Steve’s shocker
Here’s the photographic evidence to prove New Zealand referee Steve Walsh incorrectly determined the outcome of the Super 14 final.
Walsh told this website’s Ryan Vrede he may have got it wrong. No Steve you DID get it wrong.
This is not a picture to encourage play on. Walsh should have blown for either a knock, or penalised the Bulls player on the ground for scooping the ball back after losing it or any one of three Bulls players for not being on their feet at the ruck.
Whatever the choice play should have been stopped and possession should have been handed to the Sharks. It would have also been the end of the game.
Once again a failure to use technology has determined a championship and where the bloody hell was the touch judge’s vision?
This was a shocker!
Richard Young, who sent the clip, writes (sic)
Dear Country People
I only watched the last three minutes of the main game on Saturday afternoon for reasons that might have been deduceable on Sunday.
But I have captured a series of nine still images of the video between the 45th and 47th seconds of the 80th minute thereof.
Here is just one of them in the 45th second of the 80th minute.
Would anyone care to offer an opinion on what is the meaning of this?
Apologies to recipients of this email who have no interest whatsoever in the outcome of the Vodacom Super Whatever 2007.
Some Answer Options
Is it legal?
Is it illegal?
Is it blindness?
Is it shortsightedness?
Is it outofsightedness?
Is it conspiracy?
Is it sad?
Is it not sad?
Is it a combination of any of the above?
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:02 pm
277# Are you projecting??
297# PMSL…. straight talk
Look at Old man Alberts face after the ref aards the try… he cant F*cken believe it
Bulle 2007 Rugby Champions
Sharks deserve to cry for the rest of the year
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Sharks are chokers just like the stupid Proteas
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Loftus Versfeld is nou in die Guiness Book of Records aangewys as die grootste *** klub in die wereld. Waar anders sing 60,000 mans met horings vir mekaar “liefling” terwyl spelers mekaar omhels oor hulle aan ‘n bal kon vat en druk.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Linston Manuels the TJ who missed this one ?
You owe us one bugger!
Comment by Anvil : May 22, 2007 @ 1:30 pm
——————————————-
did this young man not screw up at loftus before?
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:38 pm
one has to admire Keo for not censoring 297
its called democracy
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:43 pm
I don’t think Linston was the TJ. It was an all Kiwi affair – ref, TJ’s and TMO.
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:01 pm
You can’t blame Steve Walsh for that – he was on the other side of the ruck, and wouldn’t be able to see it.
Get you head out of your arse, Keo, and make objective comments – rather than just pushing “barrows”.
The TJ on the other hand SHOULD HAVE done something – like they should do something about the off-side play that most teams are playing now.
At least the new rules are going to enforce a wider separation, and therefore a better game.
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Give me a break Keo, you cheap sensationalist. How do you think the ball got out from the inside of Thiart, flipping over his back? Hands in the ruck.Penalty to the Bulls, tap & go…
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:11 pm
And btw, if you look at the video footage, thiart did not scoop the ball, back. At that stage it went over his should (Mysteriously) and he was struggling to keep it back, after that Kuun (I think) dove over and got the ball back.
Keo, maybe you should invest in a video machine and stop publishing unadulterated **** like this. You are losing credibility more and more.
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:12 pm
should=shoulder
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:14 pm
You really make me sick, the quality and integrity on this site is shocking. You are purely aiming at publishing content to get the hits on your site, journalistic integrity is not a phrase you can remember anymore (I.e. Hoskins forced Jake to choose Derick etc.)
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
evidence doesnt lie does it…
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Does the truth hurt Jak?
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Albert’s try was two movements… thus a PENALTY.
So this try should not have been aworded. Richard Young, please submit some video evidence about this try …
May 23rd, 2007 at 12:00 am
414 Do you live under a rock? I refer you to post 397. Learn the rules of the game.
May 23rd, 2007 at 1:44 am
397# the Operative word is “IMMEDIATELY”
10 seconds to ground a ball is not immediate
Learn to understand what you read sunnyboy.
May 23rd, 2007 at 2:04 am
i have never seen Steve have a good game
come back watson all is forgiven lol
May 23rd, 2007 at 2:08 am
bob, the reason you don’t like the term “double movement” is because, evidently, you are incapable of abstract thought.
A “double movement,” even if it is not in the laws, is a common expression that refers to player making two stop-start movements with the ball while it is in his grasp. If he only manages to place the ball over the line after the second movement, then he clearly didn’t do so immediately.
I’ll give you time to let the concept sink in.
May 23rd, 2007 at 3:23 am
Reading this blog thread has provided me with volumes of input for my studies on the psychology of the rugby fan.
The analysis boils down to only four words:
BULLS TRY
SHARKS CRY
That’s all folks! Super 14 is over! Bulls won! Sharks lost!
