Hoping rugby isn’t losing all it’s hard men
Dear rugby fans
Ihear a new version of the game is emerging. It’s exclusively for people who wear glasses. It’s a non-contact sport. This is obviously a joke but these days I find myself wondering whether rugby has gone soft.
Last weekend, Blue Bulls skipper Burger Odendaal and Stormers prop Frans Malherbe were both yellow- carded for what were deemed “dangerous tackles” by the respective referees. In both instances, the pair’s opponents ducked into the tackles which resulted in what to me seemed minimal contact to the head. No one was hurt, but after consultation with the television match officials, both men were sent to the naughty seats for 10 minutes.
It made me wonder what some of the hard men of rugby would think.
One of my favourite hard men of the game was Bakkies Botha. A man mountain of a lock, Botha was as tough as they came. So much so that in his debut for the Springboks, he was yellow carded for stamping on an opponent... an incident which set the tone for the remainder of his illustrious career.
Another Bok worthy of mention here was hooker James Dalton. Always one to push the boundaries, he was front and centre in a
Guy Hawthorne
mass brawl in the 1995 World Cup match between the Springboks and Canada in Port Elizabeth, a match that became known as the “Battle of Boet Erasmus”. Dalton was sent off and suspended, costing him a place in the 1995 World Cup final.
While on the subject of Canada, they had one of the most uncompromising men ever to play the game in Jamie Cudmore. The former logger spent a year in a juvenile detention centre and was also a collection agent for a drug cartel.
And they didn’t come much harder than All Black Wayne Shelford, who once had his scrotum ripped open by an opponent’s studs. What did he do? He had the horrific injury stitched up and rejoined the match!
Former All Black captain Richie McCaw was another of that ilk. He led his team to victory over France in the final after which it was revealed he had played the entire tournament with a broken bone in his foot.
And Jonah Lomu. The massive
New Zealander didn’t bother running around an opponent. He ran through or over them.
The point is this: I fully understand the need to protect players from serious injury and a blatant infringement of the laws – as in the case of Botha and Dalton – deserves to be punished.
But rugby is a hard game and there is going to be plenty of physical contact. Referees need to use some common sense when making decisions. Instead, they appear to be erring on the side of caution and as a result they are killing a fundamental element of the game.
Maybe I should start watching chess...