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Today’s All Blacks get it, even if some of their older brethren don’t seem to be able to understand rugby’s zero tolerance approach to high shots in the modern game.
While the two red cards dealt in last Saturday’s Tri-Nations event in Brisbane, won 24-22 by the Wallabies over the All Blacks, created a great talking point, both on the night and since then, the team of Ian Foster has been admirably consistent in his appraisal.
Neither head coach Foster nor captain Sam Cane negotiated any post-game discussion with the decision to send All Blacks mainstay Ofa Tu’unagfasi and the Wallabies loose forward Lachie Swinton from the field in rapid succession of punches. who came and hit the heads of the opponents.
And on Monday, veteran All Blacks hooker Dane Coles said the onus is on the modern player to adjust to what has clearly become a very black and white area. The blows are high or they are not, and are punished accordingly.
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“We just have to be better,” Coles said. “We do a lot of tackling practice during the week. It’s only a fraction of a second to make that decision, but we just have to lower our eyes and our goals not to get those red cards again because tackling in the same way is not going to change things. “
Former All Black greats Sir John Kirwan and Christian Cullen said during Sky Sport’s coverage of the game that they disagreed with red cards being dealt for such offenses. They considered that a yellow card was sufficient and then the judicial system would have to deal with it.
During the match, Sky’s New Zealand comments, former All Black Justin Marshall said he felt Tu’ungafasi’s high hit on Wallaby Tom Wright’s wing should be “just a shame”.
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However, the All Blacks coach says he thinks Ofa Tuungafasi’s red card is moot.
Since then, some northern experts have criticized those comments, which they believed were contrary to the game’s firm approach to protecting players’ heads.
But clearly the message, if not necessarily the techniques, is reaching the All Blacks from Foster, with senior blocking Sam Whitelock and assistant coach John Plumtree backing up Coles’ view that it was up to players to align with this approach. .
“It’s something I can’t control as a player,” Whitelock said Tuesday when asked for his opinion on how things played out with the red cards. “The referee is there for a reason, he has incredible support from both touchies and the TMO, and that doesn’t worry me. I’ll let the referee and his team do that.
“They are there to make sure the game is played fairly and firmly. We are all grown men playing a contact sport. Sometimes we are wrong. But it is important that we do not dwell on those other things. We are rugby players and we are out there to play rugby ”.
Faced with pressure on whether red cards for what were essentially errors of judgment could be reduced to something less permanent in game terms, Whitelock made an important point.
“It does not matter how it refers or rules, as long as it is consistent on the part of the referee and the judiciary, without there being a set of rules for a team or a competition,” he said. “As long as there is consistency, everyone can figure it out.
“Our job as players and coaches is to make sure we train and learn what we can and cannot do. If it’s about lowering the height of our tackle or wrapping our arms in the tackle, then it all goes from there. “
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Sam Whitelock has no problem with applying the laws, as long as they are done consistently.
When asked how difficult it was for players to change techniques like tackle heights, Whitelock, who has now played 120 tryouts for the All Blacks, said he simply reverted to an old approach.
“You have to break down the skill, go straight back to the beginning, do it without any pressure, get all the speed and intention out first, then develop the skill slowly. When we do that, it allows you to break old habits.
“You have to keep working on those skills, trying to change, and suddenly it becomes natural.”
Plumtree said he had heard the debate since the game, but “the rules are in place for what they say is foul play. We have an obligation to ensure that players are safe on the field.
“When we are training, we always talk about body height and we make sure that in contact we do the right thing, and we focus on the right areas in terms of where we make contact. Sometimes a player will be wrong under pressure and we saw it at the weekend.
The tough forwards coach played quite well, too, on Cane’s late hit copied from the Wallabies’ 100-game mainstay James Slipper, which elicited a fierce response from the New Zealand patron, but was not picked up by the officials of the party, then or since.
“The players reacted to that situation and with good reason. If the whistle blows and a knock comes in, the guys are going to be upset and that’s probably what happened. Sam was a little frustrated with himself for reacting to that, but it’s never a good thing to get hit late.
“The key for us is to make sure that when something like this happens, we move on to our next job very quickly and we don’t allow that kind of thing to make our game nervous.”
The All Blacks will face Argentina in their third Tri-Nations game at Bankwest Stadium in West Sydney on Saturday (starts at 7.10pm NZT).
