r/rugbyunion • u/Die_Revenant Sharks • 1d ago
Bantz Will Skelton crawling onto the wrong side of the ruck
95
u/DrofRocketSurgery 1d ago
Little known fact, Skelton was a breakdancer in his youth. Yesterday he forgot how old he was.
47
101
u/Hater69420 Lions 1d ago
Should've seen the match thread. Pretty sure 80% of messages in the match thread were complaining about the ref. Shit experience
122
u/Sm4llsy Sale Sharks 1d ago
Youāre describing every match thread ever. Iām fairly sure most people on here only watch so they can cry about the ref.
25
u/strou_hanka Oui, I prefer club rugby š 1d ago
I wonder how they manage to watch and type and still be better than the ref...
17
u/mishatal Munster 1d ago
Seriously, where do people find the time? I check in on match threads at half time but other than that I'm watching the game. Seems weird to me to be watching with phone in hand breaking the flow of enjoying the contest.
6
10
u/warbastard Australia 1d ago
In the match threadās defence, Doleman brought a lot of that on himself with his non-decisions.
21
u/railwayed South Africa 1d ago
Yeah but in this case he was genuinely shit... On both sides. Worst reffing I've seen in a long time
12
1
8
6
u/IsNuanceDead Glasgow Warriors 1d ago
You can close the match thread you know
12
u/Hater69420 Lions 1d ago
Yeah but go to a cricket match thread and it's like people having a beer with each other (unless india is playing)
3
u/DazzlingBarracuda2 1d ago
To be fair, as a Springbok fan...Ā
2
u/Hater69420 Lions 1d ago
I completely agree, but I don't complain about the ref. I know most springboks fans that we see online do though.
2
2
u/Zealousideal-Way2048 Australia & Wales 1d ago
I mean, I was stuffing my face with a burger at one point and noticed a bokk knock on 6 phases before someone told the ref.. the ref was staring at the play. Sums it up.
97
u/Die_Revenant Sharks 1d ago
Poor Jorgensen gets his head rolled over when Skelton gets up.
21
u/fashionrequired Canada 1d ago
not too badly. looks like skelton lifted off the ground a bit before putting all of his weight on him
125
u/coupleandacamera Crusaders 1d ago
little guy was just curious, he heard they had snacks on that side.
16
u/mattybunbun British & Irish Lions 23h ago
thats it, thats the post. hungry skellie couldnt contain his curiosity
70
u/Brine-O-Driscoll Connacht 1d ago
This is Will Skelton's superpower - being invisible to refs despite being massive.
People just didn't look as closely a few years back because he was using the superpower to beat Leinster.
23
u/inzEEfromAUS Kenya, Wallabies, Reds 1d ago
Hes just so massive, the refs just think he is part of the landscape.
4
u/TheHayvek England 8h ago
Skelton in an Aussie kit and Uluru. Both massive and sort of red. Easy to confuse.
55
u/Electronic_Fill7207 Australia 1d ago
I think after seeing this and the Kwagga video I think itās fair to say the teams were being like this because they knew they could since JD wasnāt going to be penalising it well. It sucks but I donāt think we can say āSA were playing super physical and being dirtyā or conversely āWallabies doing the dirty tacticsā since most of the responsibility for me lies with Doleman and the Reffing staff.
16
u/THATS_THE_BADGER World Champions 1d ago edited 17h ago
What shits me to tears is that rugby commentators are so one eyed. Probably the pick of the bunch is the kiwis, pretty much everyone else is second rate. The Aussie commentators on Stan would just stop talking whenever a blatant missed call like the above was in Australia's favour.
3
u/Electronic_Fill7207 Australia 21h ago
I mean I agree too. SA commentators werenāt brilliant and the Northern Hemisphere commentators give not much impartiality whether their team scores. I really like some parts of the Stan coverage like their excitement when thereās a notable event the game but it would be better if they were more impartial, just like the referees (who ik have a hard job but it could be changed for better in trying to centralise how specific areas are managed)
5
u/THATS_THE_BADGER World Champions 17h ago edited 14h ago
One moment that sticks in mind is when Australia was denied a sure try by an amazing tackle five metres out. Not a single comment was made about the tackle, just "what an amazing moment that would have been if the wallabies scored" like FFS man appreciate all of the good rugby please
And yes it grinds my gears equally if not more when the SuperSport guys do the same
4
u/Jademarquesmith South Africa 20h ago
Get out of here with your logic and sense!
