Different Week, same old story

For the second week in a row, the All Blacks were robbed by an appalling decision by a local TMO.

After the shocking debacle in Port Elizabeth a week ago, toothless Paddy O'Brien's IRB refereeing so-called Elite panel have come in for more criticism after a shambles in the Tri-nations decider between New Zealand and Australia.

This time the villain was parochial Australian Matt Goddard. Faced with with video evidence clearly indicating a 22 meter restart after excellent work by All Black Veteran Muliaina, the local notorious Australian indicated to controversial Englishman Wayne Barnes that he believed a 5 meter scrum to his home team Australia was warranted.

With 3 key backrowers temporarily injured, Australia worked a move close to the scrum and scored what turned out to be the games clinching try.

Barnes, who himself this time took a more active role than usual in the All Blacks down fall after impeding Adam Thompson as he attempt to put a tackle of Samo, creating an unimpeded run to the try line for the Australia 8, was this time additionally rather let down by his assistants. Firstly Goddard, and secondly by another South African who was fooled by some Hollywood theatrics by Adam Ashley-Cooper who ran into the back of Kevin Mealamu and then threw himself to the ground in the style more befitting the closing act of Hamlet. This was enough for the South African to disrupt All Black momentum and award a penalty shot to Cooper.

IRB head referee Paddy O'Brien has presided over an era of controversy as chief referee. Many experts have levelled blame for the fall of the games professional adjudication into chaos as he has failing to address the inadequate level of the so-called top level referees. O'Brien was responsible for appointing inexperienced Wayne Barnes to referee the All Blacks when the were thrown out of the 2007 world cup in one of the worst refereeing displays in the professional era where he failed to penalise France for any one of 27 indiscretions in the last 60 minutes and missed a blatantly forward pass.

O'Brien was also responsible for the debacle which saw the two hemispheres play under different rules for 2 years throwing the global game into chaos.



Unsurprisingly Cooper missed the kick, but the controversial Australian already looks set to miss the world cup after being cited for a cynical off the ball knee to the head of All Black legend Richie McCaw. Many industry pundits have suggested that despite the obvious cynicism that Cooper may escape sanction if O'brien continues his trend of inadequate accountability in the global game.

"Unless Paddy gets off his chuff and does something about the state of the game, this kind of unacceptable travesty will continue to roll off the international rugby conveyor belt." our correspondent said.

Could the TMO also remind the ABs where the back foot is?

Agreed - the commentator was absolutely spot on, New Zealand werent behind the hind most foot once in that match.

You got beaten fair and square by the better team on the day. All Blacks off side all night - Barnes was more than lenient with their illegal plays.

Like you say though, Cooper was his mercurial self again, blowing a few tries, missing sitters and asking the right questions to McCaw.

You are a shocking loser GG... and an unbelievable WUM!

Try to have your own opinions and not just parrot whatever the parrochial commentator's spew out.

They are my opinions. What are your parrochial commentators whining about now? Let me guess....

By the way - nice forward pass last week. It should have been 18-0!

What about Ali Williams trip TGG? That was just as bad wasnt it, or did you not see that?

So you're a little upset again. How miserable you are!

Would that be the "trip" that only the commentator saw? Looked like an Aussie (was it Ashley-Cooper AGAIN?) throwing himself over a leg to try to milk a penalty.

I thought that Barnes was extremely lenient on the AB's scrummaging as well as the second row feeding by Weepu TBH.
That said, the lot of them also missed some shocking lineout throwing by the Aussies as well.

eirebilly wrote:What about Ali Williams trip TGG? That was just as bad wasnt it, or did you not see that?

He doesn't see those kind of illegal plays, Billy - also the late tackle was conveniently omitted from his pathetic rant.

gg
so were the all blacks off side or not?

Congratulations to Robbie Deans!

Henry must be even grumpier tonight.

There is nothing wrong with being upset but you are so bitter it must hurt.

The Aussies were deserved winner tonight, set up by an incredibly strong 1st half.

I didnt think that there was too much in the late tackle Line, deserved penalty but nothing more..

Credit to the AB's for coming back in the second half in such a strong manner, it was very impressive and i thought that the Aussies were gone. That try for the Aussies took all the steam out of the AB's. Absolutely brilliant match won by the better team on the day.

That trip was clear as day, as was the AB's defending in front of the last feet all game.

I must have missed the AB alleged "off side" whilst I was watching the replay of Wayne Barnes impeding Adam Thompson as he attempt to tackle Samo.

If you missed that little gem, re-watch the "try". As Pocock (still offside from the short up and under) takes the ball and passes it. Barnes runs into Thompson's path and he has to check his run and step around him, leaving a clear run to the line for Samo.

I really wish Barnes would sort out his positional play.

Also hard to see how Barnes "didn't see" Coopers knee to the head of McCaw - he was standing right in front of him.

Selective eye-sight from the English whistler again.

Hardly a surprise though - as you'll see as soon as I saw the dread-pairing of Barnes and Goddard I congratulated Australia on their victory last week.

Thompson had a shocker... was turned inside-out by Samo. Barnes was nowhere near.

Enjoy watching the replays!

Well done Wayne Barnes on an excellent performance.

Well done Australia. Well done the TMO.

Well done TGG for being gracious in defeat. Oh hang on....

Sorry what TGG? Samo turned Thompson inside out with a clever upper boody turn and strode away. I didnt see Barnes interfeering at all???

Watch again Nottins. Watch again.

Of course you won't. But if you do, you'll see I'm right.

wow isnt it amazing how different people see such different things, if I had any criticism of barnes to night it would only be that if he is going to set himself as a "B" or "C" defender in the D line he should do some tackling.Didnt genia love it , good on him.

