Here comes the other side of Sir Woodentop.. the excuses and or foul play / bad ref spin.
The O'Driscoll injury!!
In the sports headlines here:
"O'Driscoll was cleared out of a ruck early (1st Minute) in his team's 21-3 loss in Christchurch. He has a dislocated shoulder and believes it is the result of an illegal spear tackle.
O'Driscoll blames his All Blacks opposite number Tana Umaga for the injury, and calls it deliberate foul play. He's also disappointed Umaga didn't check on him while he was being stretchered off, which he says should be a common courtesy between captains and may show an element of guilt.
Sir Clive Woodward says they have clear views of what happened from both New Zealand and UK television footage.
However an independent commissioner has found the All Blacks have no case to answer.
Welshman Gareth Thomas takes over as captain of the tour, and the team to play Manawatu on Tuesday will now be named at 6 o'clock this evening.
To rub salt into the Lions wounds, reserve lock Danny Grewcock has been cited for allegedly biting Kevin Mealamu."
Well Clive... O'Driscoll wasn't playing well on tour... it clearly wasn't a spear tackle and Grecock deserved a lot more than the two months suspension he got for biting ... you have chefs in your entourage howabout feeding the players!!!
Well, Well
Sir Clive has admitted that his first Test selection was crap by changing 50% of the squad, and at least he is only playing 1 Fly Half this time, maybe he reads these forums.
Jason Robinson must be the luckiest man in the entire touring party, woefully out of form since 2003 yet still in the starting 15! and Sir Clive is hoping to cure the lineout problems by having the ball thrown in by Steve Thompson, maybe Little Stevie Wonder will get called up for the 3rd Test.
Anyway I will be cheering the boys on saturday breakfast time, at least they can't perform as badly as the first test . . . . . can they??
What chance a Welshman scoring the winning try? Hopefully not Ali Williams this time 🙂
I haven't seen millions of replays of O'Driscoll being cleared from the ruck / tackled.
What exactly happened? When he was lying on the grass crying like a baby we saw some replays, but I saw nothing conclusive.
Good god man, this is rugby. A full contact sport.
Players get injured all the time! What's everyone whining about?
Originally posted by CrowleyHe was cleared from a ruck by two players grabbing a leg each and up-ending him and driving him into the ground, resulting in a severe shoulder dislocation which took 25 minutes to get back in. If he had \n't craned his head, he would have broken his neck.
I haven't seen millions of replays of O'Driscoll being cleared from the ruck / tackled.
What exactly happened? When he was lying on the grass crying like a baby we saw some replays, but I saw nothing conclusive.
Good god man, this is ...[text shortened]...
Players get injured all the time! What's everyone whining about?
I don't have a problem with the likelyhood of injury in rugby - I played the game for 10 years. The issue is the type and intent of the tackle. The only reason the players involved weren't punished was because the TV footage couldn't positively identify the players involved.
Originally posted by CrowleyYes its a contact sport, but that simply allows for the occasional high shot by a lazy arm.
I haven't seen millions of replays of O'Driscoll being cleared from the ruck / tackled.
What exactly happened? When he was lying on the grass crying like a baby we saw some replays, but I saw nothing conclusive.
Good god man, this is rugby. A full contact sport.
Players get injured all the time! What's everyone whining about?
Would you say someone getting their head deliberately stamped on in a ruck is ok as it is a 'contact sport'?
In my opinion, whether it is a contact sport or not does not mean people can set about deliberately trying to injure other players.
Originally posted by welsharnieActually, there's nothing wrong with some good old rucking if you are on the wrong side of a ruck (not jumping on the head though, just a little scrape).
Would you say someone getting their head deliberately stamped on in a ruck is ok as it is a 'contact sport'?
Originally posted by XanthosNZHowever you can tell that the ball is nowhere near the incident!!
Have I missed some view of the 'incident'? Whenever they show it on TV I can't tell what the hell is going on.
It is typical of sport that a "Home Player" escapes punishment for such violence and obvious cheating.
Let's hope that no-one gets injured in the second test, although if Tantrum Umaga gets carried off, not many of us will be too upset
🙂
Originally posted by PullhardThe independant ref has looked at all the angles from UK TV and heard the complaint and said it was without foundation. Clive has been told to shut up whinging and get on with the rugby.
He was cleared from a ruck by two players grabbing a leg each and up-ending him and driving him into the ground, resulting in a severe shoulder dislocation which took 25 minutes to get back in. If he had \n't craned his head, he would have broken his neck.
I don't have a problem with the likelyhood of injury in rugby - I played the game for 10 years. ...[text shortened]... weren't punished was because the TV footage couldn't positively identify the players involved.
Thats the first time I've heard it described like that.. and only saw the news replay. They complained that Umaga hit him hard with a twist ..the twist took him to the ground inverted resulting in injury.
It wasn't malicious it was just the angle Umaga was rising from..you have to use a twisting action to get them off their feet some guys go over easy ... like O'Driscoll. They never once complained that the tackle was late or without the ball.
For non rugby readers: A spear tackle is when you up end someone and pile drive them into the groung head first. most spectactular in Ice Hockey... lol
Never stop playing get out and get in the mud.. I'm pushing 50 and still wouldn't refuse getting out there.. (tight head)