Now while the cliched discrepancies between Northern and Southern Hemisphere rugby are well versed, ie the South is more skilful, faster, less kicking, weaker defences; yet one rather undiscussed and more significance difference is the officiating.
For those fans, like me who watch the Premiership week in week out, you will have become well accustomed to the almost frequent red and yellow cards. With phrases like, ‘mitigation’ ‘degree of force’ ‘direct contact’ being commonplace in almost every game. And while I feel anecdotally that high shots and dangerous tackles are slowly leaving the game particularly in the Premiership, it still feels like the Southern Hemisphere still has some way to go.
Just look at the horrible incident from Brodie Retallick versus Japan last weekend. The collision would have been deemed a red in the Prem in an instant. While the officials came to the correct decision in the end, the most enlightening part of the issue was the commentary from Kiwi Justin Marshall.
Naturally sympathetic with his countryman, Marshall said ‘I don’t think its super dangerous, I think he’s going to get a yellow’. This kind of rhetoric doesn’t help fans understand the laws easily (which is already quite hard) but it’s also a very important snapshot into the Kiwis thoughts on dangerous head contact.
If Marshalls view is widely held within Kiwi rugby and the rest of the Southern Hemisphere then they are in for some tough lessons this autumn when up against likely northern officiating.
It has taken quite some time for players to change behaviour relating to head contact and we still have further to go too. From my experience it looks like Southern Hempishere players are much further behind on this. Marshall’s commentary, Retallick’s recklessness and some of the highlights from incidents in Super Rugby in the summer is ample evidence to support this view.
While it is never nice to predict that there will be more headshots and more red cards, I think its likely to swing many matches this autumn in favour of the Northern
Hemisphere sides.
In what looks like a closer autumn than ever before between North and South, the battle for discipline could be hugely decisive.
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