3
u/Electronic_Fill7207 Australia 19h ago
If it means the metaphorical basement is where I beckon then I guess thats where Iāll be lol
41
u/cathercules South Africa 23h ago
āAussies are the dirtiest players to play the game, this is illegal in another sportā am I doing it right?
12
11
u/Curious_Skeptic7 Australia 1d ago
Lucky to get away with that one. Thatās some top level Top14 dark arts he has picked up
2
u/Johnny_Deppthcharge Australia 14h ago
I think they got a try pretty soon afterwards. Because yeah, I remember seeing this live, and going "that was blatant as shit..."
10
62
u/FumbleMyEndzone 1d ago
Ah, Will exhibiting a perfect lesson from the Caelan Doris school of ābreaking laws at a ruck whilst looking innocentā
34
21
7
u/warbastard Australia 1d ago
His time in France has served him well. Iām surprised Skelton didnāt also produce a cigarette and a laconic phrase.
6
u/Puzzleheaded_Quiet70 22h ago
Nah, he hasn't mastered the art of balancing the cigarette on his bottom lip while intoning "cest la vie"
2
8
7
26
u/RugbyRaggs 1d ago
Called that when I saw it, very cheeky. Really liked Snyman lying on top of 3 Aussies in a ruck and just staying there for 5 seconds as play went on.
16
u/sunlightliquid X3 Qatar Airways cup Champs ššš 1d ago
Is it weird that love this part of the game?
12
u/ConscriptReports Australia 1d ago
not at all because part of being good at rugby is knowing how to effectively use your entire body and weight for an advantage
5
u/pissingexcellence89 1d ago
Every team does this
2
u/RugbyRaggs 20h ago
Of course they do, but not many have players the size of Skelton and Snyman, who can do it so effectively.
20
u/RaaschyOG Cramp Haver 1d ago
Everyone in the match thread was on Williams and Kriel's case for trying to talk to the ref about this lmao
5
u/fleakill Reds 1d ago
Can't believe Doleman let that go, but then again I say that about multiple cynical incidents.
7
u/DingoSloth 1d ago
Doleman is a useless ref. He missed so many things and even invented a couple of events that didnāt happen. Itās how he does things and he keeps getting the big games.
7
20
u/Jk_Ulster_NI 1d ago
Watching yesterday there was an awful lot of that from Australia. Must have been very frustrating.
30
u/jnce12 Stormers 1d ago
The rucks were refereed quite liberally in both games yesterday I feel. I saw a ton of possible not rolling pens being overlooked in the NZ v Argentina game especially.
This is one of those ones that really should be given because of how blatantly intentional it is though.
14
u/Jk_Ulster_NI 1d ago edited 1d ago
Aye. Ref saying the ball is there annoyed me. It may be there, but if I have to avoid the big guy lying offside very slowly "rolling away" to go get it then that is kind of pointless.
3
u/greenplasticgun Bulls 21h ago
One of my least favorite things about refs these days is them coaching players out of infringements when said infringement has already slowed down play. Donāt coach player, just ref the play. Happens all the times against all teams and most refs do it. The ātackle releaseā call also. Often they call tackle, TACKLE, RELEASE, then the tackler drops the tackled player nicely in front of their teammates for their jacklers to have a go.
8
u/holdingbackthetrails Stormers 23h ago
I don't like to criticise referees as their job is hard enough (I was a ref as well as a semi pro rugby player for years, and then a coach), but I was a bit frustrated at his managing of the breakdown. He was constantly telling the scrum half to get the ball out, which I respect is his way for speeding up the game, but he was very inconsistent in managing disruption at the breakdown. It seemed that he was excessively harsh on SA while allowing AUS to continuously slow the SA ball down. By trying to allow the game to flow and speed up, he ended up making the SA scummy second guess himself constantly. I feel the game suffered because of his micro management.
1
u/mc_Treestump Lions 18h ago
Strong agree, we saw him give a penalty the other way for something that caused much less disruption and wasn't near the try line.
This could have been a yellow with a different ref because it was definitely cynical.
1
u/frazorblade 18h ago
Micromanagement or being too lax? Which one is it?
I thought he was fine, but Nic Berry on the other hand yaps and yaps and blows and blows. Iād rather have Doleman than Berry.
32
u/Lupo_di_Cesena Zebre 1d ago
Australian plays SA at their own game.
And before anyone starts whinging, every top team in the world does this or similar.
