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Los Pumas fullback in hot water following Boks defeat
By Ian Cameron
Argentinian rugby player Juan Cruz Mallia has found himself in hot water after being cited for alleged foul play during a recent Rugby Championship match. The Springboks secured a nail-biting 22-21 victory over Argentina in front of a roaring crowd of 44,357 fans at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg.
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In the opening moments of the match, Cruz Mallia made a forceful charge down of Springbok scrumhalf Grant Williams, blocking a right-footed kick by the halfback, who was set to gather the ball deep in the 22. Unfortunately, Mallia’s follow-through hit Williams in the head with his hip. Despite the stoppage after a South African infringement, referee Andrew Brace ruled that Mallia was committed to the collision after touching the ball and deemed it not foul play.
As a result, Williams was knocked out and stretchered off, allowing Faf de Klerk to replace him on the field.
SANZAAR confirmed that Cruz Mallia allegedly breached Law 9.11, prohibiting players from engaging in reckless or dangerous behaviour that could harm others on the field. The incident came under scrutiny upon reviewing the match footage, and the Citing Commissioner determined that it had met the criteria for a red card, signalling serious foul play.
As a consequence, the matter will be brought before the SANZAAR Foul Play Review Committee for consideration. The video-conference hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, 1st August, with representatives from Argentina, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand participating at 5 am (ARG), 10 am (SA), 6 pm (AUS), and 8 pm (NZ).
Should Juan Cruz Mallia choose to attend the hearing and plead guilty, he will have the opportunity to accept the penalty proposed by the committee to expedite the resolution of the matter.
I agree with what you say. I don't agree with the rules. We might as well be playing Netball. I could accept yellow for reckless and unintentional and a citing, but not red. Red ruins the game. Do you know of any other Global game that keeps changing the rules with monotonous regularity like Rugby does? It reflects very poorly on those in charge.
Well done, Ian on your summary of the Prima Donnas being our on field referees! I have found a way to identify the worst offenders - it is those who hold their arms out just above the horizontal for five, six Eight seconds! I believe the signal is 'play on' say, in a turnover situation, and should be for two seconds max. That Auzzie clown, Gardner does it for 6+ sec and what he is using it for is "look-at-me!" He even does it before the ball is thrown to a lineout! He holds it so long you could use him for a clothes line!
Barnes was guilty of extended extensions in the first Bledisloe as well, although I thought his overall performance was good. But I will Never Forget 2007.
GO Black!
Dave
Just watched the video, it was reckless and direct to the head with force and no mitigating factors. Red card all day. Whether there was malice or not is irrelevant.
Wayne Barnes let TMO overrule him re tap penalty. It May be the letter of the law but it has never been interpreted that way. Consistency is what we ask for.
Things like this make my blood boil. There was no intent. It was an accident. If there was no injury there would be no citing.
I am so tired of the referee show in rugby. It's getting worse.
That TMO bunker idea is giving the referees and their harem of assistants even more opportunities to take the stage and fuck things up. Why don't we get them in a hot tub on the halfway line next?
Some of these refs ego's are also over inflated. Too much attention. Ever since they were given microphones... Here are a few suggestions.
- When a referee (or TMO) has a howler - drop them. It's absolutely ludicrous that NONE of the officials thought there was a problem with head contact (intentional or not) that rendered a player unconscious. PSTD got carded for being pushed into a player in a ruck head first.
The laws are clear and unambiguous. They should get dropped. Less games, less money. Simple.- It's time to start using technology.
If that bloody stupid game football can tell you if a player's pinky toe crosses a line - I am sure we can get some tech in to immediately call:2.1 A forward pass
2.2 A knock-on
2.3 When an English prop puts his hand/knee down in a scrum
2.4 Which Kiwi collapsed the maul
2.5 A skew lineout
2.6 I could do this for a while.
Referees need to go down a few notches in importance in the game. Especially when (in tight, knockout stages) a stupid decision can ruin the game.
SACK that idiot referee & his TMO. Or at the very least send them to rigorous retraining. Bloody ridiculous.
He did succeed in charging down the halfback’s kick.
No malice.