Sonny Bill Williams WILL be Exposed...?

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers believes Sonny Bill Williams’s game is "high risk" and "against rugby principles".

When De Villiers announced his 51-man Rugby World Cup planning squad earlier this month, he said he wasn’t worried about Williams, despite the impressive form the player has displayed with the Crusaders this season.

Williams was instrumental in helping an injury-depleted Crusaders team beat the Stormers 20-14 in their Super Rugby clash at Newlands last Saturday.

"As soon as somebody works him out, he won’t be as much a factor," De Villiers said in Wellington last month. 

"I’m looking forward to seeing Sonny Bill against a Jean de Villiers and a Jaque Fourie, who can cut down his space, and on the inside you’ve got big, hard tackles coming in from a Schalk Burger. Then we will see if the boxer can box, and if the dancer can dance," De Villiers added.

Speaking to Union Sports Mag, De Villiers said Williams will be exposed at Test level.

"Now why is Sonny Bill Williams in my mind not the best? He’s been sensational and playing good rugby. He has matured in his game," said De Villiers. 

"But he’s doing everything wrong (according) to what rugby principles acquires (sic) of you. Back-end passes shouldn’t be the norm, but it has become the norm. Now everybody wants to do that kind of nonsense and they forget about the basic principles of the game. 

"Like last week, he made four mistakes with those kind of non-rugby stuff. If it comes off, it’s brilliant. But do you have control of those kind of things? If you get to international level when people work you out so easy (sic), then you have to be in control of what you are doing. 

"If you get a little boy who is watching this Super Rugby and he wants to do things like that, he’ll spend hours and hours focusing on those things that are not important and never master the most important things of rugby."

When asked if he has worked Williams out, De Villiers replied: "If you close down his spaces, put pressure on him and hit him hard; if you don’t dance around like he does, then he’s nowhere."

THAT DANGEROUS TACKLE FROM WILLIAMS DESERVED A BAN...?

I saw the tackle happen live on Sunday, in the Super Rugby game between the Sharks and the Crusaders and my immediate reaction was that Sonny Bill Williams will get a certain ban...!

BUT...It is amazing how certain countries seem to be favoured when these kind of offenses happen on a rugby field? If that was somebody like a Bakkies Botha or a Schalk Burger? Surely they would have received an immediate ban of at least 2 weeks - What is up with this SANZAR?

This has to stop now...?

(Read more...) http://www.sport24.co.za

SANZAR’s attempts to establish a consistent, fair and open citing system took a massive step backwards when All Black midfielder Sonny Bill Williams escaped punishment for a dangerous and high tackle on Sharks No8 Ryan Kankowski during Sunday’s match between the Sharks and Crusaders.

With Bakkies Botha being cited without success a week earlier for a cleanout at the ruck that was neither as dangerous, or intentional as Williams’ hit, it once again raised the spectre of there being two sets of rules in Super Rugby - one for South Africans and one for the rest.

Williams went in on Kankowski, with deliberate intent with a shoulder and elbow which connected heavily with the No8, making even the SkySport commentators wince and speak about the illegality of the challenge.

But the referee on the day, Steve Walsh, nor his touch judges acted on the incident, and SANZAR’s citing commissioner decided not to cite, ostensibly “because it wasn’t a red card offence” in his opinion.

SANZAR head of marketing and communications Anthony Mackaiser told SuperSport.com “no citing or referral has been received by SANZAR” on Monday and therefore no further hearing nor subsequent punishment will happen.

While Williams is a star of the current Super Rugby season, a case of inconsistency can be made when you consider what would happen if Botha performed a similar shoulder charge?