All Blacks to be stripped of Rugby Championship title?

Will the All Blacks be stripped of their hard fought rugby championship title for either an administration error or deliberate cheating in fielding a team that differed from the formally announced team?

...no. Now enjoy the win for heaven's sake man.

You really should seek help GE.

Go and enjoy the win! You're team have just stunned everyone with a fantastic display on the pitch. Why the Frak are you on a message board mate.

Hung over. Bit grumpy.

Well go and get back on it! You'll feel better in no time...

They should be penalised, I suppose. But stripped is a little gung-ho. Just enough for them to keep the RC, but know they were naughty.

GE, do you have a life away from here?....seriously pilgrim!

GloriousEmpire wrote:Will the All Blacks be stripped of their hard fought rugby championship title for either an administration error or deliberate cheating in fielding a team that differed from the formally announced team?

I thought you left?
Maybe the dichotomy of essentially being in two places at once is getting to you? Kind of similar to a collision of matter and anti-matter?

In this particular case I don't know the error.
But its clear they must be stripped of their title. Cheating buggers.

GloriousEmpire wrote:Will the All Blacks be stripped of their hard fought rugby championship title for either an administration error or deliberate cheating in fielding a team that differed from the formally announced team?

I thought you left?
Maybe the dichotomy of essentially being in two places at once is getting to you?  Kind of similar to a collision of matter and anti-matter?

In this particular case I don't know the error.  
But its clear they must be stripped of their title.  Cheating buggers.

tigerleghorn wrote:GE, do you have a life away from here?....seriously pilgrim!

Yes. An awesome one thanks!

You have to ask the hard questions. The All Blacks were undeniably fantastic and unfortunately South Africa Learned that you can't just switch to an unfamiliar game plan and expect to execute it well enough to beat the best in the world. But god, if only they'd play like that every time! They look genuinely dangerous with ball in hand but if that was to be the game plan then why Steyn at 10? His defense was weak and he is just not suited to the expansive game. Losing Habana was a huge blow too.

I wonder though, did Dane Coles suit the state of the match better than Mealamu? Interesting things to follow.

Did it give them an unfair advantage.... No then it's fine. Let Hansen give the guy who made the mistake a couple of slaps in the changing room after and be forced to carry all the bags back to he team bus on his own is enough of a punishment.

Similar to when England played 20 secs with an extra player... He didn't tackle a single player or carry the ball during the mix up... Had it been Georgia no one would have batted an eyelid... Given it was a title contender I'm sure it gave rivals a reason to raise voice.

its not the same as having 16 players on the pitch.

fa0019 wrote:Did it give them an unfair advantage.... No then it's fine. Let Hansen give the guy who made the mistake a couple of slaps in the changing room after and be forced to carry all the bags back to he team bus on his own is enough of a punishment.

Similar to when England played 20 secs with an extra player... He didn't tackle a single player or carry the ball during the mix up... Had it been Georgia no one would have batted an eyelid... Given it was a title contender I'm sure it gave rivals a reason to raise voice.

Sneaking too many players on the pitch in a RWC is a totally different thing. England should have forfeit the game in my view. The rules say they should've been penalised where the player entered the field. Neither happened.

A mistake is a mistake.... Common sense should prevail.. Especially if it didn't have an impact on the game which it didn't... If you recall many were saying they should have been thrown out the tournament.... Only because some couldn't bare to see them actually win it.

I think NZ should be forced to take back.

I know this seems like a draconian punishment for a simple admin error, but fair's fair.

There must be a runner/lacky job going at the PR dept for the NZRU?

JDV is getting all the credit in NZ for downplaying the significance of this incident at the time and rightly so, he deserves much credit. Once again, JDV has shown himself to be a very admirable sportsman. Since he's been captain, he has done nothing but good things on and off the pitch. I salute you sir.