63
u/McFly654 South Africa 1d ago
I donāt think anyone has an issue with Skelton doing this. Is just pretty wild that the ref didnāt see it.
27
u/coupleandacamera Crusaders 1d ago
Doleman is usually very lax around the breakdown, but he did appear to miss more than his usual quota for this one, especially where he was less than 3 metres from the events.
6
u/McFly654 South Africa 1d ago
I didnāt know much about him tbh, but yeah, was surprised how much he let both teams get away with.
1
u/ghoztfrog Big Beautiful Bouncing Wobblies 17h ago
I think you have a fair idea after seeing this. He's absolutely useless
15
u/Not_Hando You Aint Seen Nothin Like The Mighty Finn 1d ago
Referee missed an incredible amount all game.
-8
u/Icy_Winner9761 Australia 1d ago
Ref didn't miss it, he called him off then told the scrum half the ball was available.
10
u/pissingexcellence89 1d ago
That's not how it works. He cynically rolled into the ruck and scrumhalf from an offside position to slow the down game right in front of the try line. He's not meant to be given a warning while doing it.
-5
u/Icy_Winner9761 Australia 1d ago
Welcome to the reffing of Doleman. He's probably my least favorite ref after Ben O'Keefe.
It is interesting that this post about an infringement against the boks in a game they won has around 50 comments but another post showing the boks commit 3 yellow card offences, including attacking the head and neck of a player on the floor in the space of 10 seconds that Doleman ruled was a knockon against Australia has about 5.
9
u/Demosthenes_theWise Canada 1d ago
The multiple videos of the SA offences have attracted a lot of comments, and a lot of SA hate. There is a whole post on Australia Rugby on how SA is the biggest cheaters, worst place, etcā¦.
-7
u/Icy_Winner9761 Australia 1d ago
Of course it would attract interest on the Australia rugby subreddit but I haven't seen a lot of hate directed at the saffas themselves, most of the chat seems to be about the refs.
12
u/Demosthenes_theWise Canada 1d ago
There are loads of comments on this sub on those videos. The Aussie sub is full of vitriol and bok hateā¦
-1
u/Icy_Winner9761 Australia 1d ago
There's cunts everywhere, I dunno what you want me to say. I was talking about the activity in this subreddit and as OP pointed out, this post probably got so much traction because it's funny so that explains it. Also, the clip of Kolbe was posted after I commented and it has similar activity to this one so there you go.
7
u/Die_Revenant Sharks 1d ago
IMO the value of the clip is amusement, not to highlight the ref or anything. Bad calls happen at the break down through literally every single game, this one is just funny to watch.
3
u/Icy_Winner9761 Australia 1d ago
Yeah he's surprisingly stealthy for such a large man. Thought the bok 9 missed an opportunity have a go at a bit of a counter ruck tho?
4
u/Die_Revenant Sharks 1d ago
Lol Grant is not that man, he is just there to pass goodly and run fast.
6
u/Icy_Winner9761 Australia 1d ago
I can see the youtube video already: "Joe Schmidt EXPOSES another bok WEAKNESS"
20
u/McFly654 South Africa 1d ago
Itās a very obvious penalty. He illegally slowed the ball. The ref missed a lot on both sides.
0
u/Icy_Winner9761 Australia 1d ago
Sure, I'm not arguing it isn't just pointing out that the ref saw it and commented on it. People were talking as if he didn't address it at all.
10
u/pissingexcellence89 1d ago
To be fair that's even worse. As he saw the player doing it and let it go
3
12
u/SoberWeekend 1d ago
I think he missed the idea that this is intentionally slowing down the ball, and was cynical. Skelton should have got a yellow card here. But then it was the same for Fassi later in the game where he tackled and didnāt release, which resulted in a turnover. The ref saw Fassi do all of this, but he very much missed the idea to give Fassi a yellow card there.
11
u/k0bra3eak Doktor Erasmus 1d ago
Nah this was an incredibly cynical play, should've at least been a penalty, but could also be argued to be a card there was no subtlety in what Skelton was doing at all
4
u/Icy_Winner9761 Australia 1d ago
Sure, I'm not arguing it isn't just pointing out that the ref saw it and commented on it. People were talking as if he didn't address it at all.
23
u/Die_Revenant Sharks 1d ago
Yup, players look for opportunities to slow the ball down all the time.
Not sure how you miss someone the size of Skelton doing it though lol.
