Roar Guru
Joined May 2013
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Long time rugby player, coach, ref and fan.
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Dean Mumm's yellow card in the 23rd minute of the Australia-Ireland game illustrated a frustrating disconnect between World Rugby, referees and fans. Mumm was…
Saturday's final Bledisloe Cup match provided us with a good example of where rugby needs to be consistently better. I'm not talking about controversial…
With new Springboks coach, Allister Coetzee, coming into the fold, the mandate for South African team selection has been made clear to all and…
He's been labeled inept, a disgrace, a coward and calls have been made for him to never ref at international level again. Even World…
He may not be the sharpest offensive player in world rugby and he may not even know all the rules yet, but there is…
World Rugby CEO and Australian Brett Gosper wants England to go through, Australian George Smith thinks Fiji will, while Welshman Lee Byrne has doubts…
There's a classic line in the movie The Princess Bride where Wallace Shawn's character, Vizzini - a villain of self-proclaimed super intellect, says that…
It would be interesting to get a full run-down on Michael Cheika's reasoning for his starting selections in last night's game against South Africa,…
Last week, the Roar Law Representation Group began its task of simplifying the laws of rugby to reduce some of the inconsistent and unnecessary…
Steve Hansen and Andre Watson have said it, while my Canadian wife says it every time she watches a game: the laws of rugby…
One of the great champions of equality for all, Nelson Mandela, once said "Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will." When…
All Black great Jeff Wilson recently offered up an article in which he encouraged young rugby players to sacrifice early education for their sporting…
You have to give credit to commentator Phil Kearns for trying to make the scrum contest between the Rebels and Crusaders on the weekend…
Benji Marshall made his Super Rugby debut this weekend and was a bright spark in a largely directionless Blues loss. While he looked a…
You don't really get a rugby break these days, so on Christmas Eve it's time for the serious business of looking at who was…
For many, a victory is a fantastic achievement. For others, consistency of performance becomes the goal, while for the very few, dominance is the…
Australia beat Wales last weekend in an exciting clash that showcased a marked improvement in execution and decision-making in a year that has been…
Karl Marx, in his 1846 book, The German Ideology, said: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways: the point, however, is…
As we approach what is sure to be another epic and brutal clash between the world's two best rugby teams it is relevant to…
There have been a lot of abstract suggestions as to why the Wallabies are so far off the pace this year - culture, depth…
For sure CUW, but from what I understand, Brodie Retallick was not checked at all – he just played on without anyone even noticing, despite many people seeing it on TV. The test itself is another issue all together, but not being checked at all is not good enough.
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion
Sure, that’s what I’m advocating, but it needs to be firmly enforced. It was quite incredible that Retallick was able to go unchecked for a whole game when he was out for at least 30 seconds
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion
I think there’s a cultural issue at play here as well. In the traditional manly narrative, some idiot is getting lippy at the bar, so you sock them in the mouth to shut them up. they wake up with a headache and you triumphantly stroll out of the bar with your girl as a hero to one and all.
In another version of this story – you sock the lippy guy in the mouth, he hits his head on the bar and has to be taken to ER, he can’t remember anything from the previous evening. 3 weeks later, he starts becoming depressed, he can’t shake the haze and constant headaches and after several months it finally becomes too much and he kills himself.
Depressing but also real.
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion
Haha Julian will never dance again. But also, I believe that there are neutral game doctors at least at international level now – however, it’s not clear what kind of power, resources or lines of communication they have.
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion
I understand that POV but how many times do you see players waving off medical staff. The ref is the most authoritative figure on the field and has the power to stop the game to deal with injuries – no one else has that power, so to my mind, it should be the responsibility of the head ref to enforce the rule and the responsibility of everyone else to make sure that it’s identified.
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion
Totally agree Geoff and I think league probably has even more of a “tough man” culture than rugby does. As with all things, money will dictate how and when the laws are regulated, but that will be too late for quite a few players.
