'Over the moon': Reds deny Chiefs for 23 PHASES to win 'titanic' trans-Tasman clash as Kiss' revolution continues

I'm really amused how all the Kiwi's line up and bleat like sheep whenever one questions the legality or bias of a Kiwi player or referee. The Aussies demanding stern action on "that dirty Kiwi" and the Kiwis, nobly led with about 1000 reply posts each by Again-squared and Wacko Jacko, makes me wonder "do any of these blokes have jobs to go to"? Sigmund Freud would have listed it as a classic inferiority complex. Was the hit by S.Finau on T.Lyangh legal? No, it was as late as one handing out Xmas presents today. And that alone should have got him into yellow card trouble. His ½-ar$ed attempted wrap and slow-mo by the TMO was good enough (smart!) to keep any review committee off his tail. Is it surprising, hell no! When I played 5/8th in grade rugby, it was almost the breakaway's duty to take out the 5/8th (wording to show you how long it was when I played :silly: ). I wore way more late hits playing 5/8th than I ever did at centre or wing (mind you a flyhalf also handles the ball more often also). Ben O'Keefe is a bit of an enigma. He is a very good referee who tries to keep the game flowing. However in doing so, he invites massive criticism (ie: this blog). He made two horrible blunders in the Chiefs vs Reds match. Firstly he and the TMO barely looked at Sef Fa'agase's head clash with the Chiefs' prop (?), and yes that was a red card offence as per the Laws. Reds were lucky there. The 2nd was his acquittal of Finau's late hit. My main gripe with BOK is when he referees Crusaders' games. The 1st time I noticed him was when O.Franks hit K.Beale with a forearm very near the throat in an attempt to save a try. Beale was following a mini-break and Saders were stressed, Tahs were eating them alive (in Christchurch) and leading like 33-7 or similar. Beale didn't even have the ball but a pass to him would be a certain try under the sticks, so Franks did what a prop's gotta do. He obstructed him with body and arm. All of this was right in front of BOK, who just ignored the whole incident and allowed play to continue. A little bit of 2nd half leniency in the ruck laws and whammo, another sterling victory by the Crusaders. GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr The Roar exploded, similar to this one but twice as many posts. And what happened? you may ask! Nothing, nowt, zip! BOK continued on his merry way arm in arm with his beloved Crusaders. :angry: :shocked:

They pushed the Rebels and Brumbies and look to be growing as the games go. We will know better in a few weeks but they are staying in fights longer.

I think for coaches its important they either play or coach in atleast two of the major professional league (SRP, URC, T14 and Prem) as it opens the mind a bit. It can be easy to get stuck in a bubble and think what was working 10 years ago when you were a player at the club will work now. Hopefully RA are better able to facilitate young Oz coaches and players who can't get a job at home a year or two OS to help them be better for the Oz teams.

I thought overall it was a good tough win. The hit on Lynagh should have been a yellow card in today's interpretation of the rules. However in past days it would have been a penalty only as Okeefe ordained. I'm still unconvinced that Vunivalu is up to this standard he played OK but did make some errors and missed a tackle or two. I wonder at the propensity to keep playing him while perhaps there are others that might be better, sitting on the sideline. But the money they shelled out for him has to be repayed I suppose. Therein lies the problem with buying League players. They can be great and draw a crowd like big Wendell and Matt Rodgers etc and to a degree Loti. But it seems those days are over with leagies drawing a crowd. Sualali (spelling incorrect) will be playing next year and there will be some excitement for a while. However if he doesn't gel he may be another Vunivalu. The 400 person crowd to see the match in Hamilton was a disgrace. This proves that there is diabolical problems with the admin of Rugby. I have now advocated for a while for a domestic comp instead of Super Rugby. And if you can only get 400 people to watch a match live at Super rugby level I'm sure that a domestic comp would be so much better than that and far less expensive to run. And with the monetary problems that RA have at the moment, IMO it would be a quality fiscally intelligent move for all. Naturally there would be teething problems but I don't really see RA trading out of the enormous debt that they have built up over the last few years and also with the pending court case that is coming up via the Rebels, this could also build on that debt. The states will also try and get what they are owed so compounding the problem. IMO we are way over our heads in debt and even with a WC looming I do not see us trading out of it. All the while the clubs are battling on as they always have done with very little or no assistance form the big end of town. I also pity the women. they are a vital part of rugby in Australia and are being treated like second class citizens.

