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FORUM / RUGBY /  Latu and Skelton suspended

Latu and Skelton suspended

Started by bluebok13 REPLIES441 VIEWS· 25 May 2015, 14:17
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BL
bluebok
Pro3,977 posts
BL
bluebokPro3,977 posts
25 May 2015, 14:17
#1
25 May 2015, 14:17#1

Re: Supersport


The New South Wales Waratahs' Super Rugby title defence suffered a double blow when hooker Silatolu Latu was suspended for four weeks and lock Will Skelton for a fortnight on Monday.

The pair were guilty of combing for a tip tackle on Canterbury Crusaders lock Sam Whitelock in the 17th minute of their 32-22 win in Sydney on Saturday that took them to the top of the Australian Conference ahead of the ACT Brumbies.

Latu was shown a yellow card for the offence by the referee after video replays on the field. Whitelock escaped unhurt.

"Latu played a more active role in the lifting and twisting of their opponent, Sam Whitelock, contributing more significantly to the end result than Skelton," citing officer Robert Stelzner said in a statement.

"Skelton nevertheless also lifted and twisted Whitelock in the tackle, which is why he too was found to have breached the applicable Law."

Skelton will miss the two-match tour of South Africa to play the Lions and Cheetahs along with Latu, who will also be absent from the final home clash against the Queensland Reds and the first of the playoff matches, if the holders make it.

BL
bluebok
Pro3,977 posts
BL
bluebokPro3,977 posts
25 May 2015, 14:26
#2
25 May 2015, 14:26#2
This could help the Lions somewhat! Add to that fatigue and playing on the highveld, and the Lions may just sneak this one. 
HA
hakwa
Pro4,146 posts
HA
hakwaPro4,146 posts
25 May 2015, 14:38
#3
25 May 2015, 14:38#3
 What a bizarre decision. Both are equally guilty and both deserve 4-6weeks.

"Referee Marius van der Westhuizen thought it was Skelton who did the lifting, but his assistant and the TMO said it was Latu who was the culprit.

After some consultation, van der Westhuizen sent Latu to the bin."


This after looking at the video replays MANY times.


Stupidity never fails to amaze.

RO
Rooinek
Captain18,117 posts
RO
RooinekCaptain18,117 posts
25 May 2015, 15:23
#4
25 May 2015, 15:23#4
I was a bit surprised when the ref gave Skelton no punishment for what was effectively a spear tackle off the ball. Not sure how much influence Latu had on the spear tackle but he could have been given a red card on his own for the punch he threw at Wyatt Crockett.
JW
Just_win
Captain18,570 posts
JW
Just_winCaptain18,570 posts
25 May 2015, 15:27
#5
25 May 2015, 15:27#5
 The video replay clearly showed Skelton was the main man in the spear tackle, how the TMO and the review showed otherwise is a mystery. Go Lions!
BL
bluebok
Pro3,977 posts
BL
bluebokPro3,977 posts
25 May 2015, 16:05
#6
25 May 2015, 16:05#6
There needs to be consistency, these weekly reffing errors are starting to compound, and are effectively watering down the credibility of the sport. One of these days rugby will be like soccer, where the rules pertaining to diving and faking, are so loosely enforced that it has just become acceptable for blatant cheating to go unchecked! Please oh please, we must never let that happen!! 

CL
clevermike
Coach57,555 posts
CL
clevermikeCoach57,555 posts
25 May 2015, 17:15
#7
25 May 2015, 17:15#7
 Will give Kaplan a lot to write about tomorrow.  
DB
DbDraad
Captain26,388 posts
DB
DbDraadCaptain26,388 posts
25 May 2015, 17:21
#8
25 May 2015, 17:21#8
 There are still too much subjectivity in the laws of the game and the guidelines for santions against dirty play. They should make it more rigid.  Black and white. Remove the grey please! 
DB
DbDraad
Captain26,388 posts
DB
DbDraadCaptain26,388 posts
25 May 2015, 17:44
#9
25 May 2015, 17:44#9
 I wonder if Greg Peters will apeal this sanction as well.
CH
Chippo
Pro3,372 posts
CH
ChippoPro3,372 posts
25 May 2015, 17:54
#10
25 May 2015, 17:54#10
 HAha shit you guys make me laugh
CH
Chippo
Pro3,372 posts
CH
ChippoPro3,372 posts
25 May 2015, 18:02
#11
25 May 2015, 18:02#11
Skelton deserves 2 months out
DB
DbDraad
Captain26,388 posts
DB
DbDraadCaptain26,388 posts
25 May 2015, 18:29
#12
25 May 2015, 18:29#12
 He deserves a snotklap, but I'm not volun teering! 
AB
ABasquefan
Pro2,549 posts
AB
ABasquefanPro2,549 posts
26 May 2015, 00:10
#13
26 May 2015, 00:10#13
 What is completely unacceptable is that SANZAR appointed a ref with 8 Super Rugby matches' experience for the most important game of the week, where the 2 teams were playing for their classification for the finals, where a fierce battle was expected,...... while, e.g., one of the bests refs this season, A. Gardner, was sent to whistle the completely irrelevant Reds-Sharks.
This was a huge mistake,..... the kind of mistakes that are undermining rugby's credibility.

