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How the world reacted to Ardie Savea's 'nasty' gesture

Ardie Savea in the gym with the All Blacks. Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

The internet has run wild with differing takes on the severity of Ardie Savea’s throat-slitting gesture, made towards Rebels halfback Ryan Louwrens following a scuffle that saw Savea yellow-carded.

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While a number of players have come to the All Black No 8’s defence, some fans believe Savea should face a lengthy ban due to his actions violating World Rugby’s “spirit of good sportsmanship” law.

Savea, as the Hurricanes captain, appeared for the post-match interview and delivered an apology for his actions, admitting he’s “got to be better” while describing the gesture as a “heat of the moment kind of thing”.

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Some Twitter-goers urged people to keep the gesture of a threat in perspective.

“I can’t believe the people wanting more than this, like the gesture was a literal threat. These same people must think Shooter McGavin is literally threatening his golf ball with shooting it.”

One Twitter user called Savea out for hurting the progress of the game and undermining the intent of Super Round, which is to expand the reach of the game positively.

“Super Round. So many people doing their utmost to promote the code. Ardie Savea letting all of them down.”

Ian MacGilp offered the perspective of the middle ground:

“I think there’s an area between ‘totally fine’ and ‘deserves punishment’, that I call the ‘Bit of a Prick Zone’. It’s fairly broad, and encapsulates both Savea’s throat slit and Liam Williams’ ‘sit down’ try celebration.”

Former Wallaby Matt Toomua was sympathetic for Savea and proposed making the incident an example of how to own your actions, given Savea’s “heartfelt apology”.

“Ardie Savea gave a heartfelt apology after the match. He has been a great role model to kids for a long time and I think he deserves our understanding. Maybe we use this to show the importance of owning up to mistakes sincerely apologising.”

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Stephen Antill had a look into these World Rugby lawbook and found one law Savea could be in trouble for:

“Only thing he could be cited under is ‘9.27 A Player must not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship including but not limited to’

“One of the options is ‘Other'”

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Shortly after Savea’s exit, fans were anticipating what further confrontations the game might provide once the physical loose forward returned to the pitch.

Nathan Griffiths listed “Things I would rather be than a Rebels player when Ardie Savea comes back on:

“1. A landmine disarmer
“2. A bloke going in for several root canals
“3. A criminal in Gotham with an active bat signal in the sky”

A popular take was to accept the apology as a genuine expression of remorse but one that would only go so far in mitigating a ban period.

“His apology and prior conduct should be given due consideration at the judiciary hearing. This will result in time on the sidelines.”

The bottom line for many was that the gesture “has no place on the field.”

“The gesture literally means “I’m going to kill you” whether he means it or not is irrelevant. It has no place on the field.”

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Comments

3 Comments
l
lot 611 days ago

Ms Karen who just created this drama is laughing himself to death at how the Lambs can be so manipulated to theatre. making out a childish gesture to be threatening suicide.. stupid

A
Andrew 611 days ago

The world? What are you on about? 99% of Planet Earth has never heard of our game.

i
isaac 612 days ago

The playerthat needs citing is dane Coles and not ardie....he went in with a swinging arm to the head of the rebels player on the ground after the maul was pushed into touch....Coles should sit out 6 weeks

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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