Came second or whatever…you lost! The hard, cold facts are that the Bulls are the supreme Super 14 side of 2007.
Dry your eyes dear Sharks fans. You are embarrassing yourselves now.
What happened to the colonial Natal stiff upper lip? Now replaced by the quivering lip of the new breed of Shark fan, blubbering “The ref missed it and lost us the game”.
You have so many positives to take out of your season. Don’t dwell on the negativity…it will drag you back to the netherworld from whence you came.
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:17 am
The analysis boils down to only four words:
Blue Bulls- IN BREEDING
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:01 am
Check the replay
Albert’s was a try, as Bob says.
Bulls clearly knokced on in the ruck, then illegally raked it back (Kuun and Theart).
Should have been a penalty to the Sharks.
But still, Steyn threw the game, he had an easy kick for touch, twice, and he didn’t kick it out on the hooter. And that is the where Sharks lost.
Butch’s silly knock-on behind the tryline was the turning point in the match.
He was too ‘lacksedazical’, out there on his own.
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:03 am
i watched the game again and steve had a SHOCKER
from beginning to end…
Such a nice chap, such a useless ref
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:34 am
The game would not have stopped as the Bulls had advantage for off-side from the previous move. So they would have scored in any case from the resultant penalty.
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:36 am
the touch =judge should be blamed, surely… welsh was on the other side of the maul.. oh well, i guess was just destiny
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:45 am
Maybe it was karma paying the Bulls back for the manuels ****-up.
If so, the Sharks would get their payback as well. It could take another 89 years, or there is a better chance of it happening in next years Vodacom Cup. The sharkies with their frail confidence in tatters will be broken for the next few years. If I was Jake I would leave them all out of the Bok squad this year. They will benefit more to spend the time with a psycologist or perhaps a recuperation trip to Tibet.
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:55 am
Seeing the sharks supporters torturing themselves and reliving the loss again and again, just makes it so much sweeter
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:24 am
Doesn’t look like anyone answered the questions so I’ll give it a go:
Is it legal?
No
Is it illegal?
Of course
Is it blindness?
Who said that????
Is it shortsightedness?
Who said that again????
Is it outofsightedness?
Allegedly
Is it conspiracy?
Unlikely – too much intelligence required for that!
Is it sad?
For the Sharks and the Bulls now that the image has been published
Is it not sad?
I am too upset to answer that one!
Is it a combination of any of the above?
Its a combination of ALL of the above.
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:28 am
it was a cruel one point defeat. and the officials missed a blatant foul.
but whats done is done and it is time to move on and for sharks fans to show though their team may not have won, they are the better supporters. which is not exactly a difficult task…
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:04 am
Bottom line is, you see what you want to see, to now like a bunch of babies because you didn’t get your ice cream will do nothing.
I agree that it went forward and was played on the ground. However look at the scoreboard – Will any of this bitching change the result? NO! Will it happen again? YES! That is the nature of sport and we (Bulls) were on the lucky side of the decision.
If the same thing happens to the Boks on saturday, heaven forbid (no jaco tshirt under my jersey calm down boys) that we need to score in extra time to win, but if that happens and the Boks get lucky there will be less of a panick about the blatancy of the referee and all that ****!
Viva amaBokke – Bokke
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:26 am
Look, **** Muir said himself to blame a loss on one or two incidents is stupid. I do believe the Sharks were the better team. They dominated the Bulls pack, actually made them look silly. The Bulls with their Bully boy tactics provailed. Thing is, the Sharks are still the better team. The Bulls took seven years of building with Heyneke to reach a Super 14 final. **** and his team, took 2!!! The final was very messy and anybody who thinks our skill level, especially the Bulls’, is seriously one eyed. Go look at the game again. Some very school boy errors that would cost us in the World Cup.
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:28 am
To all the Bulls fans, you guys would have been bitching even more if the roles were reversed, but its not. Congratulations on your team. I’m sure you guys are going to get even more arrogant now. We’ll see next year if you can maintain your play.
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:32 am
FREE DVD copy of the final, just a handeling fee of R75 plus R10 postage and packaging. georgepolly@absamail.co.za
May 23rd, 2007 at 11:19 am
Xkreni-WP – Atleast the Sharks made it to the finals and got a home final for a matter of fact. Yes the Shark lost and all the finger pointing will not change the end results but i guess that is life. The only other thing that i can say is that your an idiot.
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:38 pm
I just looked at the replay again, and it is pretty clear to me that it was a double movement.
Alber van den Berg has the ball in both arms when he gets tackled. Then first he pushes his left arm forward. Then, finally, he rolls the ball over his left arm, with his right hand. That is two movements, and he therefore did not place the ball immediately. It happened pretty quickly though, which is why Walsh awarded the try. So these things happen in sport, and the Sharks have only themselves to blame for losing.
