offer to take that baby with them, and that baby might have been put together overseas.
Test rugby eligibility: It's simple, play for your nation of birth
And different nations have different citizenship rules. This idea won’t be realistic unless there’s some sort of uniform regulation across the board when it comes to citizenship.
And then we get other situations like the Cook Islands/Niue/Tokelau, where their citizens are also automatically New Zealand citizens by birth due to their respective nation’s status as a protectorate of New Zealand.
And then we also get situations like the former Yugoslav republic or the Netherlands Antilles. Both countries ceased to exist. What then?
Test rugby eligibility: It's simple, play for your nation of birth
Yep. Or is Owen suggesting that an immigrant can not be integrated into the social fabric of another country, and should perpetually considered an outsider?
Test rugby eligibility: It's simple, play for your nation of birth
And you idea would only work in a world where travel between countries, particularly ones not land-linked, would be impossible and concepts like “expatriates” did not exist. Your idea is insanely restrictive, impractical and unrealistic. People migrate and move around, often looking for better work opportunities. Kids grow up in countries where they weren’t born. And who are you to tell them that they should not be allowed to represent the nation where they grew up?
Test rugby eligibility: It's simple, play for your nation of birth
Sure, but “free speech” does not mean “free from consequence.” If someone’s idea of free speech includes denigrating them based on their race, gender, sexuality, etc., then they’re free to face the consequences of that, which could include being shown the door.
Should disruptive behaviour be punished?