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion
Sure, but not really the point of the article though
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion
Thanks Dave, I don’t necessarily think it’s an issue of accountability…accountability implies that there is a right way and a wrong way to do it, while with concussion tests, there is no wrong way to go about it – it just needs to be done.
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion
Totally agree Hugo – also a lot of head clashes are incidental where 2 defending players go over the top of a falling attacking player and hit each other. We’re never going to get rid of head knocks completely, so we have to minimize their impact with high quality monitoring
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion
Me too Carlos – it can be tricky because sometimes the players dont believe they have been concussed but we have to do it
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion
Thanks Digger, I havent been on the roar for a while because I took a real comments beating with my last article, but it’s good to have some positive feedback on an important issue
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion
Too true – we’re already seeing it with Jamie Cudmore and Clermont
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion
As a ref, I would say that DHP definitely used his momentum to bump Savea off his line, but the thing is, refs usually make calls based on materiality i.e did the illegal action influence the outcome? and the answer to that I think is no, so it should have been a try.
The referees are favouring the All Blacks
Oh I’m not weighing in on the bias argument – I think that’s just too hard to prove, but I think you could find many examples of boundary pushing, mostly from the best teams in history.
The referees are favouring the All Blacks
I think Pete has a point Ralph. I am a NZer and a huge ABs fan, but they do push the boundaries of law interpretation. I’ll give you an example, Ryan Crotty does this very well – when he makes a tackle, he doesn’t worry about stealing the ball, instead he drives through and when an arriving player clears him out, he gets his feet in there and tries to rake it back on his side. Now is it illegal? Well…possibly – there are questions about his entry to the ruck, his angle at the time, his playing of the scrumhalf – some refs will penalize and some won’t. The speed of the events make it difficult to apply a clear and obvious ruling and to most, it just looks like Crotty has come from the back and used his feet – play on.
But, this is how the best teams have always played – they gauge the interpretation of the ref and then play to the levels of clarity.
The referees are favouring the All Blacks
Yeah it’s an extremely difficult thing to regulate Lano – I wrote a piece a while ago against the quota but it seems like it’s passed the public acceptance test now and Coetzee will really move it forward
Banning overseas selections key to transformation
Haha TM, think Paul Tito as a good example there
Banning overseas selections key to transformation
I agree TM, but those distinctions are cultural rather than ethnic – so we couldn’t say that black African players are all skillful – rather we might say, (but not always) that players that came through a certain system are more skillful.
Banning overseas selections key to transformation
You’ve hit on a wider point there Armand – Dispelling those stereotypes are a big part of making rugby/society better. There are a bunch of them that are in no way nuanced at all – things like Afrikaans players are all dirty or PI players are not as cerebral or French players are too temperamental. People buy into these cognitive biases far too easily and it’s to everyone’s detriment.
Banning overseas selections key to transformation
Thanks Sam, there are so many issues in trying to create a successful team without including all the political aspects. I don’t envy anyone in that environment.
Banning overseas selections key to transformation
Thanks Armand, some good points there. Perhaps banning overseas players is besides the point and won’t help at all – perhaps all that is needed is a selector who can appease all the factions, but as you’ve pointed out – that’s a very difficult task.
Banning overseas selections key to transformation
Hey Harry – you make some very salient points there, perhaps trying to appease regulations with more regulations is not the best way to do it – it will be interesting to see how Coetzee approaches it.
I personally, was surprised by some of Meyer’s WC selections – I was unsure of how someone like Morne Steyn offered much to the team and I think that’s why various factions were upset. Perhaps on reflection, my article was more a jab at Meyer rather than at the current rules.
Banning overseas selections key to transformation
Thanks Biltong – it seems SA loose forwards are in high demand.
Banning overseas selections key to transformation
Thanks Shane, it is annoying but thats the level of scrutiny that rugby also needs.
Refs need to be more proactive about concussion