Round 7: Hurricanes v Waratahs - Friday 5:30pm

[Braveheart81]

Kepu obviously drives into the hit but at the same time he's stationary and doesn't shoulder charge him.

It really doesn't look like Barrett is running at a gap so I'm unsure how Kepu avoids him in this situation. From the look of the angle, if Kepu does absolutely nothing, Barrett is still going to run straight into him.

Given it wasn't carded during the game, a warning was probably slightly on the harsh side.

 

[Twoilms]

Kepu obviously drives into the hit but at the same time he's stationary and doesn't shoulder charge him.

It really doesn't look like Barrett is running at a gap so I'm unsure how Kepu avoids him in this situation. From the look of the angle, if Kepu does absolutely nothing, Barrett is still going to run straight into him.

Given it wasn't carded during the game, a warning was probably slightly on the harsh side.

Yeah i would have thought tackling a decoy runner was pretty standard. There are arms and he didn't move anywhere. Barrett's just a bit of a bitch.

 

[Braveheart81]

Yeah i would have thought tackling a decoy runner was pretty standard. There are arms and he didn't move anywhere. Barrett's just a bit of a bitch.

You're not allowed to tackle a player without the ball.

Certainly Kepu did the wrong thing but it also seemed like there was no way there wasn't going to be contact between Barrett and Kepu. Barrett was running straight at him.

Maybe Kepu needed to rock back on his heels so Barrett bowled him over then the penalty might have gone the other way!

 

[Twoilms]

You're not allowed to tackle a player without the ball.

Certainly Kepu did the wrong thing but it also seemed like there was no way there wasn't going to be contact between Barrett and Kepu. Barrett was running straight at him.

Maybe Kepu needed to rock back on his heels so Barrett bowled him over then the penalty might have gone the other way!

Maybe, but players tackling a runner they thought had the ball happens every game without their being any kind of reprimand.

 

[Grant NZ]

That Kepu hit is late, off the ball, high and with little effort made to wrap with the arms. All of those are on the marginal side and in isolation wouldn't be worth worrying about but given he's done them all in one go it could add up to something more serious, I guess.

 

[Braveheart81]

That Kepu hit is late, off the ball, high and with little effort made to wrap with the arms. All of those are on the marginal side and in isolation wouldn't be worth worrying about but given he's done them all in one go it could add up to something more serious, I guess.

I agree that it is high.

I'm unsure how it was late though. Barrett ran directly into him. Barrett may have been a decoy but the line he ran put him directly into Kepu. Kepu can't disappear.

Anyway, I certainly don't think it was an unfair outcome for Kepu.

 

[Grant NZ]

I agree that it is high.

I'm unsure how it was late though. Barrett ran directly into him. Barrett may have been a decoy but the line he ran put him directly into Kepu. Kepu can't disappear.

Anyway, I certainly don't think it was an unfair outcome for Kepu.

The contact was unavoidable but he didn't need to go through with the hit, I guess.

You can't expect a guy to disappear or to just stand there passively, but I like to apply what I call the 'child test' - ie, if a child ran into you, what would you do to minimise the impact? You wouldn't do what Kepu does.

 

[fatprop]

The contact was unavoidable but he didn't need to go through with the hit, I guess.

You can't expect a guy to disappear or to just stand there passively, but I like to apply what I call the 'child test' - ie, if a child ran into you, what would you do to minimise the impact? You wouldn't do what Kepu does.

But he is a back ......................... prop rules clearly state if one gets within grabbing distance he is to be hurt

 

[KiwiM]

Given that Luatua got 4 weeks for a late, high, off the ball hit i'm not sure Kepu can have too many complaints.

 

[Dan54]

Given that Luatua got 4 weeks for a late, high, off the ball hit i'm not sure Kepu can have too many complaints.

To be fair Kiwi, no comparison, I know Kepu was not completely blameless, but was nothing like near to Luatua's one!

 

[Braveheart81]

Given that Luatua got 4 weeks for a late, high, off the ball hit i'm not sure Kepu can have too many complaints.

Apples and oranges.

Luatua put in a high shot with force (as the referee called it) on a player who was still part of the play (i.e. trailing through the player who made the break as a support player).

Kepu is stationary and tackles a player who has run straight at him.

I agree that an off field yellow card isn't a harsh response on Kepu. My main question was what should Kepu have done instead? Does he need to come off worse in the impact not to get penalised?

 

[KiwiM]

I think Kepu shuffles his feet to get in line with the Cane who looks to be trying to run a dummy line into the gap between Kepu and Skelton - the Canes player slows down as he gets to the line and Kepu shows no sign of pulling back on his hit - its not about coming off second best but Kepu went through completely with the hit and only had eyes for the runner - I think he could have at least been expected to show some sign of backing off the hit as it was clear the Canes player didnt receive the ball.

EDIT - Actually that's probably a little harsh as it wasn't super-clear that the Canes player wasn't going to get the ball but Kepu really went through with a big shot, to an extent he probably didn't have to.

 

[Twoilms]

Surely he has to at least set his body to be ready to make a tackle on a guy who could easily have had the ball...

 

[Grant NZ]

Surely he has to at least set his body to be ready to make a tackle on a guy who could easily have had the ball.

Sure, but he does a bit more than just set his body.