All Blacks: Cheats or masters of gamesmanship?

"Street-smart".

That's how former Springbok coach Nick Mallett described an incident involving All Blacks and Crusaders lock Sam Whitelock in last Saturday's Super Rugby semi-final in Christchurch.

The incident in question occurred when the Crusaders skipper knocked the ball out of Hurricanes scrumhalf TJ Perenara's hands at a ruck.

The 'Canes, trailing 30-26 at the time, were hot on attack for the winning score when Australian referee Nic Berry deemed that Perenara had knocked the ball on.

Game over!

Berry did not spot Whitelock's indiscretion and upon viewing further replays it was clear that a penalty and yellow card should have been the order of the day.

Whether you like the tactics or not, you can't argue that it was clever.

Whitelock knew the referee in all likelihood would not spot it. As per the regulations, the television match official could also not step in as it wasn't foul play.

Sneaky! And I wouldn't be surprised if Whitelock got a pat on the back from coach Scott Robertson and his team-mates after the match.

This begs the question: Should this kind of subtle cheating be considered part and parcel of the game?

After all, the Kiwis have been doing it for years.

Rugby historians will never forget Andy Haden's infamous lineout dive against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park in 1978. It was done to con referee Roger Quittenton into awarding New Zealand a penalty, and while the English official said he actually penalised Wales' Geoff Wheel for a push on Frank Oliver, Haden later admitted it was pre-planned for him to dive.

The All Blacks kicked the penalty to sneak a 13-12 win.

There was also an incident in the famous 1995 World Cup final between South Africa and New Zealand at Ellis Park where All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick fell backwards with his hands covering his face, pretending he was punched.

It was in extra time and the Boks had just been awarded a kickable penalty, before Fitzpatrick tried his luck in swaying English referee Ed Morrison into reversing the penalty. Luckily for the Boks, Morrison did not fall for Fitzpatrick's tricks.

Last year, popular New Zealand scribe Mark Reason got Kiwis hot under the collar when he wrote in a column for the Stuff.co.nz website:

"That's what the All Blacks do. They vicariously bully and cheat in the name of patriotism. But they are now in jeopardy. As we found out in the Lions series - and it cost the All Blacks the series - what they get away with in Super Rugby doesn't fly with many northern hemisphere refs."

Former Springbok centre and assistant coach Brendan Venter also wrote a few years ago that the All Backs "cheated subtly" and Whitelock's actions last Saturday will certainly stir that debate once more.

The Stuff website described the Whitelock incident as "an act of gamesmanship". However, I'm not sure that description is entirely accurate.

The Cambridge Dictionary describes gamesmanship as "the activity of trying to win a game by doing things that are not really breaking the rules but are intended to destroy the confidence of the other player".

Whitelock clearly broke the rules, he was just not caught.

Street-smart!

Not only are the All Blacks the world best rugby team, but they are also past masters at gaining an edge over opponents by using various ploys and tactics.

And, in this all-important Rugby World Cup year, it may help if their opponents (yes, the Springboks should take heed) are extra vigilant.

Fark it must be nice supporting a team that never infringes. What a load of propaganda bullshit.

Who are you trying to fool, think the refs will see this and swallow this crap? LMFAO

And subtle is something the boks never do they just do it out in the open and rely of paying the refs off.

Sure sign the boks are shit scared of the ABs still so they have started making up shit in hope everyone will join in to try and influence the refs during the RWC. 

But thanks for the laugh anyway

"The incident in question occurred when the Crusaders skipper knocked the ball out of Hurricanes scrumhalf TJ Perenara's hands at a ruck.

The 'Canes, trailing 30-26 at the time, were hot on attack for the winning score when Australian referee Nic Berry deemed that Perenara had knocked the ball on."

Game over!

You guys need to clean up your act. The mud is sticking thick and hard.

Pot kettle black

I did not see the incident, so I don't have an opinion on this particular incident...but speaking in general, the following:

1. Rugby is an professional sport and huge amounts of money is involved.
2. It is difficult to prove intent, but IMO, deliberate infringements like professional fouls should be dealt with in the same vein as deliberate dirty play.
3.  Cheating is cheating and deliberately doing so to win at all cost should be strongly discouraged by World Rugby. 
4. All teams and players are guilty at times, but there is no place for it in pro sports. The sooner they start clamping down on it, the better.
   
5. To me, deliberately infringing is the same thing as using steroids. Rules and laws are there for a reason.
6. If things happened as it were reported, the Canes probably lost out on a place in the finals, the Jags missed out on hosting the final...and their significant home advantage that comes with it. 
7. If one look at the magnitude of the f inancial implication of such action, it's almost criminal.
8. World Rugby should clean up it's act. They are behaving like amateurs...and poor ones at that. We deserve better.
9. Rugby cost me R 11K a year to watch on TV...no wonder people are losing interest. 
10. I think I'll cancel my DSTV after the RWC...or even sooner...

