Thanks for all the blood sweat and tears this year Geoff. Always a pleasure starting the week with your wrap. It was always salient and sane in what was often a chaotic and crazy rugby year. While I have been distancing myself more and more from the roar, your wrap kept me coming back.

Now for a well earned break for the off season. I’m not sure I will make it back after spring break with the general tone of the roar these days, and you being almost the sole contributor I know enjoy reading now, but it’s been heaps of fun. Thanks mate.

Scoring tries doesn’t win trophies. The Boks are testament to that. They have won 3 of their 4 trophies without scoring a try. Your point perfectly supports possession rugby being dead, and our sport not being about scoring tries anymore, it’s now about who has the best goal kicker. Period.

Exactly, racism in NZ, Aus, or even the UK is one thing. It carries a WHOLE other connotation in SA, and this I think is where the disconnect happens.

Racism here means someone says ‘oh you shouldn’t have done that’, racism on certain other countries, means a whole lot more…

I think the actual reality is that Mbongi said something similar back in 2022, as it’s a common phrase or direction in the game, and spoken in Afrikaans, and Curry heard it then. Didn’t think much it if, not a big deal.

Heard it again in a WC semifinal, and thought, “actually, if he is calling me a pale See You Next Tuesday, here’s a chance…” …and so asked the question. Fair play – it’s within the rules. And I know SA fans will 100% approve of something being within the rules, regardless of ‘spirit’.

The way he asked it, suggests, at least to me, he wasn’t 100% sure. If he was 100% sure, I’d imagine he would have said ‘that guy just said this…”

He just wanted to put it ‘on the radar’ not make a full blown accusation. Post-game he clammed up as it had taken a life of its own that he couldn’t control.

“If Curry had encountered Mbonambi using what he considered to be offensive words in previous cases, why wait until the semi-final to bring it up with the referee a few minutes into the match?”

The answer, or at least the answer that would be proffered, is obvious.

This isn’t evidence or proof that the alleged abuse didn’t happen. Bad things can happen to bad people. Any award winning journalist would know that.

Personally I don’t think the abuse happened, I accept the Bok explanation of using Afrikaans which makes logical sense.

Your use of Curry’s ‘character’ and ‘reputation’ to de-legitimise or discredit him is poor and I’d expect more neutrality and objective assessment from an award winning journalist.

With so much IP drain in NZ. It’d be difficult to distinguish between how much Aus ‘caught up’ and NZ ‘fell backwards’. Aus Rugby should stop using performance against NZ as their yard stick.

Either way, it ‘should’ be a more even playing field this season.

Isn’t that the SR recipe?

A lot of promise early on, Aus teams underwhelm, there’s a finals series to back find out who gets to loose to the Crusaders.

Yea, variations on the theme occur, but some things are just constants 😛

Mainlander!

Actually that’s not correct. He expands more in a full article and interview with the BBC.
It doesn’t reflect well on you for you to keep maintaining that’s it’s all Kiwis. Yes, it was an NZ/SA game that was the last straw, but you are terribly naive if you think one game and one fan set caused this. And yes, I’m ashamed that NZ fans have contributed to this.
“followed a similar backlash to his officiating in last year’s test between the Springboks and France.”
Barnes… …said the abuse he received became more intense after South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus criticised his performance in last year’s test in France against the Springboks.
“Without doubt, it was a moment where you think ‘why do we do this?’” he told the BBC.
“But then you sit down and talk about it and realise there is only 10 months to go [until the World Cup] and you don’t want the keyboard warriors to win.”

I’m not sure what that means?

“At least he’s not a woman?”

Or do you think Sage meant Ducks? And Eddie has Ducks…

He pleaded guilty of foul play and agreed the tackle merited a yellow card, not a red.

So the judiciary didn’t exactly agree with him.

I’ve been critical of players pleading guilty in these instances just to drop the sentence. And I think the same has happened here to degree.

This is a symptom of a broken system, regardless of who is in the firing line.

While we may not agree about if there was enough mitigation or not – the cards been dealt, the final whistle has been blown and the judiciary has reviewed and sentenced.

What ever my personal opinion is on the incident, I’m glad they have been consistent and handed out a ban. How much worse would it be if they had found mitigation and dropped it to a YC and said ‘no ban – the Red Card was wrong’ !? Can you imagine the uproar!?!?

So, while we aren’t happy with the law and the interpretations, all we’re asking for apparently is consistency, and in this case they have shown that.

The ABs won respect around the world for a 1pt loss in the RWC final playing a man down for the majority of the game.

We as fans should follow that example, put on our big boy and big girl pants and move on without rehashing this every other minute. Easier said than done, but time to show some class and some of these rugby values we always like to go on about.

“The right outcome should also mean the right outcome for rugby. Not just the right outcome for your team.”

