ON THE BALL: Johnny Sexton can run, kick, pass and score – and, man, can he talk! Lucky Maree questions the use of soccer theatricals on the rugby field.
Leinster’s Johnny Sexton is possibly the best flyhalf in the game at the moment, and that includes Richie Mo’Unga and Beauden Barrett. He does all the things we haven’t seen from Handré Pollard for the longest time.
Great flyhalves – and I guess history will one day speak of Sexton in the same breath as Phil Bennett, Hugo Porta and Dan Carter – have all the skills.
But beyond that, they seem to have a natural instinct to do the right thing when it matters most.
The way Johnny Sexton bamboozled the Sharks in the URC match on Saturday was painfully beautiful to watch. While the Sharks have taken a lot of criticism (and rightfully so) for their poor defence, you have to admit that, simply put, Sexton had them by the rugby balls all afternoon.
And talking about bamboozling, what Sexton did to referee Craig Evans has finally driven rugby over the edge and into the realms of shameful soccer theatricals.
There was not a single decision that Sexton didn’t have something to say about. On more than one occasion he shouted the referee down by not letting him finish a sentence. When Evans tried to speak to him, Sexton simply turned his back, leaving the ref calling, “Johnny! Johnny!” after him like a jilted lover.
The crowd, no doubt inspired by Sexton, roared in agony every time Rohan Janse van Rensburg’s high tackle was replayed on the big screen. The fact that Janse van Rensburg graciously accepted the red card, shook hands with Ross Byrne and trotted off the field, made no difference to the enraged crowd.
Throughout the entire incident, Sexton never stopped shouting at the ref. It was as if he had personally been the victim of the high tackle. His pinched face didn’t even change when the ref handed out the card. After all, the ref was only doing as instructed, wasn’t he?
Why is this incident much more than just ugly, infuriating and disgraceful?
Because it is rewarding the theatricals of the players and the crowd.
It is a joke in football the way players collapse in absolute agony for no reason. And it is slowly becoming part of rugby. Many decisions seem to be based on the reaction of the “injured” player. If the player takes the hit and simply gets up, it is often not even reviewed. If the player collapses on the ground, rolling around in pain, it is almost always reviewed.
If Nic White hadn’t collapsed on the ground when Faf de Klerk pulled his moustache, would De Klerk have been sent off the field? It seems funny because it is, but faking injury is becoming a part of the game.
The old joke says the difference between rugby and soccer is that a footballer spends 90 minute pretending to be injured, while a rugby player spends 80 minutes pretending he isn’t.
The great Nigel Owens once reprimanded a player by saying: “We don’t allow that sort of performance, here. This is rugby. Come back for soccer tomorrow.”
One wonders, for how long Owens’ words will still be true.