The Canes "probably lost out on a place in the finals"??

Really, so if the Canes had retained the ball, the Saders would have just let them score?? Don't make me laugh Draad....

Deliberately infringing is the same as using steroids?? So a guy standing a metre off side should be banned for a year or two??

Can't believe the crap I read on here at times!

Enter Hasbeeno, the Foulou sicko phant......

I have heard this term street smart before. I don't agree with any instance it has been applied. Here are some things that were excused for being street smart: 

Kick Chase: Forming units of two to three players sealing off the receiver of a kick, thereby obstructing and often bumping defenders off course. This has occurred countless times. Where does the "smart" bit happen? What made it more technical in its application that it was unpunishable, whereas other sides were penalized? There was no real effort to disguise this from the ref. 

Holding: The All Blacks went through a period where they would execute plays where the decoy runner would hold one or two defenders by the jersey so the attacker could break around them. They scored a few tries this way against the Boks in 2010. Game changing tries. This would never be allowed by any other team. Therefore I do not accept the use of the term "street smart". It was simply ignored. Another instance of holding was the Bakkies Both headbutt incident on Kowan. Why did the ref not call back play when he clearly saw Kowan holding Botha by the shorts with both hands, thereby impeding his ability to win a loose ball which left New Zealand vulnerable? 

Dangerous Tackles: There are numerous instances of New Zealand getting away with dangerous tackles, but the spear tackles are the worst. There was the tackle which ended BOD's Lions Tour in 2005, there was the Rocokoco spear on Paulse in the home 2007 TNs test, there was the spear on Smit which ended his 2008 TNs campaign - that after a throat slam on Jantjes seconds earlier; New Zealand shockingly came away with the penalty. The ref was standing close by for the Smit tackle. Who could forget the two swinging arms in the WC final against France before New Zealand were awarded a game clinching penalty? These things make people talk. It isn't street smart, it's plain bias. To think, Bismarck was yellow carded at a crucial moment of a game against New Zealand for a perfectly timed and legal tackle on Carter.

Breakdown: This was very common throughout the McCaw era. All the more impressive that Brussow wiped the floor McCaw in every encounter. Is it smart to sit on your backside wrestling the scrumhalf for the ball on the wrong side of the ruck? If a Bok did that, we'd all be exclaiming the stupidity of South Africans. I can't imagine anyone defending it, much less declaring it street smart rugby. We saw this game after game after game. Coming in from the side, diving into rucks, sealing off the ruck. Little technical ability, just plain bias. 

I could cite many more issues, but these suffice. What does it all mean? Do the All Blacks cheat? Or do they take advantage of the fact that they can push the envelope much further than anyone else? What cannot be argued is that when you have a player receiving seven final warnings, laughing in the face of the referee each time, something is very wrong. When you have a referee in a World Cup final, averting his gaze to avoid seeing illegal play. Something is very wrong. This is a poor advert for the game of rugby. 

No doubt we'll have the usual gutless faces on their hind legs. I don't hate New Zealand rugby, but I do demand that everyone be held to the same standard. They would have still been the best team in the world without all of this, but it has changed the rugby landscape significantly. In some cases, altered the courses of entire careers. 

There is a very big difference between infringing on the field and being coached to "infringe"

The one is an individuals action ... the other is all part of the team's game plan.

Call it what you may ... it's cheating ... and the Kiwis have mastered it over the years.

This kind of unsportsmanlike conduct comes from the top ranks of Kiwi rugby.

It's how they win matches.

Perenara and his team were on the receiving end this time ... and it infuriated them

The scary thing is that the Kiwis are all so proud of this type of behaviour.

Whitelock probably got a bonus for his actions and a huge pat on the back.

Wifely dearest probably phoned all her mates to ask them whether they saw her hubby's brilliant chea ... I mean ... infringement ... how it robbed the Canes ... and secured a spot in the final for the Saders.

Saderfan will undoubtedly defend his team and the cheating Whitelcock .. claiming innocence ... but he knows well enough that their entire rugby structures are based on cheating and how to get away with it ... 

The Kiwis play by a totally different set of rules to the rest of us.

If they were forced to play on a level playing field they'd be exposed as pussies.

Only pussies are the whinging Saffas on here, you lot are worse than the Poms.

Surprised you lot haven't grabbed the ball and run of home to mum for a cuddle and a hot chocolate.

Pot kettle black kiddies.

Did you get triggered CF? If you act now, you can get a discount on Safespaces at Safespace.co.nz

Well, well, well. Seems there is widespread agreement about Whitelock's cheating.

Poor Crusadertwit and dear mooo mooo are left deeply embarrassed yet again. 