5
u/sunlightliquid X3 Qatar Airways cup Champs ššš 1d ago
Thank you!!!! All teams do dark arts and tiny things that help their teams, worlds just extra hyperfocused on the world champs doing it
2
u/DimensionDifferent32 South Africa 15h ago
Only thing that could excuse this is the fact that itās not a ruck, and he may have been thinking itās a maul that went to ground
3
2
u/harleyRugger23 23h ago
Itās clever gamesmanship.
Itās No worse than SA and England diving over the ruck, laying on bodies to slow the speed of the ruck down just to get told to leave it.
Start giving penalties for this cynical shit or let them continue to slow the game down.
3
u/Wesley_Skypes Leinster 1d ago
This sub is always weird about Skelton. "They all do it!". Sure to an extent, but he is the king of it, at shenanigans at almost every ruck or tackle he makes. It's fine because he has made an art out of getting away with it, but it's weird how defensive people are of saying he's the worst for it. He doesnt need anybody downplaying it for him, he's in the twilight of his career and has never been really pinged for it so he got away with it.
3
u/DroppedGoal Sharks 17h ago
Pretty sure this was after what could be argued to be a maul.
That's why he was coached out of it.
Clever snakey play by the big man. But I'm fairly sure this lacks context
1
u/DreddPirateJonesy Leicester Tigers 22h ago
Itās funny cuz any game heās in I canāt not see the way he falls on rucks or slows ball down deliberately (same with James Ryan) cuz heās so huge and somehow he gets away with most of it.
1
1
u/Ok_Cow_3431 Wales 16h ago
As a Welshman I know a grade-a shirhosue when I see one, we've had enough of them. And with the amount Skelton gets away with, he is definitely a grade A shithouse.
1
u/benny_boy Wales 15h ago
You lot nitpicking every play and every dubious decision in every match is boring as fuck not gonna lie
1
1
u/cobbloaf NSW Waratahs 9h ago
I hated this when the lions were doing it and I hate it now that my teams doing it. If refs don't penalise it, it will become the standard. The ruck shouldnt be a competition of walking the fine line between illegal and pulling out just soon enough to not get pingedbut still slowing their ball down.
We already have a cheating mini game in rugby, its called the scrum and its awesome. But we dont need it at the ruck too.
1
1
u/Not_Hando You Aint Seen Nothin Like The Mighty Finn 1d ago
I've seen this clip gaining traction amongst SA supporters on social media. So no surprise to see someone repost it here.
Lots of outrage about there being no Yellow Card for killing a ruck that close to the line.
Surely only a matter of time before an Australia supporter posts their clips too, including the one of Fassi refusing to release a tackled player a metre out and instead putting him in a chokehold - (followed by Reinach's dodgy interference line from an offside position).
Arguably, more egregious than this incident given here there was already slow ball and a (somewhat set) defensive line.
14
u/One_Landscape2007 Lions 1d ago
i think the issue is the ref called a pretty crucial penalty against SA for entering from the side in an instance where it was far more open to interpretation than this one.
-7
u/Not_Hando You Aint Seen Nothin Like The Mighty Finn 1d ago
Unconvinced that can be 'the issue' when the referee completely ignored highly cynical efforts from both SA, and Australia all game - yet awarded other, less egregious penalties to both teams.
You seem to be implying 'the issue' is one of imbalance, which would be frankly ridiculous given how much both teams got away with and at other times both teams were otherwise penalised equally for too.
(Btw, I'm pretty confident I recall the from the side penalty to which you're referring, and if so it wasn't close to being open to interpretation. Routinely ignored at other times, sure. But open to interpretation? Not for me).
7
u/One_Landscape2007 Lions 1d ago
I mean a hell of a lot less open to interpretation than this one lol
-5
u/Not_Hando You Aint Seen Nothin Like The Mighty Finn 1d ago
Not really. Both clearly illegal.
Problem is that by design the game literally refuses to apply a large percentage of its own Laws at pro level.
15
u/simsnor South Africa 1d ago
They've already posted their clips
9
u/RaaschyOG Cramp Haver 1d ago
There's literally four clips on the subreddit right now, even though I agree with some of them lol
But nobody does hypocrisy like Bok hate watchers
7
3
u/Sorry-Grocery-8999 1d ago
If you want to post it, post it. But its like you're threatening that someone else will post it..
Anyway, here you go :)
-8
u/Mafeking-Parade 1d ago
Or the SA defender who casually blocked an Australian player from entering a ruck in their 22 after a line break.
