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Opinion

Three talking points from Super Rugby AU Round 9

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31st August, 2020
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The Waratahs are no longer in charge of their destiny, after beating the Melbourne Rebels on Saturday night, but not by enough to claim the bonus point that would have helped secure a playoff berth.

Instead, they wait for other results, specifically the Rebels-Western Force match in Newcastle on Saturday afternoon. A Rebels win by four or more points, and the Waratahs’ season is over. If the Force can come up with the biggest upset of the AU season – or even just a loss by three points or fewer – the Waratahs will sneak through to face the Reds in the second versus third playoff in Brisbane.

Here’s what got us talking from the weekend of rugby.

Swinton escaping sanction makes no sense at all

You’ve all seen the tackle by now, and if it made no sense at the time Waratahs flanker Lachlan Swinton stayed on the field despite a relatively clear shoulder charge to the head of Rebels no.8 Isi Naisarani late in the second half, the lack of a citing since the incident makes even less sense.

It is now well beyond 48 hours since fulltime in the match, and no citing action has been brought down on Swinton from the SANZAAR Citing Commissioner.

Despite Super Rugby AU being run within Australian borders, refereeing appointments and judicial requirements are still handled by SANZAAR, as was the case during Super Rugby Aotearoa.

The citing process was only required once during the New Zealand competition, when Hurricanes winger Kobus van Wyk was cited and subsequently suspended for three weeks for a dangerous lifting tackle on Chiefs scrumhalf Brad Weber.

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Lachlan Swinton of the Waratahs looks dejected

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Swinton was penalised for the hit, with referee Graham Cooper rightly indicating it was a no-arms tackle. Naisarani stayed down receiving treatment from the Rebels trainers and was taken off for a Head Injury Assessment soon after. Replays were shown, but there was no TMO intervention.

Our live match blog was awash with comments at the time, and Roar Expert columnist Geoff Parkes labelled the lack of action “a regrettable step backwards” in terms of protecting players against dangerous high contact, and “one that needs to be rectified this week”.

It won’t be.

If the Waratahs qualify for the playoff match, Swinton will be free to play. If their Super Rugby season is over, he could be released to club side Sydney University with no sanction preventing him playing.

Swinton has definitely brought a level of physicality that has been missing from Waratahs forwards in recent years, and the fact he was still looking to assert himself on the Rebels physically in the 77th minute of a match that looked won might well have pleased his coach Rob Penney.

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However, this was a textbook example of a shoulder-led no-arms tackle to the head that World Rugby remain committed to cracking down on.

As inexcusable as it is that the on-field process saw it as a penalty only and not deserving of another look is, it is much worse that the SANZAAR Judicial process failed to act with the benefit of time and unlimited replays.

Western Force territorial wins provide blueprint for pinning Brumbies in their half

The Force were never really expected to trouble the Brumbies in Canberra on Friday night, but their first-half success at driving the Brumbies further back downfield through some excellent tactical kicking will have the Reds and whoever might face them in the final taking notice.

The Brumbies have always been a team that much prefers to play in the opposition half, but the Force’s response to the Brumbies’ kicking from their own half was clever.

They simply kicked it back. The Brumbies were drawn into kicking duels several times, and the Force were happy to keep them going because they were team making the nett gains.

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The Force astutely played Jono Lance and Jack McGregor deep in defence, and had Kyle Godwin on a roving role from the left wing. The three of them, along with Force captain Ian Prior all had turns at putting the ball back in Brumbies territory, happy to claw ground back one kick at a time.

And it took the Brumbies until the second half to heed the lesson that while ever the Force players could kick two or three metres further than they could, they were losing ground with every kick from their half.

Better defensive teams than the Force will have seen this. More disciplined teams can take advantage.

Ian Prior passing from the scrum

The Force showed us all how the Brumbies can be tamed. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

More South African departure reports equals more SANZAAR denials

With the COVID-19 pandemic still sweeping across the African continent, and South African rugby still looking at domestic competition options, the news only gets louder about their departure from southern hemisphere rugby.

This was a collection of weekend headlines:

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“Pro14 coaches support South African expansion”

“Could the Springboks replace Japan at ‘Eight Nations’ tournament?”

“Springboks in ‘advanced discussions’ to play in northern tournament – World Rugby vice-chairman”

“Currie Cup to be used as qualification for expanded PRO16?”

SANZAAR CEO Andy Marinos was reported as supposedly denying claims South Africa are about to reject The Rugby Championship this year and play in the north, though no reports carried quotes issuing any such denial.

But it wouldn’t be another round of South African departure rumours without the inevitable SANZAAR statement.

So we wait to be reminded of the binding agreements in place, and of the four member unions’ repeated and reiterated commitment to the partnership.

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And then we move onto the next round of rumours and reports.

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