If he had been sent to the naughty chair, I don’t think anybody would have complained. On a separate note, what I find more bothersome is how commentators like Harrison call an over the shoulder tackle by a Reds player on a Chiefs player as soft but moments before was all over it when a Chiefs player tackled a Reds player exactly the same way. Harrison was a grub when he played and now considers himself an authority on what constitutes legal and illegal play. Along with Kearn’s they are in my opinion a blight on the game and do nothing to attract people to the game. They make up and talk so much garbage and then you come to sites like this and findit being amplified.

Tight forwards get a lot of credit. Along with Wright, they were terrific and really did the job of containing the go-forward and - notably at the end - holding the line for a win. Young props stood up and Faessler was strong and consistent. Ryan had a big game, as did Uru. Wright, I thought, was outstanding.

You are right AA. But in my day a late tackle was a send off offence. In this case the tackler was well late, but the 'wrap' bit got him off. I don't blame BOK, who is a good ref and has very good judgment. I think it's the way the laws are being managed overall. When you look at how Lynagh was hit, it's the sort of impact that can do serious damage.

Interesting conundrum for Kiss this week. Assuming Paisami is back does Henry move to the bench or back to development squad?

I think he’s in great form so far. Has to be in the back 3. He’s a try scorer, very intelligent player, doesn’t make many mistakes and a proven test performer.

He was great this week but the opposition was pretty poor. Kellaway is solid and will be in the squad.

I looked at what you were saying broke down into 5 points and stated why you are completely wrong in your comments attacking me personally… and rather than prove a single point I have made… you say you were responding to people defending Finau and Same Cane in the RWC… except nobody here has defended either. You have simply built a straw-man so you can spout your prejudices and make nasty spurious comments, like ai would abuse refs. I have played enough rugby to have been on the bad side of calls and rarely felt I have been on the good side of any.. but in saying that I have always played to the ref and worried about my game never theirs. Every rugby player knows that without refs we don’t have a game, so I don’t engage in ref bashing here or anywhere else. It is delusional ignorant comments some of it pushed by commentators but amplified and the.amplified by so called fans that create these kinds of situations. When Harrison referred to a penalty for an over the shoulder tackle against a chiefs player… I didn’t hear any outrage, but when a reds player got tackled in the same manner also earning a penalty the Australia commentators were all over it. Then we simply have made up comments about Lynagh coming off because of the tackle which is not remotely true and Vern Cotter having his neck broken by Finau, also complete nonsense as the incident happened in a game that Finau wasn’t even playing… and now comments about all these kiwis justifying the tackle etc. so you can make over the top comments. It was a great game of rugby which the areas won. I started off with congratulating Doc on a good game. And you and a few others take it here, for what purpose is quite beyond me. But I guess it gives you a sense of empowerment and makes you feel better. Pity ypu can’t take joy from winning and accept losing in equal good grace.

:boxing:

It’s depressing how many people watch a weekend of great games and just want to bag a ref

Hodgman and Toomaga-Allen look the goods. I don’t see a problem with bringing in the odd foreign player or two. The Tahs did it in 2014 in Jacques Potgeiter and he was immense with Douglas.

Don't understand people giving credit to the destructive clown for nothing trying to find silver lining. He didn't show anything. No other team has improved but reds. It's because of their own coach not the clown. And if anything Brumbies have gotten worse.

I personally don't think he's biased against aussies. He does the same in all kiwi games. It's just the way he refs.. I'm not expecting perfection from refs but there are refs who create more imbalance than others even without bias. He's one of them. Sometimes he has good games but other time he creates big controversies with his leniency or whatever it is. For example he was the reason hooper got concussed and spent several weeks on sidelines because Bok refused to give a yellow card to the same player who knock him out for another high tackle few moments before. Hooper never been quite right the rest of the year.. He also was a reason chiefs lost to saders in finals because he didn't see miles forward pass. Then qf at last wc. And many other examples. He got lucky this time Reds won. He'd been under fire again if they didn't

Um. I think this is a pattern of behaviour ingrained in loose forwards. I always used to clean out the five eight (flyhalf) whether it was early, late or on time. I didn't want to run all that way for nothing. Only ever got warned.

There is something about this henry lad.

Flat passes should be missed - only forward passes should be called. In my experience, most rugby fans don’t know what a forward pass is. Even after 7 replays and 3 angles. A pass can go forward and be totally fine according to the clearly defined laws but we don’t all seem to know this. A ref is calling them for 80 minutes in real time with one angle and possibly multiple players in the road - go down and watch some park rugby if you want to see how regular humans judge forward passes and the like.

You lost me there. I don’t know Nic Berry, and while I do rate him highly as a referee, I refuse to believe he’s a nice bloke, let alone ‘one of the nicest’. He was a halfback ffs.