Do you think Russows yellow card was justified?

I thought it was soft too until I saw the replay. Lucky all he got was a yellow card. I feel sorry for John Smith. He tries to get the players to play as hard as they can but with discipline and then that idiot of a coach comes out and condones gouging, biting, head butts, etc. The clown's latest one is telling the press that they will go out and cheat because it's the only thing they can do to get a fair shake. Check out this article from the SMH.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/whing...

Edit: Stagg, if you had a close look at Ranger's tackle, his arm was in the process of tackling him. The tackle was legit. In Roussow's case, rightly or wrongly, the form for gouging does lie with the Bok forwards. At first I thought the yellow card was a trifle pedantic but not after re viewing it. You can't blame the ref. They were two different refs. If another Bok gets ten against the Wallabies it will be from a different ref again. Who's fault will that be.

I thought in the context of the match it was soft, but in terms of the bigger picture, the Boks should have known that the ref was not going to put up with their shenanigans this week. I think at the first hint of an incident, there would have been a card, regardless of what it was.

@m1810

De Villiers was not carded, he wasn't even penalised.

@Stag

Why do South Africans always defend foul play with rhetoric about playing 'physical rugby'. Ma'a Nonu plays 'physically', Kieren Read plays 'physically', Botha is just a thug.

There is a huge difference safety wise between an eye gouge and a ruck infringement.

Both of you watch the replay on the Ranger hit, he DID use his arms, he actually had one arm around the midsection of the man with the ball, he just went down so quickly he didn't have a chance to wrap.

Lovely responses from the peanut gallery. Rossouw's harmless tap gets a yellow, Jean de Villiers gets a two week ban after being cited for a spear tackle and all the while Rene Rangers gets nothing for blatantly shoulder charging Kirchner and Mr. Innocent McCaw gets 2 "final" warnings for infringing at the ruck and the All Blacks get a team warning for infringing at breakdowns. Yeah, great reffing.

Face it, the Boks do play an intensely physical game of Rugby but as with everything nowadays, Rugby is becoming what I like to call "pussyfied". So, because the Boks play hard, they are cheats trying to maim people. Rossouw slaps McCaw on the head and now it's an attempted eye-gouge? Ranger shoulder blocks someone but it was a clean hit?

I shall quote John Smit. When asked if he was surprised by the leniency showed to All Black captain Richie McCaw regarding repeated infractions at or around rucks and breakdowns, Smit responded by saying; "If it was my first visit to New Zealand, it would have surprised me." So there, Smit has been around for ages and it is nothing new to him to see McCaw and the AB forwards get away with murder at breakdowns at home. Now, I want to see you lot try and run a man of Smit's caliber down? The most capped Test Rugby captain in the sports history and a top-notch bloke.

Think what you want. The Boks have been painted with the "Botha paintbrush" now, we seemingly cannot do anything right. I know the AB's have been better but the Wellington game should've and would've been tighter if the ref actually allowed us to play and was consistent with his calls. But he was not.

@Bill P - Your response backs my point up. Rossouw's hand is in McCaw's face and you immediately make reference to a previous Boks eye-gouging offense, insinuating that it "runs in the blood" of our forwards. See, you immediately have the paintbrush at hand to paint the whole team. Rene Ranger was too slow in bringing his hand around. If that were a Bok, you'd be saying what a thug he was, blatantly trying to take the man out. No benefit of the doubt, straight to the paintbrush.

I do not condone foul play and I certainly do not condone PDV's idiotic statements as is the case with most South Africans.

Perhaps Rossouw's card was justified, at least he got his due as was the case with Jean De Villiers and I applaud the officials for that - foul play is not something we need in the game.

What is infuriating, is the fact that over the last 2 weeks the world cries foul the moment a person in a green jersey commits an act of foul play and he then gets punished accordingly, but time and again we've seen players in black and yellow commit similar offenses without one word being uttered about it.

What was the difference between Ranger's tackle on Aplon and the Yellow card offense by Jean De Villiers, why was that not mentioned?, why was there no sighting on that? Why is De Villiers suspended for 2 weeks and Ranger not? Why is the rugby world not crying foul the moment something like this goes unpunished instead of hampering on about those that are punished for their offenses.

Consistency truly seems to a word that rugby officials has left in the dictionary.

**Edit** - I'm sorry but I do not agree - there was absolute no arms involved in the Ranger tackle, it was a clear cut shoulder charge that was extremely dangerous and in my mind waranted a yellow card at least! Butch James have been put in the bin for a number of those exact type of tackles and Ranger should be same.

At no point in my answer did I defend any of the foul play committed by the SA players under scrutiny, I was mearly saying they got their due while others get of scott free. As for the scrutiny the Sprinboks are under I agree that it is their own fault ref's are keeping a close eye on them, but unfortunately at the expense of letting other dirty play go unnoticed.

Sure so was the food poisoning claim legit, and Brad Thorns tackle on Smit legit, and all the foul play Collins commited legit, and the Gitteau on Fourie incident legit, and all fouls commited by the Aussies and Kiwis against other teams legit. Why if it is all legit, did McCaw himself admit the card wasn't deserved? He was there and involved? Of course you will say its all legit, when do you all admit to any wrong-doing? Why was nothing mentioned about Cowan pulling Bakkies jersey, by you Kiwis, notice that went unseen by you all and the ref. Cowan should have been penalised, and got his warning from Bakkies. There is alot of sledging that goes on, especially from the Aussies and Kiwis, and if you can dish it out verbally, there will be repercussions. So be it.

Well if you don't get the point let me spell it out for you.....What you accuse the South Africans of, is exactly what you are guilty of.....biasism. For example when your team does something wrong it is overlooked, or even praised, but let the Springboks do something wrong, then you all are quick to highlight the wrongdoing, quick to point fingers. There is no room for any team supporter to point fingers at other teams.....All teams make mistakes! Hope that is clearer

Dubious and shallow .... what game were you watching i saw the All Blacks shite all over the Saffas in every department apart from the lineout.

Hey The Stagg how many times have you seen Butch James sin binned for a shoulder charge yet you want to send Ranger off get a life

Stop blaming the ref for your team getting beaten take it on the chin and move on FFS. You still have one more crack to beat the AB's this year so hope for the best and then say told you so but until then SHUT THE F%*K UP.