To be fair, such a blunder by Shand or whomevers role it was to do such a simple task is inexcusable, shame on him/them. Similar kind of admin error happened with our Val Adams (shotput gold medalist at the London Olympics) and there was a public outcry and people hung out to dry. This ABs blunder, thanks to JDV, will be swept under the carpet. But boy did it add to the drama.

To be fair Mealamu and Coles look very similar and it's an easy typo to make. Indeed there is a Coles supermarket in Brisbane that actually bears the name Mealamu because of that very same typo error.

I cringed when he came up with that excuse. It was as bad as saying no that guy's Mealamu, I don't know what you're on about.

Ha, yeah, does he have fat fingers or something? There was a bit of desperation in his voice. Could have panned out much differently but thankfully not.

Just checked MS word, and Coles autocorrects to Mealamu so it was an honest mistake after all.

The incident was treated on the field with great dignity by De Villiers and the officials.
Leave it there IF some petty BureauCrat wants to strip the AllBlacks of the 4N`s FINE.
It still won`t convince the World that any other side won the 4Ns on the field will it?

agree...a dead issue until the IRB decide to deal with it. Love to know what the protocols for this are as why on earth Owens was required to confront it with everything else going on is beyond me. Some official decided to run on and have Owens sort something due to an administrative error?

What if Owens had taken some obscure ruling like sent cole off or called the game off?

The IRB needs to review its policy of handing such matters if its current protocol to have an official run on and get the ref to sort it...mind boggling.

But Coles could have rightly been sent off though

Never going to happen, a slap on the wrist and fine will suffice if yes IF they think its worth chasing up.

Out of interest any one name a rugby team that has had it's title stripped for some form of cheating?

ebop wrote:JDV is getting all the credit in NZ for downplaying the significance of this incident at the time and rightly so, he deserves much credit. Once again, JDV has shown himself to be a very admirable sportsman. Since he's been captain, he has done nothing but good things on and off the pitch. I salute you sir.

You might want to have a listen to the ref's audio again. JDV clearly asks Nigel Owen to overturn the try a number of times - he knew he would look really bad for complaining directly about Coles, however he clearly wanted the AB's to suffer some form of punishment as a result of the "typo".

It's also interesting to note that (i) at the official naming of the team during the week, (ii) the pre-match game day training run on Ellis Park and (iii) the fact that Mealamu was sitting in the stands, that Cole was the reserve Hooker and it would have been pedantry of the highest order to complain about this.

Did he? I know that's what TJ our NZ commentator was saying but I couldn't make this out on the audio.

What I don't understand, was that people knew about this before the game as the NZ commentators knew about it before hand, so why did it need to be raised 'during the game'.

Also, if this was the case, why did Hansen give a ringing endorsement of JDV's behavior in the after match interview?

If you listen closely you can hear JDV say what about the try etc. when the officials are talking and then he asks the ref again when they go back to where the stoppage in play occurs.

I totally agree about Coles as everyone knew he was playing and it was quite obvious he was as he was lined up for the anthems and was on the bench - Mealamu was in the stands - silly silly error. I though Shand was quite funny saying "I've done 120 tests" - like that should make a difference, but probably helped with the "sincerity" call Nigel Owens made.

Deducting them of 5 points and giving them to the Boks* still wouldn't be enough, as the All Blacks finished on 28 and the Boks 18, didn't they? That would leave them on 23 each, and then it goes by 'head to head' result, and NZ won 2 from 2. If it went to point differentiation, Boks could win due to that 70 pointer against the Puma's.

*This is usually the punishment for fielding an ineligible player. However in this instance, New Zealand are not guilty of doing that.



EDIT - oops, SA finished on 19 points. NZ won't suffer a points deduction anyway, so relax.

A question no one has asked(?) or answered is how was Coles was let on the field by the 4th official if his name wasn't on the teamsheet?

So if Coles hadn't been allowed on the field, could Mealamu who was running the touchline with the "Water" vest on have been allowed to put on Coles shirt and trot out there?