Or Kolbe trying to injure JOC.
SA fans seem to have little self awareness.
14
u/sunlightliquid X3 Qatar Airways cup Champs ššš 1d ago
I've seen so many SA fans, especially when I was at the game shitting on the Boks more than anything, guy next to me literally called this out lol, stop hating to hate. All fanbases have those spoons, Boks are just highlighted because they're way too passionate lol
9
-6
u/Not_Hando You Aint Seen Nothin Like The Mighty Finn 1d ago
I somewhat expect it from supporters tbh - (although some of them take it to absolute extremes...) It's the growing sense of entitlement onfield that's beginning to grate.
At times yesterday it felt like a SA player was demanding the officials check with the TMO almost every time they were tackled, or contact was taken.
That kind of badgering would be bad enough from a painfully clean rugby team, let alone one which leans so hard into the physical aspect and therefore has zero issue with crossing that line when it's them on an opponent.
SA are not alone in this, of course. A number of teams have become hard to support as they've moved almost completely into a 'win at all costs' model, with arm waving, protesting and demanding of the officials they check almost anything which might possibly lead to a penalty or card - and even simulating it when it's, at most, marginal.
But that's professional sport for you. The ends always justify the means - doubly so in a sport which is essentially coordinated cheating by design.
1
u/Narapoia_the_1st South Africa 1d ago
I couldn't believe that wasn't penalised. If an SA player had done it would have been a yellow.
1
u/strou_hanka Oui, I prefer club rugby š 1d ago
It's funny coz in the Top 14 you see him doing crazy shit like this almost every weekend haha
1
u/Reynhardt_p2 22h ago
The Wallabies illegally slowed down the ball the entire game and the ref did nothing.
0
u/One_Landscape2007 Lions 1d ago
SA played like shit regardless of the ref. Last week the ref was good, nothing really off. This week I felt the ref awarded a lot of the 50/50s to Australia and wasn't consistent (like in this one, where it was clearly from the side, and we'd conceded a penalty for the same thing but a lot less egregious).
That said we fucked up so many opportunities, it should never have mattered.
The fact that we couldn't get the ball moving in a meaningful way I think makes people want to look at the ref. He could've done better but ultimately was fine.
7
u/ConscriptReports Australia 1d ago
interesting because I felt like the ref awarded a lot of 50/50s to South Africa (like the one where Fassi illegally slows our ball and Reinach obstructs one of our forwards to reaching the ruck).
Ultimately, it was a good test match, and we shouldn't blame the ref for the outcome. It was fun wet weather rugby, and the outcome ultimately makes for a very tight championship going forward.
3
u/One_Landscape2007 Lions 1d ago
If I take some time to cool off I'll probably agree, I think I was getting increasingly frustrated at our inability to handle the ball without making mistakes. Which is our own fault. The tests were good for sure, ref wasn't a factor
0
-7
u/imranhere2 Ireland 1d ago
More ref bashing. Getting boring
12
u/Die_Revenant Sharks 1d ago
Huh? This clip doesn't reffer to the ref in anyway?
I couldn't give a damn about the call, it's just a funny clip.
-2
u/Zealousideal-Way2048 Australia & Wales 19h ago
oh oh, now show all the cardable bokk offenses the team "missed". Thats a funnier one!
-1
0
1
0
u/Certified_Copy_7898 9h ago
This was motivated by them trying to get the referee to call it as a collapsed maul, in which case you donāt have to roll away. You tend to get away with a bit of indiscretion when it comes to collapsed mauls, although the ref clearly didnāt think this constituted one.
3
u/GreatGoofer Sharks 5h ago
You don't have to roll away in the maul, but you can't adjust your position once you go to ground to prevent the ball from coming out, either way it's a penalty.
-5
u/damnumalone 1d ago
The Springbok half back is SAās answer to Nic White when it comes to whinging at the ref. One of those guys who whinges so much the ref hears him less and less as the game goes on
-2
-9
u/Zealousideal-Way2048 Australia & Wales 1d ago
Irony of bokks complaining about such things.. spent half the game doing such things.. quiet.. standard!
602
u/almostrainman Serial winker 1d ago
Player who could legally be a midget :"Mr whistle guy, this gigantic boulder has rolled in from the wrong side"
Gigantic sentient Boulder : " who ? Me ? Never !" While rolling back innocently
Official whistle guy: " the boulder is gone, play on"