Cant believe people are criticising the put in to the scrums, I did not see one scrum that was won by be being hooked by a hooker,It is physically impossible for a hooker to strike when they are packed that low.

Ooooo the E-drama

I was worried about Barnes performance though, I hope he picks more foul play up especially Wales play the Island teams. Though I expect he will be spoken to about his performance today.

Whoever brought up the Cooper Bingo during the week was right though.

His non-tackle on Nonu for the second AB try was just hillarious.

Agree with Auckland Laurie on Barnes though. His impeding of Thompson was a disgrace.

Australian line-out was a joke. They only balls they won were from the blatantly crooked throws that they started using in the second half.

That first half display from the Aussies was something else. As an Irish fan i am really worried now about facing them.

Sorry to my Aussie mates but i really wanted the AB's to destroy you today.......... For obvious reasons of course

Linebreaker wrote:Thompson had a shocker... was turned inside-out by Samo. Barnes was nowhere near.

Enjoy watching the replays!

Indeed. TGG must be colour blind if he thought Barnes impeded Thompson as he fell off the tackle

Here's the try: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLaSAxYQmns

14 seconds in and Barnes is no where near Thompson as he plays pat a cake with Samo.

Pocock wasnt offside he was standing directly behind Genia when he made the kick. Thompson did bump into Barnes but that didnt stop him from making the tackle it was just a poor effort.

TheGreyGhost wrote:Watch again Nottins. Watch again.

Of course you won't. But if you do, you'll see I'm right.

Watched it again and again on the link I've posted above. Never mind, NZ lost. Again. 2 weeks in a row now. I wonder how long it will take for you to get over it ? 4 more years ?

Look at 13 seconds Nottins - Barnes runs right into Thompson, who has to stop and go around him. It makes him a second late to the tackle.

Barnes was standing right in the AB defensive line all night. THe Wallabies were running at him.

There was a slight collision but hardly interfeering at all. The Aussies did not change their attack to incorperate Barnes' position. Thompson was simply beaten.

He clearly bumps into Barnes but then has ample time to recover and make a decent attempt which he then falls off.

4 more years? what are you talking about.

NZ won the 3N last year, and this was the last one.

If you really want to have a conversation about success in the 3N then go ahead. Perhaps you could look up the stats first?

As everyone knows the 3N was devalued by team rotation. If NZ had been serious they would have played a serious team last week.

What Australia did better than the ABs at lineout time was giving ball off the top, New Zealand didnt really start doing it until Victor Vito came on .

That Australian team will shove 50 points up Ireland, looks like I've spent $300 dollars to watch a mismatch.on 17 September.

He clearly bumps into Barnes but has ample time to recover?

It's not the point. Defenders shouldn't be impeded by the referee. If he'd had another second the gap wouldn't have been there to run into.

TheGreyGhost wrote: If NZ had been serious they would have played a serious team last week.

Well if they're not serious about it then they don't deserve to win it.

4 more years for you to get over another NZ loss. It's quite simple to understand

The ref is part of the landscape... does Thompson not have eyes?

It's unfortunate that Barnes is part of the landscape, I'll agree.

But if you apply that argument then surely it applies equally to Ashley-Coopers hollywood to milk a penalty as he delieberately runs into Mealmu and then throws himself to the ground?

Or Ali Williams leg that Ahsley-Cooper again chose to pretend to trip over?

TheGreyGhost wrote:It's not the point. Defenders shouldn't be impeded by the referee. If he'd had another second the gap wouldn't have been there to run into.

Players shouldn't deliberately trip opposition players or impede them when they are chasing a kick.

See above.

Australia got a penalty when Ashley-Cooper pretended to be impeded by running directly in Mealamu.

Barnes should have had the decency to stop play, or at least stop impeding the AB defenders.

I think you'll find Toeava steps in front of him and, in effect, pushes AAC into Mealamu. Does Ali William's leg hang naturally in that position? He should see someone about it.

Toeava was running in the direction of the ball. Cooper knows he's going to get nowhere near the kick and throws himself to the ground. Disgraceful, disgraceful stuff.

Funny how officials can "see" this stuff when the crowd roars, but both of them were standing either side of the ruck when Cooper kneed McCaw in the head, and yet they couldn't "see" that...

It's disgraceful. But as I said earlier, you expect this utter, utter nonsense when Barnes is the whistler.

Lol

TheGreyGhost wrote:See above.

Australia got a penalty when Ashley-Cooper pretended to be impeded by running directly in Mealamu.

Barnes should have had the decency to stop play, or at least stop impeding the AB defenders.

There's no law about a referee impeding a player, only if the ball hits him. You wouldn't want a referee making a law up now, would you ?

You'll also notice how silent the 3 Aussie commentator's were when Cooper kneed McCaw in the head, but how vocal they were about the alleged "trip" by Williams - funny thing is that nobody fell over after the "trip", so it can't have been a very good one.

Full Credit wrote:I think you'll find Toeava steps in front of him and, in effect, pushes AAC into Mealamu. Does Ali William's leg hang naturally in that position? He should see someone about it.

Great weekend so far... all my teams winning.

GH looked very worried about the injuries to Read and Thompson. I hope they can recover quickly.

Come on - "there is no law about referees impeding a player", I seem to remember Steve Walsh causing a bit of a storm when he try to impede the 16th English player from running onto the field when Samoa were putting English under too much pressure for 15 men to handle...

Even though the AB's lost today, i still cant see them being beaten at the RWC. They lost to an Australian team that were better on the day but i still feel as if the AB's are the better team.

Walsh wasn't the referee that day, it was Kaplan.