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The ‘match-fixing’ question put to Springboks boss Jacques Nienaber
By Liam Heagney
Springboks boss Jacques Nienaber was left bemused by a post-match question on Sunday night in Marseille about the potential for Ireland and Scotland to somehow come to an agreement and play out a result next Saturday in Paris that would see the two Celtic nations qualify for the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals at the expense of the 2019 champions.
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South Africa currently top Pool B following their win over Tonga at Stade Velodrome. They have 15 points, with unbeaten Ireland in second on 14 points and Scotland in third on 10 points.
A bonus point win for the Scots next weekend that also sees the Irish collect a losing bonus point would see all three teams finish on 15 points, resulting in the pool standings being decided on points difference.
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Currently, the Springboks are on +117, Ireland on +122 and Scotland +97 – and Springboks boss Nienaber was horrified by the idea that a result to eliminate South Africa purposely could be concocted.
If Scotland finish top on points difference with all teams on 15 points, second place would then be decided on the head-to-head Ireland versus South Africa pool result, a match that the Irish won and this would eliminate South Africa.
Finishing up his post-game media briefing after the Springboks’ 49-18 win over Tonga, Nienaber was asked by a French journalist about the mathematics surrounding next weekend’s pool finale at Stade de France.
“If I understand you correct, so you say they can maybe chat between each other and decide…” he said initially, confused after listening to a translation of the question. The query was put to him a second time and this was his response:
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“Could I believe in a scenario that they will decide, ‘Okay, we want to get this amount of points and then get South Africa out of the way?’
“That would probably be match-fixing I would say. I hope not. Rugby’s clean. We wear those T-shirts. Hopefully not because that would be extremely disappointing, don’t you think?”
"That would be extremely disappointing…"
– The extraordinary Pool B match-fixing suggestion put to Jacques Nienaber in the final question of his Sunday night post-match Springboks briefing. #Springboks #RSAvTGA #RWC2023 #IREvSCO pic.twitter.com/qrDjCcxEnU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 2, 2023
Jacques was most certainly not “horrified”, his answer was sarcastic (“I hope not” & “Wouldn’t you agree”), given the ridiculousness of the question.
I think it's disrespectful to Ireland and Scotland to suggest that they would effectively cheat to eliminate South Africa. They're almost certainly more worried about themselves at this stage than South Africa.
Geez, little girl. Your childish, pathetic bleats just serve to confirm what a complete rugby dunce you are (but heywood all knew that already). Tell us, little one, why does getting owned and schooled and shown up as an irrelevant litykevtwerp get you so upset? You must be used to it by now. Try harder, jump higher, loser.
Lol, Nigel you are a special kind of stupid. A league of your own. Geez there's no medication that would cure your stupidity. You accuse me of cherry picking, but you can refer to only one result of 53 - 3. Cherry picking at its very best. Go figure. Head-to-head, SA is well clear of ENG, in respect of wins 27 to 16. SA has beaten ENG 12 times out of 24 test matches in your own backyard (50% success rate), whereas ENG only has a 25% success rate in SA (4 wins from 16 test matches). Instead of engaging in healthy and non-offensive debates, anyone who does not agree with your views are either dumb, stupid, little girls, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on. Grow up meneer.
This was quite a ridiculous question to ask the coach. If two teams decide the outcome of a game before kickoff, then it is fixed, I can't see Ireland willingly give up their winning streak because they are on their way to set a new world record with their current winning streak.
You elected to cherry pick history and ended up getting owned and schooled with egg on your face. Gee, but you are one dumb little kid.
Still no half century hiding, dumb saffa loser. Duh. Go and bleat on your Barbie and Twinkie sites instead of making an even bigger c*nt of yourself here than you already have. Off you go now, there's a good little girl.
Lol, and then on 26 May 2007, SA smashed ENG 58 - 10 and one week later on 2 June 2007 55 - 22. Then on 14 September 2007, the score was 36 - 0. Two cricket scores in there lol
If you want to talk history remind me of how mommy had to hold you tight when we gave you a 53 - 3 hiding and then anialated all 8 attempts of the little bokkies when they tried to get physical. That was hilarious. Cricket score hiding of note and then pummeled into submission. A classic.
Imagine having a job that only paid out when articles written needed a certain numbers of hits!!! Yes boys and girls, welcome to the world of online journalism, and these dickheads will write and conjure absolutely anything to make a buck and turn us all into frenzied pundits abusing each other’s intelligence. Fuck em.
OK, my bad, little girl. Still, enjoy going through my posts with a grown up, you'll learn a lot. Off you go now, there's a good little girl.
Would absolutely love the situation where all the real rugger guys are sitting in a pub chatting rugby, and Nigel walks in and realizes that all the people he has trash talked about for the last few weeks are sitting there. Can just imagine his bravery then. 😂
With a name like Nigel I doubt he is much fun In a pub
Rugbys clean, hahahaha wow
Some would say SA threw that game v Ireland just to finish second in their pool. Pretty simple kicks got missed.
It is not possible in any circumstance for SA not to go through. Do the maths whichever way you wish
David, you should have a read of the rules as to what happens in a three-way points tie. And then do the maths again.
The way I wish to do the maths is "correctly" which I hope is OK with you.
If Scotland beat Ireland 51-30, with Ireland scoring four tries and Scotland (obviously) achieving a try bonus point, then all three teams will be tied on 15 points.
In this case, the tiebreaker is applied. Ordinarily, this would be head-to-head result but obviously you cannot use this for a three-way tie. In this case, the tiebreaker becomes points difference. Scotland +118, South Africa +117, Ireland +101. Scotland top the group.
Now the tiebreaker is to see who comes second. Because this is between two teams, you CAN use a head-to-head result. Ireland beat South Africa, and therefore go through in second place thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
In this possible (though improbable) circumstance, South Africa finish third and do not go through*.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
*Funnily enough, if Ireland had scored four tries but were trailing Scotland by 15 points, they would be better off allowing Scotland to score a converted try than they would be defending.
That's not correct. Ireland, for example, could get utterly rinsed by Scotland (20/30 pts +) and still go through as runner's up at SA's expense. By virtue of their head-to-head record.
If
This is the most ridiculous question ever asked, next the conspiracy theorists are gonna conclude Nic Berry should get this match to ensure payback for that awful video from Rassie, who’s the match official ? Oh wait it’s Nic Berry 😂😂 I can see the articles
Jacques seems to really regret that loss to Ireland! Beautiful
After sweating blood to avoid France Ireland would throw that all away in a conspiracy involving all 66 Scots/Irish players and coaching staff......
What publication does this moron write for?
Irish sport news
Exactly