McCaw gets away with more: Connolly

McCaw gets away with more: Connolly

Monday, July 16, 2007

Wallabies rugby coach John Connolly today added more spice to the ongoing Richie McCaw debate, claiming referees gave the All Blacks captain more leeway than other flankers.

Connolly applied the early pressure on Welsh referee Nigel Owens before Saturday's Tri-Nations/Bledisloe Cup decider in Auckland when he joined the Springboks in questioning McCaw's methods.

"He (McCaw) plays right on the edge, there's no doubt, and we hope the referee keeps a close eye on it," Connolly said.

"I've always thought he gets away with a bit more but he is a great player and great players push the boundaries, especially in that position."

Asked if McCaw got away with more than his Wallabies opposite George Smith, Connolly played a straighter bat.

"They're different types of players."

An irate Springboks captain Johann Muller claimed McCaw got special treatment at the contentious tackled ball area, after he escaped punishment while flanker Pedrie Wannenburg was sin-binned by Australian referee Stu Dickinson during the All Blacks' 33-6 win in Christchurch.

"It just amazes me that for exactly that same infringement Richie McCaw wasn't sent off," Muller said.

"If McCaw was wearing a green jersey and had blond hair (Schalk Burger) or a yellow jersey and dreadlocks (Smith), he would never finish a test."

But Connolly disagreed with the notion that McCaw got special treatment because of his status as All Blacks captain.

"(Captaincy) does make a difference in some cases, not particularly in this case."

The All Blacks leapt to McCaw's defence yesterday, assistant coach Steve Hansen describing the renewed debate as "nonsense".

"It's easy to say Richie's getting away with blue murder. But if you remove the emotion out of it, he's very good at making a tackle, getting to his feet, fighting for the ball, particularly when we've won the tackle," Hansen said.

"A lot of the time he's forcing them to come from the side to remove him, so we should be getting the penalty. He's that quick, he'll make a tackle and get to his feet. Sometimes it's an optical illusion.":iconrofl: :iconrofl: :iconrofl:

NZPA

optical illusion :iconrofl:

yea i agree its an optical illusion for sure. sometimes it just looks like he is putting his hands in the ruck or comming from the side or killing the ball but it is accualy the australian players making it look like that:iconrofl:

Yeah I saw that one. Bloody Kiwis. Ya gotta love 'em. :rolleyes:

I was relieved actually. For the past few years I thought I must have been seeing things that weren't really there. :duh:

The man is a menace - I'd respect the All Blacks and their achievements if they didn't cheat all the time - don't know why the refs don't penalize him and some of the others too

He was untouchable for a long time but the World is wakeing up to him at long last and the All Blacks are not the same team at the moment. It helps with Carter losing form also. God i love it:) Cough, choke etc

There is more to it than that - he has a double act with So'ialo and Collins.
Collins or So'ialo will make a tackle and they will attempt to go down between the tackler and his own team. McClaw will attempt to jackal the ball from where ever he can get in. Collins or So'ialo will no attempt to move.
One of five things will happen -
1. McClaw will get the ball.
2. The referee determines it's tied up - scrum New Zealand.
3. Penalty to New Zealand for not releasing.
4. Penalty against New Zealand for tackler not rolling away.
5. Penalty against New Zealand for hands in the ruck.

60% chance of a turn over in theory.
But I have never seen Collins or So'ialo get pinged for not rolling away so more often than not it's turnover ball for McClaw, a scrum or penalty to New Zealand. That's cheating and the referee is not picking it up!