Lions Tour

[dublin7]

It's a contact sport played outdoors in all weather conditions.

Therefore it's always only a matter of time until someone gets seriously hurt; whether that be a head injury, a broken back or neck, a ruptured spleen, a heart attack, and so on. It's only a matter of time until someone gets struck by lightning or hit by a hailstone the size of a tennis ball.

But you keep pretending to yourself that a sport that has practically zero head collisions per game needs some protracted laws and sanctions to prevent freak occurrences from happening. It obviously helps you turn a blind eye to the malaise that is swamping rugby, so stick at it.

What are you waffling about? Rugby officials are clearly trying to deal with head injuries and focus on player safety

How exactly the rugby board are expected to deal with a player getting a heart attack is beyond me, but maybe you can tell me what the GAA protocols are for this

Clearly you don't give a f**k about head injuries,but it is a serious issue. How many times do you see a a player in GAA get a serious bang to the head and be allowed play on?  Like I said in GAA (at senior level) you're expected to carry on ,while in rugby you're straight off the pitch

[thewobbler]

How many times do you see a a player in GAA get a serious bang to the head and be allowed play on? 

That's my exact point. It almost never happens.

[dublin7]

How many times do you see a a player in GAA get a serious bang to the head and be allowed play on? 

That's my exact point. It almost never happens.

So because you think it never happens you don't need a policy or plan for it?

I suppose that's like car/life insurance. Why bother paying for it when you'll probably never need it.

[thewobbler]

Jesus, you're hard work.

You are currently attempting to deflect the problems in a sport in which head injuries are rife, by condemning the protocols of another sport in which head injuries are exceptionally rare.

This is actually insane.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Could never understand lions tour, really odd concept

[michaelg]

Could never understand lions tour, really odd concept

I understand it when it was in the amateur era when none of the home nations had any real chance of beating the All Blacks and Springboks.  Now in the professional era, the home nations should really be pushing to compete and beat them more regularly on their own.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Could never understand lions tour, really odd concept

I understand it when it was in the amateur era when none of the home nations had any real chance of beating the All Blacks and Springboks.  Now in the professional era, the home nations should really be pushing to compete and beat them more regularly on their own.

Yeah , very odd in today's age and I like rugby but just can't get into the lion's thing, almost looks like a cool kids club in tour

[Itchy]

I watched some of that game (it was on in the house I was visiting) and my god what a pile of shite. I cannot see the attraction of that game at all, unless you are a giant muscle bound muck savage  and no good at any other sport why would you go near it.

[Rudi]

I watched some of that game (it was on in the house I was visiting) and my god what a pile of shite. I cannot see the attraction of that game at all, unless you are a giant muscle bound muck savage  and no good at any other sport why would you go near it.

I have watched the sport since I was 5, I even played it for 2 years. Unfortunately the above synopsis of where the game is at now, is the reason people will start to switch off. Big mongs battering each other, 20 M box kicks, penalties that are questionable. No running with the ball. Its utter scutter.

[bennydorano]

Overall it was poor, the South Africans play that way all the time, the Lions are known for expansive, positive rugby but we saw very little of that.

[johnnycool]

Overall it was poor, the South Africans play that way all the time, the Lions are known for expansive, positive rugby but we saw very little of that.

Gatland has never played that type of rugby even with Wales. Loves the crash ball does our Gats.

[JoG2]

I watched some of that game (it was on in the house I was visiting) and my god what a pile of shite. I cannot see the attraction of that game at all, unless you are a giant muscle bound muck savage  and no good at any other sport why would you go near it.

I have watched the sport since I was 5, I even played it for 2 years. Unfortunately the above synopsis of where the game is at now, is the reason people will start to switch off. Big mongs battering each other, 20 M box kicks, penalties that are questionable. No running with the ball. Its utter scutter.

Yeah, I'm pretty much in the same boat these days. Still enjoy going to the odd game (more for the stout and craic) but it is pretty much unwatchable imo

[seafoid]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2021/11/17/rassie-erasmus-banned-rugby-two-months-match-days-next-october/

Rassie Erasmus' reputation in tatters after World Rugby bans Springboks director and demands public apology
Erasmus guilty of six misconduct charges, including threatening referee Nic Berry on Lions tour, and hit with two-month ban from all rugby

By
Daniel Schofield,
DEPUTY RUGBY UNION CORRESPONDENT
17 November 2021 • 8:36pm
Rassie Erasmus walks past Nic Berry during the Lions Test series - Rassie Erasmus' reputation in tatters after World Rugby bans Springboks boss and demands public apology
Rassie Erasmus is now banned from being involved with the Springboks on matchdays for 10 months CREDIT: AP

South Africa's director of rugby Rassie Erasmus' reputation lies in tatters after he was banned from all rugby activity for two months for his "premeditated" and "egregious" attack on referee Nic Berry.

Erasmus will miss South Africa's match against England on Saturday and has also been banned from being involved with the Springboks on matchdays for 10 months. He has also been ordered to apologise to Berry after being found guilty of six counts of misconduct by World Rugby's independent misconduct committee.

Their decision means the former Springboks coach cannot play any part in Saturday's Test at Twickenham. He was banned from all rugby activities until next year and will not be able to attend a Springboks game in any official capacity, or engage with media on the day of a match, until after Sept 30, 2022.

