Schalk Burger hits out at Cam Roigard’s ‘gamesmanship’: ‘That’s not called for in our game’
All Blacks scrum-half Cam Roigard and an inset of ex-Springboks flanker Schalk Burger.
Three former Springboks have slammed All Blacks’ scrum-half Cam Roigard for his ‘simulation’ in the third Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test match in Soweto.
The number nine has been accused of diving in the first half of the match after South Africa were awarded a penalty try from a scrum five metres away from the All Blacks’ try line.
Roigard grappled with opposing scrum-half Cobus Reinach when referee Nika Amashukeli was awarding the try, with the latter throwing the former to the ground.
“Why doesn’t Cam Roigard get a yellow card?”
The All Black was pictured holding his face after the incident as he lay on the ground, with the TMO notifying the referee of the scuffle, which ultimately led to a penalty against Reinach.
Ex-Springboks captain and centre Jean de Villiers slammed Roigard’s actions while commentating on the match for SuperSport.
“A lot has been said about gamesmanship, and I will call it out there; this game of ours is a pride one, and he is taking a dive there. Yes, he rips him over, but that is certainly not a tip tackle,” he said.
De Villiers revisited the incident on the Verdict show where he was joined by fellow former Springboks Schalk Burger and Hanyani Shimange.
The All Blacks’ actions irked ex-flanker Burger in particular, who used Nigel Owens’ remark to Stuart Hogg during the 2015 Rugby World Cup when the Scotland international did something similar.
“Why doesn’t Cam Roigard get a yellow card? Instead, we get a penalty against us on the half-way line for a bit of gamesmanship,” Burger said.
“And we’ll quote Nigel Owens: ‘They can come play soccer here next week’. That’s not called for in our game.”
Schalk Burger slams All Blacks’ scrum-half
Later in the program, Burger added that Roigard or Luke Jacobson also should have been yellow-carded, as he believed that the penalty try was awarded because one of the two was offside at the set-piece.
Amashukeli explained to Siya Kolisi that a yellow card was not issued as it was a collective penalty against the All Blacks and wasn’t an infringement from one player.
But Burger disagreed: “It should have been a penalty try, yellow card and nothing in Reinach versus Roigard.”
Seeking clarity, De Villiers said: “Sorry, you’re saying penalty try, yellow card to one of the New Zealand props.”
Burger replied: “For whoever got penalised for offside. It was penalty advantage for the scrum, but then it was foul play in the act of scoring the try; there was foul play by being offside or not being bound to the scrum. Whether that was Roigard or Jacobson, I’m not too sure.
“Then what happens after that, that’s not a tip tackle. He didn’t land on his head; he just got rolled over.
“But then obviously, there was the gamesmanship – you were watching too much of the football World Cup in America. I mean, that is not allowed on a rugby field.”
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Players need to stamp it out
Former hooker Shimange has also had enough of the gamesmanship and simulation in the game at the moment, while Burger has called on players to collectively decide to bring an end to it.
“The animation stuff must stop. All of them. A guy goes down; it’s a possible HIA. If you’ve got an HIA, then go off the field, or if it’s been a high tackle, then go off the field if it’s that bad,” he said.
” You get guys now where the doctor runs on and this and the guy’s holding his neck, but he’s not really that sore. So, they need to cut that out of the game.”
Burger added: “They catch all the TMOs by that is doing that you’re grabbing your head or grabbing your face. It’s gamesmanship.
“I think the game is in a difficult phase where there’s so much riding on certain events in a game and you know you can get away with gamesmanship or simulation.
“It’s the current crop of players; we can’t do anything about it. They’ve got to actually sit down and say, ‘That’s not good enough’.”
Springboks are ‘bossing’ the scrum as ex-hooker claims All Blacks coaching ‘is not good enough
Lose respect for players
“You’d lose respect for a guy if you make a tackle and slide up by mistake and hit him here [in the chin],” Shimmy replied.
“The guy animates, you end up getting a red card and suspended, when you could have just got up and said, ‘Listen, it was a mistake. If it’s fine, let’s move on.’ Then you shake hands, and you are meant to have a beer afterwards like, ‘It’s all good’, but you’re actually deliberately trying to get a guy into trouble.”
De Villiers ended the debate by stating that it’s not the first time this year that Roigard has been singled out for simulation, with the scrum-half doing similar during the Super Rugby Pacific campaign.
“Roigard is an unbelievable player, and it’s not just him, unfortunately – it’s just the situation that he was in on the weekend. We did see him in Super Rugby; he did exactly the same,” he said.
READ MORE: All Blacks: Cam Roigard slammed for ‘disgusting’ football antics in Hurricanes’ semi-final victory
