Kiwi's Bok chirp sparks social media backlash
REACTION: An off-the-cuff remark by New Zealand-based journalist Ben Smith has caused a social media firestorm – with some severe push-back by South African supporters.
He caused the backlash just under three weeks out from the truncated 2023 Rugby Championship – starting on July 8 when the Springboks host the Wallabies in Pretoria and Los Pumas are at home to the All Blacks in Mendoza.
Smith, on his Twitter platform, listed the number of times each of the Rugby Championship teams finished last in the competition – issuing them with a ‘wooden spoon’.
He combined the Tri-Nations (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia) with the Rugby Championship (with includes Argentina).
He awarded South Africa 11 ‘wooden spoons’, Argentina nine, Australia five and New Zealand two.
The backlash from South Africans was fierce and brutal.
Many turned their attention to South Africa’s track record at World Cups for some redemption.
Others became personal in their responses to Smith.
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Tri-Nations/Rugby Championship wooden spoons by country
South Africa: 11
Argentina: 9
Australia: 5
New Zealand: 2— Ben Smith (@bensmithrugby) June 19, 2023
Still won the same number of world cups as you mate
— Cheap African Labour 🇿🇦 🇬🇧 🇦🇺 (@SeasonTravelerZ) June 19, 2023
Winning success rate at the William Webb Ellis Rugby World Cup by country:
South Africa – 37.5%
New Zealand – 30%
Australia – 20%
England – 10%— JDW (@JacquesdeWet1) June 19, 2023
Lol. Also in breaking revelationary news, no southern hemisphere team has ever won the 6 nations.
— FM 🌻 (@FMPDoha) June 19, 2023
Much wow. Rugby World Cups by country
South Africa 3
Argentina 0
Australia 2
New Zealand 3— Dax (@Dax_17) June 19, 2023
@loumnandi sabuya isicefe somuntu madoda
— Let’s Be Fair (@Dlidlozi) June 19, 2023
Sure, Argentina weren’t in the Tri-Nations. So fair comparison would be Tri-Nations alone and Championship alone. Unless you want to just push a certain narrative, then ignore me.
— Trdr_07 (@allmightyzar) June 20, 2023
Hi @bensmithrugby lets condsider the RWC for a moment….Boks are champs 3 from 7; Allblacks are 3 from 9. Thats a strike rate of 43% for 🇿🇦 and 33% for 🇳🇿. The relevance is how you react to the truth 🤔
— PAS 22 (@PaulSchlaphoff) June 19, 2023
It must be so hard for Ben Smith to admit that SA made NZ rugby stronger. And without SA, there is no competition. Even your greats like Justin Marshall, are turning off watching Super Rugby
— Quintin Davis (@quintindavis) June 20, 2023
List their world cup strike rates. I want to see something 😉
— Jadi (@jadiWolv) June 19, 2023
Besides not knowing much about sports…Ben has also highlighted his struggles with Statistics…
— Edrich Venter (@EdrichVenter) June 19, 2023
Such professional and objective sports journalism as always. I cannot believe you only have 4k followers. Oh wait. The trolling is to retain relevance. I take that back then. Very clever for a minor rugby journo.
— Gareth Shillaw (@GarethShillaw) June 19, 2023
