The Voice From the Stands
After a full weekend of international rugby there are two issues that have caught my attention, Napolioni Nalaga's red card, and Ireland's dark day in Dublin.
After a full weekend of international rugby there are two issues that have caught my attention, Napolioni Nalaga's red card, and Ireland's dark day in Dublin.
Lets get started with Nalaga, who in my humble opinion was unlucky to receive a straight red card for his late and high tackle on Jean-Baptiste Elissalde. Having not seen the game live I read several reports that described the incident as 'X-rated', 'appalling' and 'horrendous' to mention but a few.
Upon seeing a re-run of the game, complete with several different views of Nalaga's tackle, the only way I can describe what he did is as 'sloppy' and 'careless'. It is clear that there is no malicious intent or hatred in his hit, especially given that he is not even looking at the unfortunate Elissalde prior to contact.
This is where the incident becomes interesting. We have all seen many tackles like, if not worse than Nalaga's, and in virtually every case they are dealt with via the yellow card, or in some cases a stern warning to keep the tackles down.
So what makes this any different? In referee Nigel Owens' words, 'it was late, it was dangerous and it caused serious injury. You leave me with no choice but to give you a red card'. And herein lies the crux of the matter, those four words, 'it caused serious injury'.
Not for a moment am I condoning Nalaga's actions, but one wonders had Elissalde not been so badly injured would the sanction have been the same? If not then Nalaga is simply the victim of tackling the wrong player. Had he clattered into Imanol Harinordoquy or Lionel Nallet, for starters it would not have been high, and secondly I doubt they would have been knocked out.
Yes the injury to Elissalde was serious, but to send off Nalaga for what in the end was an unfortunate injury seems a little over the top. There will be those who claim it was nothing more than the Islanders deserved, citing various individual incidents from before. That most of these previous incidents are concerning Brian Lima doesn't seem to alter the mindset that all Islanders are intent on dangerous tackles.
The lack of intent on Nalaga's behalf should have saved him, alas it now seems the degree of the player's injury dictates the colour of the card.
Moving on now, to Ireland, who must now surely realise they are just not good enough to beat the All Blacks. All this hype and pre-match belief goes back to 2006 when they beat South Africa and Australia in successive weekends, giving many the false impression that they would go on to make the World Cup final. We all know what really happened.
And based on that one golden spell, a repeat of which you will struggle to find anytime soon, Ireland tend to believe they are good enough to beat the All Blacks. This statement would be only be true if, and that is a big if, Ireland managed to play a perfect eighty minutes of rugby, and New Zealand forgot to turn up.
See the truth is this, Ireland are not that good. To go with an over-confident public there is a team still half-full of fading stars. All stars eventually burn out to nothing, but in rugby these stars have a chance to go out at their brightest, on their terms, which a few wisely do. Sadly for Ireland they have too many stars fighting for some extra glow, achieving only in hurrying the fading process.
Declan Kidney had the right idea in bringing in a new crop of players, but he forgot to get rid of the other half of an ageing squad. Not so Graham Henry, even if his re-building phase was forced upon him by a mass exodus of his finest players.
What made people think that Saturday was going to be any different? What made them think this was their time to beat the All Blacks? Seemingly one reason was the fact it was GOD's, sorry I mean BOD's, fiftieth cap as captain. So what.
It is as if people think the All Blacks are going to say 'don't worry about the gameplan today chaps it's O'Driscoll's fiftieth cap as skipper, best we let him celebrate in style'. Dream on Ireland. Whilst New Zealand may not be very good at winning world cups, they are very good at winning rugby games during the intermittent years.
Seeing a lame Paul O'Connell hobble around the pitch for ten second half minutes summed Ireland up for me. They may, on the surface, strike you as one of the world's top sides, but the harsh reality is they are heading over the hill and are in no hurry to admit as much.
The sooner Kidney, and the Irish public, realise they are not the side they once were for two weeks back in 2006, the better. As not until that stage will they be able to re-build a squad capable of one day beating the All Blacks. But for now, if you are Irish, prepare yourself for a few more years of disappointment.
By Marcus Leach