May 24th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Bulls ‘achieved the impossible’
24/05/2007 10:45 – (SA)
JJ Harmse
Trust the Bulls to achieve the impossible. Again, they defied the odds, as they did in all of 2007 and for that they will be remembered. They created their own destiny and stuck to their unbelievable spirit to win the Super 14.
Again, unfortunately, there was controversy that overshadowed their victory and the unbelievable achievement of the trendsetters in South African rugby.
The way the ball was won back to enable Bryan Habana to score that final try, is now suddenly the focus in many a newspaper and Steve Walsh is quoted as saying that he got it wrong.
Yes, he did, just two minutes earlier when Albert van den Berg’s try was awarded. It was clear that there was no way that he could have awarded the try, yet no one is doubting that call or why Walsh did not go to the TMO.
There is no doubt that Habana deserved a yellow card early in the game and to be honest, if the final was played in Australia or New Zealand, a red card would have been the most likely outcome.
However, there were also other calls where Walsh and the officials got it wrong. Just as everybody was wondering, why Frans Steyn rushed his last kick, but forgets that Percy Montgomery missed two sitters as well.
And as Habana is the real hero, everybody seems to forget that it was a conversion that won the game, not the try. If Hougaard missed, he would have been ostracised, but he succeeded and now Habana is the hero!
The Bulls know how it feels to lose out in the last minute. They have been waiting to jump on the crossbar, Jaco van der Westhuyzen-style, for three long years.
In 2005, that last gasp try by the Cheetahs ripped the Currie Cup away from the Bulls. Last year, during the drawn Currie Cup final, the Bulls had to sit and wait for the Cheetahs to complete their victory lap around Vodacom Park before they could lay their hands on the Cup they came to reconquer.
During this year’s competition, the Bulls shaped their destiny week after week. Remember, they had a home game less than the Sharks and dropped one of those when a really bad call by a touch judge cost them the match against the Force at Loftus.
And a week later, when Habana scored the winning try against the Chiefs, again after the buzzer, it was the moment that finally launched them towards the title.
Their three victories in Australasia were a fantastic first for South Africa, as was that memorable day against the Reds.
Sixth on the log
That game showed fans that this team would not give up. Remember, they started that game sixth on the log and finished it second.
I suppose one can write a glowing report on the Sharks as well. But in the words of Tiger Woods, second place is first loser. And that is unfortunately the way the Sharks will be remembered by those without any affinity for the black and white cause.
It was their big chance and they could not do it. Next year there will be no AJ Venter, Johan Ackermann, Percy, Bob Skinstad, Warren Britz, Albert or even John Smit, all who deserve to go out winners. Their departure is a huge, huge loss to **** Muir. He will be back, no doubt, to fight another battle, but somehow I feel he will not be as confident in his arsenal as he was in 2007.
The Sharks fans are in despair, the Bulls’ ones ecstatic, but even it if was the other way around, you can be sure that both teams will again have massive support in 2008. Even more than the Springboks.
But then, they are not continually undermined by politicians and edgy administrators. The Bulls and Sharks coaches, Heyneke Meyer and Muir are tipped for the national set-up. I could understand if both were reluctant to leave the empires they have built for what can only be described as organised chaos.
The Bulls fan or Sharks fan is totally committed to his/her team. The mess at national level will not make those fans jump ship to join the Springbok cause.
The success of last year’s Currie Cup, rated by many as one of the best yet, and the fantastic way the Super 14 ended, should have had fans flooding Bloemfontein to see the Springboks beat the hell out of the English. After all, Bok van Blerk has been reminding us how bad the English treated us in his song De La Rey. There is a reason why the N1 past Bloemfontein has no traffic jams.
Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates fans do not miss a game their teams play, but somehow Bafana Bafana does not hold the same attraction. The rugby fan feels the same way at the moment about the Springboks. Both sporting disciplines have the same problem: meddling politicians and unsure officials.
Chiefs and Pirates were established in the bad, bad days of segregation and separate development. Yet, in the new, democratic South Africa, their fan base is bigger than ever before. Does this mean their fans are still supporting the past, the old system or are racist? Of course not.
Maybe it is time for politicians and administrators to understand that like soccer fans rooting for Chiefs and Pirates, and rugby fans that support the Springboks (or the Bulls and Sharks for that matter) are not clinging to something that was good in bad days. They just want to feel proud and part of something special that speaks to the core.
And if any politicians or administrators with those values can step up, we will be proud of them too. Until then, it seems the Bulls, Chiefs or De La Rey will have to do.
Read JJ every Sunday in Rapport
June 2nd, 2007 at 11:09 pm
If you ask me who the super 14 champions are I would definitely say the Sharks!!!!
Bulls supporters are biased and won’t admit that they stole the ball on the ground illegally!!!
Bulls real cheaters!!!!