The reaction to Scott Higginbotham’s suspension for ‘striking’ and ‘head butting’ Richie McCaw has been a little hypocritical, not to mention precious, hasn’t it?
I’ll say upfront, McCaw is probably the greatest ever.
I hope he’s knighted.
But certain, mostly Kiwi, reactions to his perceived ill treatment have been a little over the top. I mean come on, are we talking about an All Black open side flanker and a Test match or someone’s daughter on the way to a debutante ball?
Steve Hansen, the incredibly smug individual that he is, seems to have disregarded the origins of rugby thuggery (and the origin of certain All Black halfbacks but that’s another story). Throwing stones in glass houses springs to mind.
One Richard Loe, suspended for nine months for eye gouging and splattering Paul Carozza’s nose across his face with a stray forearm, could give Hansen some pointers. As could Mr Adam Thompson, the All Black 6 who punched and stomped on William Wallace last week. He got one (1!) week.
You didn’t see Andy Robinson, the Scottish coach, rushing in to the dressing sheds to massage his player in the bath. You didn’t hear Steve Hansen opining that Thompson’s one-week suspension was funnier than Billy Connolly with Tourette’s either.
Aside from highlighting Hansen’s obvious hypocrisy and love affair with McCaw, all this talk of cheap shots and thuggery has actually devalued the words.
Eye gouging, or La Fourchette (‘the fork’) as the French call it, is thuggery. A prop forward dropping his forearm onto a winger’s face while said winger lies on the ground is a cheap shot. An All Black 6 stomping on the head of a man trapped beneath a collapsed maul is thuggery and cheap together.
Two flankers coming to grips in a ruck is not.
What happened between McCaw and Higginbotham at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane was pure unadulterated theatre. The ‘head butt’ and ‘knee’ were about as vicious as those inflicted by my seven year old nephews during a Sunday afternoon scrap.
No doubt the Argentineans were sitting at home with their lovely wives, sipping Malbec on their beef farms, giggling about the ferocity of it all.
Yet the incident has dominated blogs and apparently greatly offended Mr Hansen’s sensibilities. Has rugby really come to that? Or is it really about maintaining the ‘All Black Aura’, ensuring nobody can be as aggressive as they are, making sure Richie can go about his dark arts free from any retaliation?
Let me be clear, McCaw is brilliant, he does nothing that Pocock, Hooper or any other great open sides doesn’t. But why is he a protected species? Why is it that Steve Hansen criticizes sides for matching All Black intensity, physicality and all out aggression?
I would suggest that it is the same reason why sides aren’t ‘allowed’ to advance on the Haka. It has nothing to do with cultural sensitivities and everything to do with the Kiwis deepest, darkest fear. Losing the All Black Aura.
It is no coincidence that the Wallabies best results over the past 36 months have come on the back of aggression. There were the victories in Hong Kong and Brisbane and the 18-all draw against New Zealand.
The face saving 20-14 win at Twickenham and the last gasp drought breaker in Pretoria also spring to mind. The lift in passion, intensity and aggression in all of those games was noticeable.
I for one won’t criticise Higginbotham. He overstepped the mark, just. He got two weeks. But it was worth it to lay down a marker.
I only hope that more of the Wallabies refuse to take a backward step against any team, especially the All Blacks.
It took the likes of Sam Scott-Young, Willy O and Tim Gavin to ignite the fires of Aussie rugby. Wouldn’t it be great to see Moore, Douglas, Higgers and the Honey Badger advance on the Haka once more.
wre01
Roar Guru
Without wishing to prove a point, the past week's developments are worth looking at: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/opinion/8007295/Hansens-silence-says-a-lot-about-NZ-rugby Again, if there is going to be so much whinging and whining abouyt McCaw being targeted, there shouldn't be double standards either....
Ra
Guest
i disagee Argyle, its muck rucking pathetic rubbish, amatuerish and insulting to the professional standards of other writers postings in here. I thought that if you are going to carry the Guru tag you might want to support a reasonable professional etiquitte by your contributers postings. im sure there are plenty in here from both sides of the ditch who could dredge up pathetic emotional rubbish about the "other side" and flood this site with their insults, but then thats okay,you say, because its people saying what they think, like i am
Ra
Guest
i really dont know what all the rubbish here is all about. This is playground stuff and school kid bickering. Exactly what outcome were you looking for trawling up all this sludge wre dude? How is this going to add to the game going forward? This is not healthy informative debate its pathetic low life mud slinging. tell fellow roarers dude, that after 150 plus replies, exactly what was achieved? was there a clear victor? or was it just a mere bitch fight in that no side buckled in to the other, but succeeded in digging up dirt and trading insults knowing there was no back dowm "I only hope that more of the Wallabies refuse to take a backward step against any team, especially the All Blacks." You said that in your article, and thats what you've got here. A lot of low life trading of insults between Kiwis and Aussies with no clear winner - pathetic really !!!! And as coconut said, you have a right to exercise your rights to express your opinion, which means he has right of reply. And I'm exercising my rights - this debate is pathetic, low level emotional crap, that you have no control over and you shouldnt do any writing till you've done some writer training this is really insulting to the high level of professional writers in the roar
Tui
Guest
And while you are at it Glacier, you might want to get a petition going to stop the Roar advertising on AllBlacks.com.
