'Head games' and other oddities
Despite Extra-time’s regular compiling artist, Howie Kahn, sampling the delights of New York, we have managed to put together an ambrosial column for you this week.
First a word from our endurance man in New York – where he took part in the ING New York Marathon: “The toughest, but most enjoyable, four hours, 26 minutes of my life. What a day, what a race and boy I am feeling it now! I need a beer.”
Now back to matters that matter – rugby!
We always expect Springbok coach Peter de Villiers to come up with a few verbal pearlers, and he certainly didn’t disappoint us last week.
However, he has strong competition in the All Black camp. Well, what do you expect, the Kiwis will never allow themselves to be upstaged by a South African!
We just had to giggle when we heard All Black coach Graham Henry and hooker Kevin Mealamu try to explain away the All Black player’s ‘brain explosion’ – his well-executed head butt on England captain Lewis Moody.
Mealamu will appear before a disciplinary hearing in Glasgow on Tuesday – where he will be charged with a breach of Law 10.4 (a), which stipulates a player cannot punch or strike an opponent with the fist or arm, including the elbow, shoulder, head or knees.
We are not going to pre-judge Mealamu, but we felt it is worth showing you the video clip and you can make up your mind.
And below is Henry and Mealamu’s attempts to wish the incident away… calling it an ‘accident’. Keep in mind, the last major head butt in a Test was by a Springbok, Bakkies Botha, on an All Black, Jimmy Cowan. There was no Springbok handy, but an Englishman will do just fine!
As we said before, the Kiwis never like to be ‘beaten to the punch’ by a Springbok, so we find Henry and Mealamu’s explanations rather entertaining.
Mealamu: “I’m not like that. No, definitely not.” (Ed: Um… were you not part of the double-barrel spear tackle that put B&I Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll out of the 2005 tour? Do you really want to go down that route?)
Henry: “He’s been cited for striking the head. It surprises me. He’s probably the cleanest player in the world, isn’t he? It was purely accidental as far as I know.” (Ed: Ditto!)
* We also have our regular caption ‘competition’, where we see which reader can come up with the best caption. We are not sure what referees Romain Poite and Stuart Dickinson are up to, but we are sure you can help!
* Finally, rugby365.com was rather critical of Springbok coach Peter de Villiers’ replacement strategy in the 23-21 win over Ireland at the weekend.
Here at Extra-time we felt it is only fair that we give the Bok coach a chance to explain the reason(s) behind his decision to take a game that was seemingly in the bag and turn it into a mad scramble for survival.
De Villiers: “O’Gara took the game to us and caused havoc. We would have been fine had they not made that substitution.
“I felt it was the right time to play attacking rugby because we had control up front.
“It’s a long tour for us, we have three Test matches to come, and you never know when we are going to have to rely on those other players, who are all talented and can give us something on attack.
“They do give us different options and we would like to see those options. I felt it was the right time to give young players exposure at this level.”
Ed: It all makes good sense, we think, with the exception that we feel the havoc was caused by the replacements… not O’Gara.
But then again, we are not the coach. He knows best.
Till next time!
PS: Keep those suggestions coming, we love them
