George Smith hones diplomacy skills

[travelling_gerry]

August 21, 2009 - 6:14PM

Wallabies captain George Smith is confident All Blacks rival Richie McCaw won't hold the advantage when it comes to sweet-talking the referee in Saturday night's Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cup showdown.

Usually more concerned with their battle at the breakdown, No.7s McCaw and Smith will this time also compete for the ear of South African referee Jonathan Kaplan.

McCaw has garnered a reputation as a master diplomat when it comes to dealing with whistle-blowers and has a wealth of experience with the "c" next to his name, while Smith will captain his country for just the fifth time.

"I'm not too worried about what Richie's doing with the referee, it's more about communicating with our players on how the feeling is between the referee and the team," Smith told a press conference on Friday.

"I'll make sure I get that balance and make sure that the team is aware of what needs to be done, make sure those communication lines are clear and we have a good understanding of each other, the referee and myself."

Smith took over the leadership of the Wallabies when regular skipper Stirling Mortlock was forced off Newlands with injury two weeks ago, bringing his debating skills to the fore in the 29-17 loss to South Africa.

Asked if he understood all of the rulings of Irish referee Alain Rolland, Smith said: "Referees have different interpretations of different things and the faster you adapt to that, it's going to be advantageous to yourself and to your team.

"Getting a feel for how the referee's going to referee is important early on and making sure that you're not offside with him as well."
McCaw has no doubts that will be the case for his great rival.

"He's played a hundred Tests so I reckon he's got a fairly good idea," McCaw said.
"The captaincy bit comes from seeking (to do) your job right and I know he'll be fine, he had a pretty good Test last time he was captain."

Scrums are set to be the most contentious area after the Australian pack was caned in the last Test between the two sides, in Auckland last month.
And All Blacks coach Graham Henry ramped up the pressure on Al Baxter, with the Wallabies tight-head the main offender in that game.

"It's pretty clear, you've got to be parallel to each other, you can't have angles, and there were angles in Auckland and that's why one side of the scrum kept on falling over," Henry said.

" ... (Baxter) kept falling over and his opposition kept falling over."

Deans and Henry both met with Kaplan this week, and the Wallabies coach said he was hoping for a fair go at scrum-time.

"(If) Graham's alluded to this area it may be an issue," Deans said.
"Hopefully it won't be an issue because of manipulation."
© 2009 AAP



http://news.rugbyheaven.com.au/break...0821-etmd.html

[travelling_gerry]

Rupert Guinness | August 22, 2009

ALL BLACKS coach Graham Henry has coyly put the heat back on the Wallabies scrum, claiming the pack was angling in at the engagement during their last Test in Auckland.

The Wallabies scrum was heavily penalised by South African referee Craig Joubert in the 22-16 loss at Eden Park. Three second-half penalties against tight-head prop Al Baxter cost the Wallabies nine points.

However, the often maligned Wallabies scrum then showed they were a more powerful force than they'd been given credit for against the Springboks in Cape Town a fortnight ago.

The Wallabies hope that performance will have been noted by Jonathan Kaplan, who will referee tonight's Bledisloe Cup match at ANZ Stadium, but it won't help that Henry yesterday put the Wallabies scrum back under the referee's scrutiny.

When asked if he had any concerns about it, Henry first said: ''No.''

But then he added: ''I just think if we can get consistency with the whistle and make sure the two teams play within the law at scrum time … It's pretty clear isn't it?

''You have to be parallel to each other. You can't have angles, and there were angles at Auckland.

''That is why one side of the scrum kept on falling over. One side of the scrum was a lot closer together than the other side.

''On the Baxter side, it was a long hit. He kept falling over, and his opposition kept falling over.

''If they are parallel and heads above shoulders and square, you haven't got a problem. If they do that, you are going to have a good scrum.''

The All Blacks scrum won't be changing its ways, according to hooker Andrew Hore.

''[We] don't really worry too much about what everybody else thinks. It is our domain, the front row,'' the 40-Test veteran said.

''We will just get in there. We will push one way, they will push the other. Everyone else can talk about it, and we will just get on and do the job.''

All Blacks captain and openside flanker Richie McCaw - a player questioned over the legality of his own play throughout his career - did not point the finger at the Wallabies. However, he conceded the number of scrum resets was annoying, especially when they were caused by the opposition.

McCaw did admit that some resets were inevitable, given the physical nature of a contest involving nearly two tons of players.

''[It's a] frustrating part of the game,'' he said. ''There is always going to be the odd one because of the pressure that's involved there.

''You've got eight men [on each side] going at each other. So it's never going to be perfect there every time. The big thing is [when] our scrum is not as good, or that [the opposition] gets away with deliberately doing stuff takes the advantage away. That's what gets frustrating.

''If it's just through pressure, that happens. It's one of those things that's unique in rugby.

''I'm not sure how to change it. A ton of pressure going through … it has to go somewhere.''

McCaw also agreed with Henry that rugby had to become a better product, and that the International Rugby Board could improve it by endorsing new laws for the 2011 World Cup. But the Tri Nations has shown that the boring kick-and-chase game of the undefeated Springboks is the most effective.

''You get rewarded for putting the ball in the air and playing at the right end of the field and forcing teams into mistakes,'' McCaw said. ''That needs to be looked at. I think you have to be rewarded for having the skill to use the ball in hand. That's what rugby has always been about.''


http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/n...362213447.html

[GIGS20]

Intersting how the coach and the captain both point to the wallabies being the cause for woodcock boring in........I wonder how that computes?

We seemed to handle the Beast (who IMHO) is the worst at that, so maybe we've improved a bit!

[zimeric]

Was also great to see MCaw finally get pinged for doing what everyone else seems to see every match except the ref...

[jono]

but as usual kaplan didnt follow through on his threat of yellow cards for repeated infringements at the breakdown...

[welshrugbyfan]

You can't yellow card every time someone goes off their feet. It's just a penalty, if you deliberately kill the ball where the opposition have a chance at scoring a try then its yellow.

Kaplan told Richie that he would card people for this matter, it stopped then. Besides for the ABs to get yellow carded inside their 22 the wallabies would actually have to get inside their 22, didn't happen that often last night.

[jono]

will have to watch it again, i thought there was a few more penalities after he spoke to mcaw.

on kaplan still though. were the commentators correct in saying that he had to explain the penalty to smith when smith tried to get clarification on a ruling? the one in the 1st half where kaplan told him to go away

[welshrugbyfan]

will have to watch it again, i thought there was a few more penalities after he spoke to mcaw.

on kaplan still though. were the commentators correct in saying that he had to explain the penalty to smith when smith tried to get clarification on a ruling? the one in the 1st half where kaplan told him to go away

There were probably more penalties but any good ref will only dish out yellow for deliberatley slowing the game or killing the ball, especially when it's in the 22.

Kaplan is a ref, he makes a decision and doesn't have to stand there and justify each and every time. He should tell the player/captain to go away once it is awarded. If they don't then march them 10. There are plenty of stoppages when the captain can approach him for clarification.

I think the commentators were spoken to about their performance in SA as well, Greg Clarke was especially more diplomatic last night.

[jono]

thats what i thought, i didnt think he had to justify his rulings to the captains. was a bit thrown by the commentators saying he did have to

[welshrugbyfan]

thats what i thought, i didnt think he had to justify his rulings to the captains. was a bit thrown by the commentators saying he did have to

Yeah I was a bit perplexed by that comment from Greg Martin as well.