Nic White courted controversy in the game against the Boks last weekend. Photo: Twitter
EXCLUSIVE: Was Nic White guilty of gamesmanship or cheating?
Former Springbok Stefan Terblanche has suggested Wallabies scrumhalf Nic White will never live down his ‘play-acting’ on Saturday.
Nic White courted controversy in the game against the Boks last weekend. Photo: Twitter
Nic White has copped plenty of stick on social media after he milked a yellow card, stopping in the middle of play during Saturday’s game against the Wallabies as he overdramatised an accidental slap to the face from Faf de Klerk.
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De Klerk’s hand had barely connected with Nic White’s face, but Williams saw enough to send the blonde No 9 to the sin-bin for 10 minutes.
The incident has led to a widespread reaction across the rugby world, with many pundits and former players weighing in on the incident.
In a column written by iconic former Wallabies superstar Will Genia, who was renowned for his cheeky scrumhalf antics, he admitted the whole incident had been poorly handled, suggesting it was a “an atrocious decision” to yellow card De Klerk in the end.
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Stefan Terblanche, who played 37 Tests has now shared his strong views in a column exclusively sent to The South African.
You can read Terblanche’s full column on the Nic White incident below:
After round three of the Rugby Championship game, which saw the Wallabies emerge victorious 25-17 against the Springboks, no one is talking about the result but rather the antics and ‘Oscar-winning’ performance from Wallabies scrumhalf Nic White.
The Australian scrumhalf went down like a sack of shite after the hand of his direct opposition and Bok scrumhalf Faf De Klerk’s made contact with his head at the base of a scrum. There is no doubt that Faf made some contact with his head, but the matter in which White went down after a couple of seconds, and played to the crowd, the referee and the many millions watching on TV raised some eyebrows.
After a discussion on the field between the referee and TMO it was decided that Faf deserved a yellow card and that sent rugby supporters, many of them not even Bok fans, into an absolute rage. Just to clarify… Faf was 100% within his right to knock that ball out of White’s hand as long as it went backwards. Please note that this case is completely different to an attempted intercept when the ball ends up going forward, which so often results in a potential penalty, but more often than not a yellow card. If you don’t believe me just ask Willie le Roux.
For me it was nothing more than a penalty and the contact was clearly not intentional, and left absolutely no harm to White or his Tom Selleck moustache. That’s my opinion and no referees were harmed or criticised. The way in which White collapsed suggested a possible mangled sternum, and spending at least 12 months on the sidelines rehabilitating this horrible career-threatening injury.
For me it warranted nothing more than a penalty and a stern warning from the referee, Paul Williams, to Nic White. Yes, that’s correct, I believe the warning and penalty should have gone against Nic White. As former Welsh Test referee Nigel Owens would say “come on now lads, this is not football.”
This brings me to my next point, and one many won’t necessarily agree on, but that’s the beauty about rugby. We all have an opinion and we have a great platform to air it. This is nothing more than gamesmanship and White got away with it.
Many would refer to it as cheating but it is NOT. Just because some other nation and players cheat differently than our very own, doesn’t mean it’s worse. I have yet to meet a rugby player, current, or former, who never ‘cheated’ to some degree on a rugby field. Whether it’s Rchie McCaw entering the ruck from the side, Beauden Barrett stealing a few yards at a penalty kick or Bakkies Botha ‘disciplining’ Jimmy Cowan in a tackle with a headbutt. It’s all cheating in some way or form.
However, that is the reason I rather refer to it as gamesmanship. Cheating is something you would do that gives you an unfair advantage over the opposition and I would classify the use of banned substances or bugging the opposition team room in this category.
We all have the same referee, the same oval ball and the same roughly 100m long and 60m wide playing field. What we do with these on the day of the game is up to you as a player and as a team.
Rugby didn’t lose its soul when White went down and put his hand up for a serious contender for the best actor at the Oscars. It reminded us again that gamesmanship’s always been around. We should not get upset when the opposition is better at it than our own and we also can’t judge them for playing the situation on the day.
White got away with it on the day, with a penalty and a yellow card going the way of Faf. Was it worth it on the day? Possibly, yes, but will he ever live it down for the rest of his playing days? Probably not.
Meanwhile, in a quite comical video shared to social media, hecklers at an airport can be heard throwing chirps the way of White after the incident, sarcastically questioning why he wasn’t in the ICU.
Former Springbok flyhalf Butch James also slammed White for his gamesmanship during Saturday’s Rugby Championship match in Adelaide.
At half-time, Butch James, in-studio for SuperSport, was quick to slam White, suggesting that HE deserved a yellow card.
However, Nick Mallett – also on SuperSport duty – disagreed in part with his fellow commentator, saying: “What is Faf trying to do though? You can’t knock the ball out of a scrumhalf’s hands, you’re not allowed to. He’s not tackling the guy so what on earth is he doing. I mean it’s stupid enough to have a swinging arm, and he opened himself up to that.”
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Rugby Championship Standings (played, won, drawn, lost, points scored, points conceded, bonus points, total)
Argentina 3 2 0 1 99 76 1 9
Australia 3 2 0 1 83 91 1 9
New Zealand 3 1 0 2 63 74 1 5
South Africa 3 1 0 2 66 70 0 4
Points allocation
4: win
2: draw
1: scoring at least three tries more than opponents; losing by fewer than eight points
0: loss without any bonus points
RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS TO DATE
1st round
South Africa 26 New Zealand 10
Argentina 26 Australia 41
2nd round
South Africa 23 New Zealand 35
Argentina 48 Australia 17
Leading scorers
Points
54: Boffelli (ARG)
32: Pollard (RSA)
25: Mo’unga (NZL)
Tries
3: Gonzalez (ARG), McReight (AUS)
2: Gallo (ARG), Ikitua (AUS), Smith (RSA), Taukei’aho (NZL)
Rugby Championship fixtures
Next round: Saturday, 3 September
In Hamilton, New Zealand
New Zealand v Argentina – 09:35 (SA time)
In Sydney, Australia
Australia v South Africa – 11:35 (SA time)
