Bob Dwyer has gone mad…
This guy was one of the Rugby greats. He’s now got a serious case of All Black paranoia and is generating conspiracy theories at an alarming rate. The latest – that the All Blacks are getting the benefit of referees decision — is ridiculous.
First, he seems to forget that there is often not a direct correlation between penalties and yellow cards. A yellow card for violence, for instance, is an offense not predicted by penalties.
Second, the data is skewed by not associating penalties with repeated warnings – one of the Australian’s yellow cards was for repeated warnings. If NZ had offended next it would have been theirs.
Third, if you want to play the data game, throw in post game suspensions and correlate that to yellow cards – what you discover is that both Sth Africa and Australia were the most egregious offenders in the game and the cards were warranted.
In short, the conclusion presented is woefully short on analysis, let along statistical relevance, and coupled with a fair degree of paranoia and sensationalism.
It ignores one simple fact. Both teams were beaten by the better side.
Dingo Deans Ought To Stop Whining
Australia didn’t deserve to win. Their lack of finishing kept them way out of the game – as did the All Blacks defense. Moreover, they were awarded a dubious try on the basis of the Ref getting frustrated with the TV officials. Pathetic.
At some point here the Australians need to face up to the fact that Deans isn’t quite cutting it right now. They have some remarkable players who aren’t coming together on the field.
While we are on pathetic – why cant the NZ Herald keep their site up. Down again from over here. I’m guessing routine maintenance. Do they understand they have an international readership?
Lets also stop the nonsense about next years game being in Japan. When you consider that the population of the greater Tokyo area is 33 million, a crowd of 45,000 or so is equivalent to a crowd of about 1400 people in Auckland. So, a good turn-out but there are other places that need a spectacle like this – the US being one. Denver would be a terrible location though. Play the game in a major metro like LA.