dcnz
Guest
dear writer there is a mistake with this sentence: It is no coincidence that the Wallabies best results over the past 36 months have come on the back of aggression. There were the victories in Hong Kong and Brisbane and the 18-all draw against New Zealand. It should read: It is no coincidence that the Wobblies have got off their butts and either beaten or drawn with NZ in a meaningless dead rubber game when the All Blacks have already locked up the season's silverware and played below par.
rae1
Guest
Nah the Aussie coach is a joke.At least Hansen shoots from the hip "What you see is what you get"
rae1
Guest
Well stated coconut,the aussies JUST win one game and they start growing some and sing the same old song.Richies a cheat BOOHOO! Steve Hansens arrogant BOOHOO!Carrozza got his nose broken in the 1800s BOOHOO!All Black supporters are smug BOOHOO! Well lets hope when the aussies start beating us consistently they can wipe the wonderfully smug smile off our faces lol
Justin2
Guest
Ah didnt I say that he was one of the greats as is Carter? And that polayers go after McCaw many more times. Its because he shuts them to tears with his positioning offside.
richard
Guest
The player he was talking about was sam scott - young, a dirty thug who stamped on the leg of Kevin Schuler, breaking it and ending his tour and playing career (that's the same tour as the carozza incident , in 1992). That good enough for you, along with brial, tuquiri, kearns et al. Having an australian take the moral high ground on this subject - now that's vomit- inducing.
Ryan
Guest
Maybe you might want to give that spiel to your fellow countrymen Glacier. If you don't want Kiwis commenting on Australian rugby site maybe you should ask the moderators to stop posting so many articles about the All Blacks
Riccardo
Guest
Morning Glacier, I meant Scott-Young. My apologies mate.
Ryan
Guest
Garth when will you get it, ABs must be punished more severely than anyone else on the planet. Greylings actions were nothing he was just running at speed tripped and fell flew a few metres and put his elbow out to brace for impact with the ground......
Ryan
Guest
not surprising you didn't get an answer to this question Garth
moose
Guest
redkev & stillatragic, please don't confuse the normal 'slaps and handbags' of rugby, a contact sport, with the obvious and thuggish targeting of ritchie's melon. if his attacks were as blatantly bad as you'd have the world think then the judiciary would have cited him accordingly. the only time he's ever tried to cold-cock anyone was the fat oaf jappie that tackled ref dave mchugh his behaviour on field as a number 7, is as it should be - to push the envelope as hard as possible, which he does. the response of his opponents, is up to them yet must be 'savoury' or risk the possibility of sanction
deanB
Guest
Glacier,chill out. You knew the incident i was refering to. As for wallaby history, i start about the time cornelson scored his second try on eden park.
glacier
Guest
Riccardo Who is Scott-Williams? I presume he is playing for Wales against your side on Saturday. and deanB What has that thug Colin Meads ('Sir' - that honorific makes me make me want to vomit) got to do with John Hipwell? Meads - he doesn't deserve a Christian name) destroyed Ken Catchpole's career with the greatest violence ever seen on an Australian rugby field but thankfully Hippy reigned supreme to be Australia's greatest ever half-back. Meads ended up as an apologist for South Africa's apartheid regime and hopefully he's never been allowed back in to Australia since that black day at the Sydney Sports Ground in 1969. Maybe you Kiwis should learn a little bit more about Australian rugby history (including learning names and facts) before launching your views on this Australian rugby site.
james
Guest
'It is good to see sides and players confronting the AB’s in the same ways they confront other sides' when you have clips of ABs players eye gouging, head butting, kneeing players in the head, dropping forearms..then come back and we can take your article seriously. kiwi over reacting?-I guess you haven't seen the sook fest between the Blues and Maroons over the most insignificant of things including today's whinge in the news. You lot make the Poms look like the most chilled back folks in world sport.
mace 22
Guest
I don't care if people think mccaw cheats deserves to be kneed, kicked eye gouged or whay ever. All I care about is that he plays for the AB's, and he's won 101 tests out of 113 ( WHAT A STRIKE RATE ). I just hope he stays on till the next world cup. The all blacks will win it with out him, but with him it will be so much easier. Long live king richie he who dominates all he surveys.
mace 22
Guest
I don't care if people think mccaw cheats or deserves to be kneed, kicked, eye gouged or whay ever. All I care about is that he plays for the AB's, and he's won 101 tests out of 113 ( WHAT A STRIKE RATE ). I just hope he stays on till the next world cup. The all blacks will win it with out him, but with him it will be so much easier. Long live king richie, he who dominates all he surveys.
deanB
Guest
Wow people! Having just read most of the above, one can only conclude that this is the finest nation of used car salesmen the world has ever known. How many aliases is phil kearns allowed to have on this site? Richard Loe/Paul Carozza again?! Really? Why not Meads/Hipwell? Or Brial/Bunce? Ashworth/JPR. Wind back the odometer , polish your knobs and sell us another lemon.