The committee found that 49-year-old Erasmus carried out a threat made to Berry that he would publish video footage criticising the official.

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The charges emanated from a 62-minute video that appeared online in July, where Erasmus blasted Berry following South Africa's loss to the Lions in the first Test.

The six charges found against Erasmus by an independent conduct committee were that he:

Threatened a match official that unless a requested meeting took place, he would publish footage containing clips criticising the match official's performance and then making good on that threat; published or permitted to be published the Erasmus Video containing numerous comments that were either abusive, insulting and/or offensive to match officials;
Attacked, disparaged and/or denigrated the game and the match officials;
Did not accept or observe the authority and decisions of match officials;
Published or caused to be published criticism of the manner in which a match official handled a match;
Engaged in conduct or activity that may impair public confidence in the integrity and good character of match official(s); and
Brought the game into disrepute when he published or caused to be published the Erasmus Video.
SA Rugby said on Wednesday night that it and Erasmus will appeal the charges.

Both the World Cup-winning coach and the South African Rugby Union, which was fined £20,000, have been ordered to issue a public apology to Berry, who accused Erasmus of conducting a "character assassination" of him. Despite the appeal, Erasmus will still be suspended from performing his 'water boy' duties at Twickenham on Saturday.

The verdict, issued by World Rugby's independent misconduct committee, was scathing of Erasmus' conduct and lack of remorse in releasing a 62-minute video detailing perceived mistakes by Berry during the Lions' first Test victory against South Africa. "There is a difference between feedback and abuse," the panel of Christopher Quinlan QC, Nigel Hampton QC and Judge Mike Mika stated. "This video was not feedback... it was an ad hominem attack, which as we have said lacked detached analysis or balance."

While the panel acknowledged that coaches influencing referees is a part of the game up to a "limited point", it said "that line was crossed in the actions of Mr Erasmus and SA Rugby during this B&I Lions Series."

Perhaps the most serious charge relates to Erasmus' threat to publicly release the video his analyst, Russel Belter, had compiled of Berry's perceived mistakes in the first Test which were overlaid with Erasmus' disparaging commentary. Incensed by Lions head coach Warren Gatland's questioning of the appointment of South African Marius Jonker as television match official, Erasmus had demanded a meeting with Berry immediately after the match, sending the following email:

"...just a heads up from our side!!= we feel the pressure which the lions attempted to put on your team of 4 through media did actually work well for them!! While we will be doing the same this week I think you will note that ours is more factual and honest!!"

Placeholder image for youtube video: IlXBosc7Okg
This was then followed by a further message to Berry: "This will not get into the media - just have a chat to me tonight".

While Erasmus denied leaking the video, which was not password protected, he did share it with the Springbok players and staff as well as its intended recipients, Berry, World Rugby's high-performance director and its head of match officials Joël Jutge. The committee found: "We simply do not accept that a day or so after he threatened to go public on match officiating, the leaking of that video was a coincidence."

The contents of the video, "was not an objective analysis of the refereeing seeking explanations, discussion, correction. Rather it lacked perspective, impartial analysis or balance. In places it is sarcastic. We have selected some examples, but that is all they are".

There was also the serious insinuation that Berry had treated the captains, Siya Kolisi and Alun Wyn Jones, differently on account of their race. This was an allegation that Kolisi repeated in a press conference before the second Test. The SARU was charged with permitting and failing to discipline Kolisi and assistant coach Mzwandile Stick to make such comments.

The panel found: "If there be doubt, we remove it: we recognise the exceptional sensitivity of race in South Africa. We are sure that none of the match officials deliberately or consciously treated Siya Kolisi differently from any other player. Nothing they did was motivated by race. That RE believed his captain was treated differently does not get close to justifying the content of his video."

While Erasmus believed his actions were justified following Gatland's questioning of Jonker's appointment they carried a heavy human cost on Berry, which he made plain in his testimony before the committee.

"I considered officiating in a Lions tour comparable with that in a World Cup," Berry said. "The appointment is a honour which few achieve. However, due to the actions of Mr Erasmus, my family and I have endured a significant amount of distress and we will only have negative memories of the whole experience.

"I feel that Mr Erasmus engaged in a character assassination of me on social media. I have spent many years trying to build my reputation as an international referee and in the course of his video which was posted online, Mr Erasmus has caused it immeasurable damage."

Yet Erasmus, who changed roles from head coach to director of rugby after the Springboks' 2019 World Cup victory, showed no regret for his actions or the toll they took on Berry. Asked if he felt any part of his video was insulting towards Berry, Erasmus replied: "Well, if it's insulting because you had a bad game and i'm pointing that out there, then it is insulting."

In summarising its punishment, which took into account previous bans handed out to now England head coach Eddie Jones, the panel concluded: "We have no hesitation in concluding that RE's misconduct is much more serious than any of the cases cited to us. This was an especially serious and egregious example of offending of this kind. It involved premediated, multiple abusive and insulting comments and attacks on the officials' integrity in the course of that 62-minute video."

[Don Cockburn]

Rassie won't care. The end justifies the means. He manged to soften up the officiating enough to swing the series.

[seafoid]

It might feed his paranoia