There has been a lot of controversy over the last couple of days following Bakkies Botha’s two week ban for ‘dangerously’ charging into a ruck without binding during the Second Test against the Lions. Botha subsequently dislocated Jones’ shoulder after the charge. Many Springbok fans and rugby fans thought that this ban was a bit too tough. The Springboks took the matter into their own hand during the Third Test against the Lions and they decided to wear white armbands written “JUSTICE 4″ to protest the two week ban handed to Bakkies by the IRB.
My question is, “Why are the Springboks protesting?” The IRB rules for a ruck clearly state this:
16.2 JOINING A RUCK
(a) All players forming, joining or taking part in a ruck must have their heads and shoulders no lower than their hips.
Penalty: Free Kick
(b) A player joining a ruck must bind onto the ruck with at least one arm around the body of a team-mate, using the whole arm.
Penalty: Penalty Kick
(c) Placing a hand on another player in the ruck does not constitute binding.
Penalty: Penalty Kick
(d) All players forming, joining or taking part in a ruck must be on their feet.
Penalty: Penalty Kick
So according to Law 16.2 (b), Bakkies was in the wrong and a penalty had to be awarded. Bakkies also did not use his arms to ‘clear’ Jones away, instead he just barged into him with his shoulder. Another penalty offence. And looking at the footage again in slow motion, Bakkies can also easily be cited for breaching Law 16.2 (a) as Bakkies’ head was lower than his hips as he went into Jones, a free kick offence.
Now this white armband protesting has not gone down very well with the IRB. The IRB will bring charges of misconduct against SARU with the IRB stating that the act by the Springboks demonstrates a clear disregard of the disciplinary process and does so in a manner which brings, or has the potential to bring, the game into disrepute.
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7 comments
Guru says:
Jul 7, 2009
I think we need to differentiate between joining a ruck and clearing a man from the ruck here people. Bakkies Botha was clearing out. How is it possible that we used the interpretation of joing a ruck to assess a situation where a man is being cleared out. I have looked at the evidence over and over again and I still maintain that Bakkie Botha did exactly what 99% of players do when they clear out. I would like you all to have a look at the next rugby game you watch and keep an eye on the forwards clearing out. It is not possible to clear out if a player has to be binding to your other teammates, unless you are clearing out together. My second point is, someone like Bakkies is 2m tall. IF he is trying to clear out a man who is lying on top of a ruck, it is not possible for him to clear out without slightly dipping just below if not around the same level as his hips. I think this law can get too technical if we start penalising players who are clearing out by using the rule 16 which applies to a player just joining a ruck. Ron, if all players are to bind to someone before clearing out, we would have no clean ball at all becasue if you have a Heinrich, George Smith or David Pocock bend over trying to fetch your ball, there is no other way of clearing out effectively if one does not launch themselves directly at the opposition and use your shoulder to remove the bloke. I honestly think this has been sensationalised because Adam Jones was injured in the process. 99% of all forwards clear out in this fashion and the moment you ban a player for 2 weeks for such an incident, you end up taking the physicality out of the game. I am still shocked at the sighting because Bakkies did what every other forward does, the only difference is that Bakkies does it brutally and someone got injured in the process.
Fraz says:
Jul 7, 2009
If there was a breach of the code of forward play by Bakkeis, do you not think that the injured players teammantes and coaches would have defended him and cursed bakkies for foul play?!!?
But they didn’t did they?? they actually sided with him and the coach even said if everyone was to be cited for what bakkies did then they would have had 50 citings in the game!!!
But alas only because of the injury there was a citing….. please see article picture from 2 articles ago……RUGBY – ITS NOT BALLET!!!!
but also please watch the replay and watch the lions player charge in immediately after bakkies in the exact same fashion – where is his citing please?!!?!?
Kambas says:
Jul 7, 2009
i agree with guru, i haVE WATCHED THAT INCIDENT MANY TIMES and i do not think that what bakkies did is anydifferent from what 99% of all players playing rugby clear out. i agree this is not entering a ruck, to me this is trying to make the ball available and to discourage hands in the ruck slowin g the ball down.
Now we all know that northern hemisphere rugby has the nasty reputation of slowing the ball down at ruck times in all manner of illegal ways ( falling over the ball, hands in the ruck , playing the ball whilst not on your feet, etc) and yet not much has been said about this. Lets be very honest there are very limited ways in clearing out, or even trying to disrupt clean balls and what bakkies partook in, is one of the many accepted forms, by both players and referees. lets not forget that the lions coaches and players also commented on this by saying they saw nothing wrong with the challenge. guys the IRB, got it wrong on this, ron be a man and admit it. That challenge by Bakkies was, in the words of the immortal Mr Young, “hard but fair”!!!!
Guys at most that should have been a penalty and even that is stretching it.
Ron says:
Jul 7, 2009
Gents, surely you can clear out by getting a hold of the opposition and then driving them off the ball and not launching into them like a missile!!??!!
BP says:
Jul 7, 2009
i think maybe a lot of it has to do with bakkies reputation, as you say, a lot of other players did it in that game and in the last test but nothing happened to them. i remember watching one of the france v all blacks tests recently when a similar thing happened and the guy was penalised, i thought it was ridiculous that he should be pinged for clearing out a ruck. so i’d have to put it down to bakkies reputation and timid NH refs…
Fraz says:
Jul 8, 2009
Ron just another quick comment that went around over this, it is an offense to fly in like a torpedo with no arms and just shoulders and smash someone, that happens every now and again and most refs penalise that straight.
This however was not one of those occations, bakkies had used his arms the whole way and this was confirmed by the lions scrum coach.
No arms = penalty.
Manny says:
Jul 8, 2009
Fraz is heading in the right direction with the no arms thing. No arms= penalty.
However, what Ron is saying is correct people, he just got the law wrong. Read law 10(j) of the IRB Laws, entitled “dangerous play in a scrum, ruck or maul” The rule is very clear and I will quote it in full for you, “…[p]layers must not charge into a ruck or maul without binding onto a player in the ruck or maul”.
Bakkies probably got cited under this law.
So I guess we will all have to watch the clip again and debate whether or not he contravened law 10(j) and not law 16.
As for the reputation thing, I think it does play a part; once a player is labelled dirty then the ref’s will be watching him closely. But if you take it a step back, one has to ask the question why would the player be labelled as dirty in the first place?
The same goes for a team. Why is it that the world of rugby thinks that the Boks play a little dirtier than everyone else? Was it imagined? Dreamt up?
The Boks are walking around with a collective chip on their shoulder because they think there is a vendetta against them being perpertrated by invisible forces in the hierarchy of the IRB who are hell bent on punishing the Boks for any minor discretion.
Boks…..get over yourselves. The rugby world and the IRB do not revolve around South African rugby.
Wearing those white arm bands was major disrespect to the IRB; clearly PdV’s “charm” is rubbing off on the Bok players as well. There are other, more suitable ways, to air one’s grievances; tying bits of white strap around the arm and scrawling “justice 4″ in magic marker is not one of them. I do hope the IRB punishes the Boks for that; and I hope the Boks consider introspection before pointing accusatory fingers at others.