Jeremy Paul thinks the Hunter Paisami ban is rubbish, because Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu got up and nobody needed an HIA. He also thinks the Wallabies should serve it without a word. “You just got to cop it,” the 1999 World Cup winner said. “You cop it on the chin.”
Paul played 72 Tests at hooker for Australia. He said it on The Good, The Bad & Rugby ANZ, recorded this week with host Andy Rowe, Kieran Read and Justin Marshall.
Paisami’s high tackle in the last minutes in Perth on 27 September wiped out Tom Wright‘s intercept try. The disciplinary committee found him guilty under Law 9.13, set a mid-range entry point of six weeks and took two off. He misses both Bledisloe Cup Tests.
So should the man who got up change the weeks served by the man who hit him?
The Hunter Paisami ban, in Paul’s words: absolutely rubbish
Paul went straight to the outcome.
“Oh, it’s absolutely rubbish. It’s rubbish… I believe the outcome of the event itself needs to be taken into what the actual sentence is… He got back up, no HIA. Now if he was knocked out, yes, six weeks, I get it.”
“Though we’re trying to obviously send a message and continually stay hard on that message, so you just got to cop it. You cop it on the chin. That’s what we’re trying to do is build a squad, right? We’re trying to build a squad where players can slip in and out, but why did it have to happen in that midfield? God damn it.”
So the ban is rubbish, and Paisami should serve it anyway. Paul said both in the same breath.
The committee graded the act, as RugbyPass reported: “dangerous play for a contrary tackle, in breach of Law 9.13”, six weeks, with two off for remorse and record. Not one word about Feinberg-Mngomezulu getting up. That’s Paul’s whole complaint.
Marshall calls it a joke
Marshall, 81 Tests at halfback for the All Blacks, went further than the Wallaby.
“The suspension of Hunter Paisami, which to be perfectly honest, I got to throw it out there, I thought was an absolute joke. The fact that they gave him six weeks for that, reduced to four. There was no consequence to Feinberg-Mngomezulu. He stayed on the field, no HIA. It shows that the amount of contact was minimal, and for them to suspend him for that long, I think it’s a real shame.”
One correction, because it matters. There was a consequence, and it landed on Australia. The referee went back for the tackle and Wright’s 76th-minute try came off the board. The Springboks were already coming, and a late Ox Nche try made it 42-38 before the Wallabies held on.
Read also: the Springboks player ratings from Perth, and the 5 Eben Etzebeth took home.
Why Paisami was standing tall
Read, 127 Tests and the All Blacks captain from 2016 to 2019, read the tackle as a defender would.
“I look at that Hunter Paisami incident and I go, he’s not coming in to make the… he’s actually, cuz he’s got to defend another three, four players outside him, right JP?… He’s coming in upright because he knows he has to get back out if he passes… There’s no force in terms of going forward at him. So, you know, that’s… it doesn’t make sense to me.”
Anyone who has defended in the 13 channel knows this one. A midfielder with three attackers outside him cannot drop his height early, because a pass sends him back out to the edge. He stays tall to keep both options. If the ball carrier then steps inside, the tackle arrives high.
Read doesn’t think the ban makes sense either. Law 9.13 doesn’t care. It does not ask what the defender was trying to do.
Paul’s other answer: serve it
Paul’s second position is the one Les Kiss has to live with. Hunter Paisami is gone for the Bledisloe, and the midfield that beat the Springboks has to be rebuilt in a week.
“I believe Len Ikitau‘s is bone bruising, so there’s a real strong chance that he will be back. It makes sense, right, to move Len back to 12… Mind you, young Isaac Henry, he really impressed with his debut. Big, isn’t he? Like that Nathan Grey type of inside centre, that real sort of stocky ball runner, can play 13 as well.”
Ikitau is in the 34-man squad that travelled to Auckland, though whether he is fit to start is still open. Isaac Henry, who debuted against Japan in Townsville, is the likely 13. Jordan Petaia, who was told to earn the jersey in Australia rather than Japan, and Filipo Daugunu are the cover.
That is the squad Paul means when he says cop it. A side that wants to beat New Zealand twice in a fortnight needs interchangeable centres. Eden Park will tell us whether Kiss has built that squad or just a good midfield.
Four Tests without Paisami, starting at Eden Park
Four Tests, starting with Eden Park on Saturday 10 October and Sydney on Saturday 17 October.
The Wallabies are unbeaten in six Tests, five wins and a draw. The centre pairing that did it didn’t finish the match, with Ikitau limping off on that ankle. Now it does not exist at all.
Read next: Nigel Owens on the Ruben Love card, a referee’s reading of the other card this series argued about.
Your turn: does the outcome count?
Two readings. Either a tackle is graded by what it was, and a player who stays on his feet changes nothing. Or four weeks for a hit nobody needed treatment for is the process losing touch with the game. Paul says the second, and would serve it anyway. Which is it?
Next up is Eden Park. Kieran Read explains how the All Blacks defence is built to make numbers, and a rebuilt Wallabies midfield is about to run at it.
Hunter Paisami ban: what fans are asking
How long is Hunter Paisami banned for?
Four Tests. The committee set a six-week entry point under Law 9.13 for dangerous play. It took two weeks off for his acceptance, record, conduct and remorse.
Which matches does Paisami miss?
Both Bledisloe Cup Tests, at Eden Park on Saturday 10 October and in Sydney on Saturday 17 October, plus the two Tests after them.
Who replaces Paisami in the Wallabies midfield?
Len Ikitau is in the squad and expected at 12 if his ankle is right. Isaac Henry is the likely 13, with Jordan Petaia and Filipo Daugunu as cover.
Where did Jeremy Paul say this?
On The Good, The Bad & Rugby ANZ, in its Bledisloe Cup preview episode, with host Andy Rowe, Kieran Read and Justin Marshall.