Actually the worst cheat ever was that old nz ref scoundrel Brycy Lawrence! His father was as bad with his "Get the Japies" letter to Oz refs. 

The down under criminality is of course hereditary! 

Moo mooo  perv I trust you read my post on Beeno's Trumpet regarding the British Folau winning a huge court case. Looks like you pervs are going down along with the nz lady goth freak. 

Other than that I trust our nz friends will enjoy the final. 

Goooo Jags. 

There are laws and rules. Either apply them equally or disregard them altogether.  When we apply them subjectively like we please, it loses it's value.

"Really, so if the Canes had retained the ball, the Saders would have just let them score?? Don't make me laugh Draad...."

You do know the meaning of "probably "?

Yes, I know it's guessing, but so what? If it wasn't for the cynical play, we would have known for sure. 

If the reporting was right, Sam deliberately infringed.  Why would he do that if he had confidence they could keep the Canes out? He did it in desperation to win.

Are you saying that some cheating is more acceptable than others?

A steroids doper gets banned 2 years, but somehow it's worse to dope (and get a potential physical advantage) than to deliberately cheat and get an even more direct advantage?

Rugby has stopped being a gentleman's game long ago...and when people are starting to justify cheating, we have totally lost the plot.

PS, if the Saders was the better team, why cheat to win? Gamesmanship is apparently the new term for getting away with cheating. 

It's like the old saying: " It's only illegal if you get caught "

Superlative comparison, but where do we draw the line?

PS, Moolaa. Like I have said before, I did not see the incident and I don't blame NZ only. I said all teams/players try their luck. For me this isn't about NZ or the Saders, this is about a pro sport and a line that should be drawn somewhere, regardless of who is playing.

Draad the video is in the editorial column next door.

https://www.sport24.co.za/Columnists/HermanMostert/all-blacks-cheats-or-masters-of-gamesmanship-20190705 

Draad could you please stop embarrassing our kiwi friends with these very awkward questions of yours!

Thanks. 

Denny, thanks, but viewing the vid will compromise my objectivity!

I didn't notice Bryce Lawrence's objectivity in that notorious quarterfinal in Wellington...

What are you tzlking about Denny, rugby is an esteemed professional sport?!

Yeah sure, it's all there on paper, (just the ANC manifesto) until you're a SAFFA playing on foreign soil. F*&K I could've killed Lawrence that day, sat and watched the whole thing unfold and said to wifey halfway through the game...."This isn't going to end well"

Sh!t happens.

It was more painful breaking that game down than watching it live. Much worse. That entire WC has an asterisk hanging over it. 

Clearly Sam was trying to hand the ball to TJ so I don't see the problem

Good to see our beloved McCaw is not forgotten. What a rugby player, his past performances still put the over sized steroid aided locks of the world to shame, especially those that don't play when they break a nail.

There has always been flaws as it is in any human endeavour but jealousy and sour grapes should never be in sport...sport is human and humans are very imperfect...sport takes the rough with the smooth and besides it's not the end of the world if you don't always win...the king has to fall and somebody takes his place...be valiant in defeat and accept it...excuses are weak...just raise your standards and challenge...that's true sportsmanship.

Jags could well win...I think I was the only one here that predicted a Jags/Sader final. Lets see tomorrow.

Seb, I think the Jags have a good shot at winning this and even Hansen is sounding the alarm. It will be a game well worth watching.

Peyper ,he's also the only SA ref at the World Cup.Fittest ref in world rugby,they actually tested them.Being short also helps, peers so easily into those rucks........Laughed when he gave that yellow to Highlandres No.5 for swearing at him....He was like 2m away.....what an idiot.

I'm no fan of Peyper...too full of himself for my liking...obnoxious little...

Comments here from South Africans are a bit off the mark.

Even mention of the 1995 world cup confirms that you have your heads so far up your own arses that you you can smell your own dirty breath.

We all know what happened in South Africa in 1995.

No they actually call it cheating by South Africans concerning the poisoning of the Kiwis  We all know it happened.

Dirty pack of arseholes - Calling New Zealanders cheats is just South Africans who just a straight pack of ARSEHOLES - STINKING SHITHEADS.  

And no I am not a Kiwi.

Your most important/deployed organ is clearly not between your ears. Like your pic, but for max transactional impact you should really be facing the camera.

No, you are not a Kiwi. You are Herr Drache. When you have an itch for a pink thong, Damme Drache.

Oh come now, Auggie ... my wife is the one with the perky ta-tas.

I'm just a middle aged man who has sole rights to those perky ta-tas.

Show a little respect will ya?

I think South Africans take the prize for being poor  losers.

You have never liked the FACT THAT NZ RUGBY IS BETTER THAN SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY.