'Mystery' penalty sinks Waratahs

[NewsBot]

Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie has described as a "mystery" the penalty that clinched last night's Super 14 semi-final for the Hurricanes in Wellington.{br}{br}View the Entire Article{br}

[Burgs]

Not sure if he's going for the old "No no Al, it was the whole team that failed" or not, but I agree that he should be blaming himself.
Centre field after turning a kick off into a scrum, his most important scrum since the England debacle and he gives away a penalty on his own feed.
Perplexed or not, he himself admits that he should have been good enough to avoid that.
Without injury I think Baxter will be lucky to see the gold jersey again.
Seasons are not determined by single events but matches certainly are, and with the Tahs out of second chances in this match it was ultimately Baxter who cost the match.
Tuqiri was again in devastating form when he ran however his tine in the Centres appears to have encouraged him to kick too often and he rarely passes in the tackle as virtually all of the Canes showcased last night when they were running in attack.
Rogers also was in good form and appears to need the extra room at Fullback to fully shine.
Hewat demonstrated again why he isn't reliable enough to be a Wallaby and Turinui has hopefully also played his last game for some time for Australia.
Polota-Nau's throw is still wayward at times however, he brings a great deal in broken play as he showed soon after taking the field.
As fractious as he is I think Sheehan again stepped up and is a likely replacement for Gregan.
After some early defensive clangers, Halangahu improved throughout the match and pulled off some decent tackles in the second half to redeem himself.
While Hoiles had a fair match I think Lyons had the better of the second half and would he would have started if there was to be a Tahs Final.
Elsom gave everything and should be back on the selection table with his aggression and "mongrel".
Finally, here's hoping that Vickerman hasn't sustained any long term leg injury, he will be vital for the Wallabies and was absolutely awesome (again!) in the lineouts.


Baxter fears for test future
By Darren Walton in Wellington
May 20, 2006

WARATAHS prop Al Baxter fears for his Wallabies future after blaming himself for the Waratahs' Super 14 season-ending loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington overnight.

With the Waratahs having just grabbed a one-point lead with 10 minutes left in the semi-final, Baxter was penalised for dragging a scrum down right on halfway after the Hurricanes were penalised for being in front of the kicker.

Hurricanes replacement five-eighth Jimmy Gopperth didn't need a second invitation to win the match for the home team and duly slotted the resulting penalty kick from 50 metres out to clinch a 16-14 victory.

While mystified at referee Jonathan Kaplan's decision to penalise him, Baxter said he was devastated for letting his teammates down.

Baxter said he couldn't understand the decision given the Waratahs had the scrum feed and that while his body position was intact he couldn't say the same for the Hurricanes front row.

"It's just extraordinary," he said.

"I don't think he was sympathetic to us, but you get away with what you can. If you can get away with it, then fair play to you, I guess.

"I guess it comes down to the fact that I should have been better at just powering straight over the top and then it wouldn't have been an issue.

"But I was absolutely perplexed by being penalised.

"I'm disappointed in myself more than anything else. I feel like I let the team down, unfortunately.

"If I'd been more dominant it wouldn't have been a 50-50 call. So I do feel almost entirely responsible. I'm pretty disappointed in myself.

"I guess I have to make sure I build on this and hopefully get further selection and try and keep going."

Compounding Baxter's torment was the fact that the home team's only try had come earlier in the game after the Hurricanes created a turnover from a Waratahs scrum.

"It hurts a lot. That's obviously my area of responsibility and if those areas don't go right then I look at myself at not doing the job I was supposed to do," said the 29-year-old veteran of 31 Tests for Australia.

This latest setback comes after Baxter had worked tirelessly this season to restore his reputation that had been battered on the Wallabies' tour of Europe late last year.

Baxter was a member of the Australian front row humiliated by the English at Twickenham and he now admits to being concerned that his performance against the Hurricanes will have a lasting impression on the national selectors.

"Definitely. When things don't go your way, you always worry about that kind of stuff," he said.

"I wasn't thinking about it on the field but, when you think back on it, you hope you've done enough in the season to get picked.

"But let's just wait and see. There's nothing I can do now to change any of that, so it's just in Knuckles' (Wallabies coach John Connolly's) hands."

Connolly and fellow selectors will name a preliminary squad this week for next month's two Tests against England.

[RugbyFan]

I think it is a bit harsh to blame Al Baxter. Have a look at the scrum, and the couple of scrums before and after. Look at the Waratahs Loose-head side, Matt Dunning was getting nailed! The scrum was collapsing because the Hurricanes Tight-head wasn't binding, in which Matt Dunning couldn't do anything but rest his hand on the ground, which everyone knows is not a good position for a prop to be in.

[frontrow]

As a front rower i feel for the boys, but arguably, the front row is where Australia need to look at in the coming international arena.....

[Burgs]

I think it is a bit harsh to blame Al Baxter. Have a look at the scrum, and the couple of scrums before and after. Look at the Waratahs Loose-head side, Matt Dunning was getting nailed! The scrum was collapsing because the Hurricanes Tight-head wasn't binding, in which Matt Dunning couldn't do anything but rest his hand on the ground, which everyone knows is not a good position for a prop to be in.

Where I am coming from RF is firstly, it was Baxter who was pointed to as responsible for that vital penalty secondly, it happens regularly and thirdly, if he is an "International standard" Tighthead he should be able to hold his own enough to make it obvious who is at fault when the Ref is right there, or at least hold up long enough for the Scrumhalf to clear such a critical scrum.
He has been doing revision all year since England and that single scrum was the exam, he failed.