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OPINION: Catching the high ball is one of rugby’s great skills, but Highlanders fullback Connor Garden-Bachop must be beginning to wonder if the risk is worth taking.
At the start of the Highlanders’ 33-12 beating of the Crusaders in Christchurch on Friday, Garden-Bachop was clearly tackled mid-air by Will Jordan, and referee Mike Fraser and his colleagues got into real trouble finding a way. to penalize the Highlanders, not the Crusaders.
Peter Meecham / Getty Images
Connor Garden-Bachop has been one of the best players for the Highlanders this year.
The other element in the incident was the involvement of Highlanders wing Scott Gregory, but even though he ran a blocking line on Jordan, the result was still wicked and Garden-Bachop’s safety was compromised without punishment, for second time this year.
There are two key questions in the last incident that need to be answered.
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First, if Jordan still had time to retire from his airborne tackle at Garden-Bachop, and second, if Gregory’s obstruction constituted ‘foul play’, as Fraser argued he did.
Jordan still had time. The attitude of recent years to air incidents has been to put the responsibility on the entry player to take care of the vulnerable player, in this case Garden-Bachop. Jordan didn’t do that. Gregory’s clog / block didn’t stop Jordan from reaching Garden-Bachop, and it certainly didn’t push Jordan toward the Highlanders’ fullback.
On the ‘foul play’ charge, how could Gregory’s act be classified as that? Yet that’s what Fraser did when he explained the decision, arguing that Gregory’s ‘foul play’ happened before Jordan’s airborne entry and therefore the correct decision was to penalize the Highlanders.
In the Waratahs v Brumbies match in Sydney played directly after the Crusaders-Highlanders match, there was an incident that had some similarities to the Garden-Bachop, but was refereed in a different way.
The Brumbies were defending and awarded an offside penalty. Playing ahead, the Waratahs put the ball high and Brumbies fullback Tom Banks was knocked out mid-air in the awkward (but unintentional) challenge from NSW wing Hugh Sinclair.
Here, the umpires reversed the original penalty to the Waratahs and gave it to the Brumbies for foul play on Banks.
Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images
Tom Banks was eliminated in the air in the Waratahs game on Friday and the umpires reversed his original penalty decision to give him the penalty.
A similar process should have been followed in the Garden-Bachop incident. Yes, Gregory prevented Jordan (a penalty), but it wasn’t enough to excuse Jordan’s subsequent mid-air tackle at Garden-Bachop (foul play).
The big picture is that players like Garden-Bachop put butts in the seats.
The 21-year-old is having a brilliant season and there must be a long shot of being in the All Blacks mix this year. It’s a genuine No. 15/14 option in the Ben Smith mold and there aren’t too many in New Zealand right now.
He was also caught at an airborne tackle against the Chiefs in the second round (albeit under different circumstances) and also did not receive a decision at the time.
What happened to the protection of man in the air?