Great cathartic piece. Better than the self serving dribble I wrote back in 2019 immediately after the SF. That was some mournful dross I’d like to take back 😂

This was nicely put and clearly some gold self-reflection going on. The line of quoted rung particularly true. Too many of the positions fans take are for a single moment on time that favours their team, not something they want to happen in every instance.

Good job.

Ironically that clip shows Frizzell getting an elbow direct to his head as he’s falling. And as we’ve been told numerous times, direct head contact is a yellow every time… except this time it seems 😛

So has Kolisi. So has everyone else.

The risk reward is too much in favour of staying high. It’s too important to dominate the tackle still, that teams train to compete with fewer players, not with lower tackles.

I know Nienaber is leaving, is Rassie going too?

Your reaction to that All Black claim certainly supports you not caring about other countries… that’s a lot of time and effort you have put in there, you were perhaps too easily triggered there.
For me your reasoning still sounds circular; it’s important because it is, and was, important.
Yes, it’s the pinnacle, because we’ve decided it’s the pinnacle, but why? Arguably a 3 test series away from home could be sometimes be potentially harder – depending who your playing and where, and anecdotal records and comments support.
If you can’t think any deeper than ‘it’s the pinnacle’, that’s fine.
I should caveat that the Cup will be important to different people and for different reasons, so it’s hard to paint such a diverse country like SA with one brush. My early suggestion, will I still stand by it, it a little reductive and certainly won’t apply to all people in SA.
You’ve touched on the first win, and this is a huge part in SA recreating their global identity, this will feed into a lot of what we’re talking about. For so long the Boks were an instrument of Apartheid, and their evolution into a global symbol of the ‘rainbow nation’ is important not to forget. This was probably overlooked in my earlier comments. For some it’s pride, not a middle finger.

They are not the only team to win the first cup they played in, like almost all things, the ABs did it first. To save you pointing it out, yes, SA are the first to do it 4x (and played in less – they are great)

But, if SA is not concerned about any other country, why is the World Cup the pinnacle for SA?

It’s literally in the name that you have to beat the ‘world’ and are now ‘world’ champions. This intrinsically has to involve other counties.

I actually don’t think you’ve reflected deep enough.

It’s important because we won it in ‘95 doesn’t say anything.

That’s it’s important to the country, and that’s why it’s important, is just circular.

You haven’t actually dig below the surface to say ‘why’ it’s important.

If my suggestion is wrong, I’d love to know what you replace it with?

Rassie is the easiest target as his was easily the biggest and most high profile. Most others make comments and statements, his was a fully produced Hr long video. And a lot of non-SA people love to hate him.
But agree with you that just focusing on Rassie would never solve the problem as it is very widespread and pervasive right now, and none of the high profile teams I’m aware of have clean hands in this.

No, they should get appropriately sanctioned too, proportionate to their actions. JN trying to have a pot shot at Kiwis wasn’t particularly appropriate, as it’s clearly not from just Kiwis that this abuse has come from.

Rugby is meant to espouse the values of respect and fairness, it’s sad that the game, how it’s played, the behaviour of fans, officials, coaches, and players, have all degenerated to this level.

Very well put and backed by numbers too.

Albeit the Boks are 4 from 8 attempts, as they weren’t at the first two, so their win percentage of WCs is even better. 50% vs NZs 30%.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head too, between tournaments there are certain teams in ascendency, and at the tournament it is more common for another team to win. The running joke about ABs being World Cup chokers springs to mind.

The Boks clearly value the World Cup above all else. Maybe this is born from being excluded from the first couple? Maybe this is about showing a middle finger to the world that for so long ostracised and isolated them? The line that they don’t care what the world thinks doesn’t ring true.

NZ want not just to be the best, but seen as the best. We want to matter, and be relevant. Maybe that’s born from often being overlooked on a world stage, sometimes not even included in maps. We want to feel like our islands of only 5m people actually matter. Our line that we are humble only rings true if others recognise our assumed greatness and say it for us – otherwise we’ll be forced to tell you in the same breathe as claiming our humbleness.

😂

That’s the best you could do?

That’s a step away ‘nah nah nana nah’ or ‘I’m rubber, you’re glue…’ 😂

Are you actually 12?

All fan bases are guilty of having a few dickheads in there. NZ included.

But he careful here mate, Rassie recently served a ban for directing criticism at Barnes after previously serving a ban for his video on Berry.

The bigger problem than dickhead individuals is when role models normalise and justify this abuse. Which empowers these people. I’d be starting with self reflection before pointing fingers and trying to claim a snarky moral high ground.

Write your own analysis or don’t come here if you don’t like what’s being written.

All you’ve done is complain that the rest of us aren’t worshipping at the Bok alter.

Why is his opinion bothering you so much?