Indigenous Animals

Down in the beautiful south we have a vast array of ingig.. indgenus...engerdi... native critters, rumour has it there are more things that can kill you in every square mile than in the rest of the world combined.

But you know one thing you won't see, resplendent on the open plains of beautiful Australia? It's the dreaded and feared Ruck Monkey.

That's one thing you jokers have over us.  

If a defending player reaches over to pick up the ball he MUST place his hands ONLY on the ball.  If he touches the ground then BOOMFA! he's pinged for obstructing the ruck or going off his feet, or both. It's a fair call, who knows when you might accidentally slam your goily bands on a tarantula or a snake or something that was recently living in the Honey Badger's perm. Good call refs. It's for the player's own good.

Now I notice that the self same proud southern referees that ping this week in and week out in the Rugby Champs and the legendary SUPERugby seem to turn a blind eye the second they set foot on your hallowed turf up here.

My question is: Ruck Monkeys, will they be sighted at the World Cup?   This could decide the whole shooting show as far as I'm concerned.

Better the ruck monkey from the south than the bellyfloppers from the north, eh?

Sorry bud, thought you said belly dancers there for a second and I needed a moment of quiet contemplation.

I have no problem with proud Southern referees turning a blind eye to Northern belly-flop ways.

There are no overly dangerous critters up here, the ground is soft under-foot, bellys flop whether they are inclined to or not, only the guy underneath is in danger, toes still firmly on the ground mostly
Fair revision of safety protocols by proud Southern refs.

Ruck Monkey? Rubbish, it's as dead as the thylacine. The ruck has been extinct for so long there's only a few of us left who can claim to have seen a live one.

I saw the name and didn't hope for much of an intelligent post, something along the lines of spelling 'Indigenous' in the title then pretending not to be able to in the body was pretty expected, then a slight on NH rugby from an Austrlian who sounds too pigeon to be believable as one. However I thought I'd give you the benefit of the doubt and click....

I'm actually glad I did, however turgidly you've presented a discussion point I think the discussion point is a valid one (when you minus Hooper, Pocock, Mccaw from your view of SH ruck monkeys being totally innocent and free from touching the floor when poaching, because, you know, they kind of all do).

In my view there are 3 trends in international rugby:

The weasel - moves nose to grass, stalks the tackle contact like a cheetah waiting to pounce from the longer grass, then tries to produce a feat of Houdini esque brilliance by eleviating the opposition of that pesky ball. Think Warburton and Hooper.

The Warthog - a version of the Weasel, but without the foot speed, vision and cunning, and therefore using brut force. The Warthog uses his sheer strength, size and lack of sense of well being to roll as much weight as he can beyond the ball without annoying a ref. He gets pinged more, but slows ball more. Think Paul o Connel, Pocock, Dan Cole, Mccaw.

Lastly the Rhino. No guile or cunning whatsoever so just looks to demolish rucks in front of him to win ball, Rhinos generally (or at least try to) travel in small packs, they test weakness, and once an attacking rucker is found wanting KAPOW, the herd drive straight through him like long grass. These guys are Burger, DuPlessis, Healy and Louw.

I think the battle of the breakdown is key to any game, even more so in the RWC where differing styles will meet, and differing refs from all over will judge whats legal and what isn't.

The only constant is the ability of the players to read the game and ref, and figure out as quickly as possible what will be tolerated and what will not, he who see's the trend earliest will prosper, or more commonly known as 'do what Ritchie is getting away with'.