by Rajitha Ratwatte

A cloudless blue sky, the temperature hovering around 10 degrees Celsius, dry conditions underfoot all the requirements for a day of glorious running rugby in Aotearoa – New Zealand. The Maori All Blacks (basically a name for the second string) and the mighty All Blacks themselves on show against the Pacific nations of Samoa and Tonga. The Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland full of colourful Pacifica come to support their teams, all in all, a rugby fan’s day in heaven!

The betting heavily in favour of the “black” teams but the first match got off to a hotly contested start. Manu Samoa in this their second outing in two weeks against the Maori Abs’ keeping the home team scoreless for the first 20 minutes and making the scores level in the 23rd minute. The NZ no10 Oteri Black who was probably playing his last game on NZ soil (choosing to take a lucrative overseas contract) began to dominate play with some searing runs and judicious kicking. The final score read 38 – 21 to the Maori All Blacks in a good hard-fought game however, unfortunately, it was not the rugby that was the issue!

The controversy began a minute before half time the NZ team crossed the line, but the try was denied by the on-field refereeing team due to non-grounding. When referred to the TMO not only was this confirmed but the TMO found a technicality and the Samoan number five was accused of collapsing a maul basically inches in front of the try line (if it happened over the line the rule doesn’t apply) and the mandatory punishment of a penalty try and a yellow card was applied by Mike Frazer the on-field ref. Now Mike Frazer had a terrible series of games during the Super Rugby Aotearoa season too by having no feel for the on-field situation of the game and simply applying the “rule is a rule” mentality! The Samoans went into halftime with the score reading 19–7 and facing the possibility of being one man short for the first eight minutes or so of the second half.

They came back roaring and scored a try under the posts within two minutes of the restart, being one player short, taking the score to 19–14. The crowd went wild, and rock music was pounding from the great sound system that the Mt. Smart Stadium has, blue flags everywhere, and even the old ladies dancing in the aisles. Controversy struck again! Another foray across the Samoan line by the Maori Blacks seemed to result in a knock-on over the line. The TMO had a look and lo and behold a Samoan player on the ground seemed to be knocking the ball out of the hands of the Black player. Pedanticity (is that even a word?) prevailed once again and in the words of Sir John Kirwan, on the commentary team “a sledgehammer was used to kill an ant”, another penalty try and a yellow card from Mike Frazer! I have spoken about the interpretation of the rules and the dire necessity for the on-field referee to have the ability to look at the game situation and make a call when applying the rules. Is this what we want our game to be? Mindless application of the rule book by officials who are unable, or do not have the confidence and integrity to read the game and make a judgment on the current implications and future repercussions to the flow of the game, of the actions of a player when applying them. It is up to the world body to take action and do it NOW!

The second game was expected to be a big win for the All Blacks and many bets had been recorded for a 100+ scoreline. The All Blacks were at full strength with the only possible weakness being Ricco Ioane at no13 a controversial decision that is sure to have repercussions when the standard of the opposition gets better. However, Ricco has had his pathway to no13 in the All Blacks paved in gold, and ever since he moved from the wing to center for the Auckland Blues and got the unreserved backing of the press, it was simply a matter of time. Aaron Smith was not needed for the game and T.J. Peranara the other contender for the number nine jersey was also not around. Beauden Barret was on the bench for the no10 position a good decision because he is primarily a no10 and was wasted at full-back during the last World Cup. Ritchie Mo’uanga was starting at no10, and the team captained by that great servant of NZ rugby, second-rower Sam Whitelock in the absence due to injury of the regular skipper Sam Cane, great decisions by the selectors.

The red jerseyed Tongans proved to be no match with the final score reading 102–0 to the New Zealanders. Will Jordan wearing the number 14 strip for the Blacks helped himself to a Michelle Pfeiffer (5 tries and not wickets as is the usual parlance) in this cricket-like score that was racked up. Jordan was all over the field and showed his flair as a great attacking fullback. Ritchie Mo’uanga was at his immaculate best, but he did miss a few kicks at goal which again may prove a weakness when the opposition gets better. Beauden Barret did a great job when he did come off the bench and even Paddy Tuapoletu, the huge number five ran 35 meters and helped himself to a try in the last few minutes of the game. George Bridges had only one try from the wing, mainly because the ball never reached the wing with the Samoan defence being breached almost at will by the Abs’. Dalton Papalii had a great game in the third row and so did Nathan Blackadder who made his All-Black debut in the footsteps of his illustrious father Todd Blackadder.

A feature was that the Tongans who could have avoided the 100-point scoreline which was achieved after the full-time siren continued to play on when they could have kicked the ball out at the siren. Beauden Barret made his intentions clear that he was going for the three-figure mark when he took a quick dropkick off the penultimate try and restarted play quickly. The officiating was much less controversial but then again there was hardly any pressure.

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