The tahs went out agressively to give all they have to obtain the victory and the classification,... as they had to do,.... no problem with it.
But the ref should have calm they down and he failed clamorously which is understandable given his lack of experience. He didn't call many infringments, continous offsides and others,.... but the spear tackle on Whitelock was the summit. Skelton should have been shown a red card without any doubt. It couldn't be more blatant,.... that was very dangerous and intentionally reckless.
The hooker should have very probably been shown a yellow also for helping in the spear tackle and at least another yellow for punching. It's beyond anything reasonable that 3 refs, the main one, one of his assistants and the TMO, watching the TV replays all of them, no one saw the need of a red card. This is grave.

Then Skelton's shoulder charge on McCaw, coming from behind and without the ball!!!!!!!!...... then another shoulder charge from the same player on Whitelock who was already tackled and on the ground. It's scandalous that such a dirty player scaped without any card........... and then the hooker's late shoulder charge on Taylor in the 61'.
This is more than grave, this kind of violent game should be erradicated from the fields. This should be one of the main goals of the refs and this ref failed clamorously on it and should be penalised for it.

The ref not only didn't show any of these cards but he did it on a very dubious infringment of McCaw.
This ref's performance clearly influenced the outcome of the game and it's sad to see how the options of a team to classify for the finals are vanished after such a poor performance.
For sure it's not the ref's blame that the saders didn't classify,.... they have been defensively very weak all over the tournament,.... but it shouldn't happen

P.S. what would have happened if the ref had been a kiwi and the team facing the tahs a SA team?
you could find the answer in last week's posts,...... a twitter campaign, comments blaming all the kiwi refs of harming intentionally the SA teams, the ever present world conspiracy against the SA teams, etc., etc., etc.
AB
ABasquefan
Pro2,549 posts
AB
ABasquefanPro2,549 posts
26 May 2015, 13:12
#14
26 May 2015, 13:12#14
 And after the disastrous outcome of his policy last week, the SANZAR sticks with it and appointed the inexperienced ref to the match where the most intense fight is expected, the Brumbies-Bulls, both teams are playing for their classification.
And with Rohan Hoffman (very critisized after the Tahs-Sharks match) as assistant. Excellent.


Match No.98:Crusaders v Hurricanes
Date : Friday 29 May 2015
Venue : Trafalgar Park, Nelson
Kick Off local: 19:35 local, 17:35 AEST, 09:35 SAST
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe
Assistant Ref 1:Kane McBride
Assistant Ref 2:Richard Kelly
TMO : Chris Wratt


Match No.99: Brumbies v Bulls
Date : Friday 29 May 2015
Venue : GIO Stadium, Canberra
Kick Off local: 19:40 local, 21:40 NZST, 11:40 SAST
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen
Assistant Ref 1:Rohan Hoffmann
Assistant Ref 2:Ed Martin
TMO : Ian Smith


Match No.100:Sharks v Rebels
Date : Kings Park, Durban
Venue : Friday 29 May 2015
Kick Off local: 19:10 local, 3:10* AEST, 05:10* NZST
Referee: Jaco van Heerden
Assistant Ref 1:Rodney Boneparte
Assistant Ref 2:Ben Crouse
TMO :Marius Jonker


Match No.101:Highlanders v Chiefs
Date : Saturday 30 May 2015
Venue : Rugby Park, Invercargill
Kick Off local: 19:35 local, 17:35 AEST, 09:35 SAST
Referee: Nick Briant
Assistant Ref 1:Shane McDermott
Assistant Ref 2:Mike Lash
TMO : Glenn Newman


Match No.102: Force v Reds
Date : Saturday 30 May 2015
Venue : nib Stadium, Perth
Kick Off local: 17:40 local, 19:40 AEST, 21:40 NZST, 11:40 SAST
Referee: Matt O'Brien
Assistant Ref 1:Damien Mitchelmore
Assistant Ref 2:Michael Hogan
TMO : Peter Marshall


Match No.103:Stormers v Cheetahs
Date : Saturday 30 May 2015
Venue : Newlands, Cape Town
Kick Off local: 17:05 local, 1:05* AEST, 3:05* NZST
Referee: Craig Joubert
Assistant Ref 1:Jason Jaftha
Assistant Ref 2:Francois Pretorius
TMO :Deon van Blommestein


Match No.104:Lions v Waratahs
Date : Saturday 30 May 2015
Venue : Emirates Airlines Park, Johannesburg
Kick Off local: 19:10 local, 3:10* AEST, 5:10* NZST
Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant Ref 1:Jaco van Heerden
Assistant Ref 2:Pro Legote
TMO :Johan Greeff

Bye : Blues


— END OF THREAD —

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