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Thu 11 Apr 2013 | 11:34
Bakkies Botha injures Marcos Ayerza with big charge towards tryline

38
Comments

Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill has criticised Heineken Cup organisors for the lack of punishment for Toulon lock Bakkies Botha after Marcos Ayerze broke his collarbone attempting to tackle him on Sunday.

Cockerill feels that Botha should have been charged with 'excessive use of the knee' after he stormed towards the tryline at the Stade Felix Mayol in the Tigers' 21-15 Quarter Final loss. 

The former England hooker, no saint himself, was disgusted when hearing that Botha was not cited by ERC, and went on to accuse them of being out of touch with the modern game.

"Marcos has broken his collarbone in two. He will have surgery to have it plated and repaired, and he will be out for three months," explained an incensed Cockerill.

"I have been told that there will be no citing of the incident. The citing officer put it forward as a citable offence but the gatekeeper from ERC's disciplinary section has decided that it is not worthy of a citing. From the footage we have seen, we felt that it was an illegal act of jumping into a tackle.

"It caused a lot of damage to the player and I am very disappointed in the attitude that ERC have come back to us with. And I am bitterly disappointed with the inconsistency at disciplinary level within ERC yet again. They have failed to deal with what, in my opinion, is an act of foul play.

"I am pretty sure it is against the laws of the game to hurdle into a player – and that has caused damage to our player who will now miss the rest of the season."

Argentine Ayerza said he was in a lot of pain before the operation, which will involve plates and screws. He said that he was told by club doctors that he'll be out of rugby for about nine weeks.

"For me, that is a disgraceful decision to not, at least, have a hearing to look at all of the facts," continued Cockerill. "To lose one of the best loosehead props in the world in that fashion is disappointing. It leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

"The rule-makers are so fussy on so many things but, when something like this happens, the disciplinary panels and officers decide there is no case to answer."

Some felt that it was actually Botha who was unlucky in this instance, as the try wasn't awarded. View the footage below and you can decide for yourself if there was a jump into the tackle or not.

Toulon vs Leicester Tigers highlights | Heineken Cup Quarter Final highlights

Posted By: Grant Constable

38 Comments

  • xxxwookie
    10:18 AM 16/04/2013

    Actually, it does. It is proper procedure. You're saying there is no case based on the lack of evidence from precisely no TV angle where there is a decent view of it. Procedure is that if a coach makes a complaint and requests that an incident be reviewed, he reports it to a citing commissioner. The citing commissioner viewed it and decided it was worth looking into. The panel rejected it based on not looking at it any further. You got me wrong in assuming I said there was evidence from those angles. What I was clearly pointing out is that there isn't and Cockerill's complaint should have the panel at least look to see if there is a case

    Again, Lomu was an utterly different situation. He legitimately handed off Mike Catt, England did not complain, no review was required. In this case, right or wrong, Cockerill thinks there was an incident of foul play you review it. If there's no case to answer after a review, then nothing happens, but I can understand Cockerill being frustrated that it's not even been looked at beyond the citing commissioner who agreed from footage that it was worth looking at.

    Leicester are not the first team to report an incident themselves and getting Botha banned does not help them one bit, but it does give them closure as to whether or not a foul was commited that has put a player out for the rest of the season.

  • 5:16 AM 16/04/2013

    Lomu scored, new Zealand won, England humbly accepted it.

    Not sure where I got u wrong wookie? U suggested he had a case, I cleverly deduced he didn't. Just because someone makes a comPlaint doesn't mean u open a file.

  • stroudos
    2:13 AM 16/04/2013

    Can't see much difference between this and Jonah Lomu running over Mike Catt at the 1995 RWC.

  • xxxwookie
    1:28 PM 15/04/2013

    Wow, massively blown what I said out of proportion. Clever that, try reading what I said instead. End of the day, Cockerill went down the channels, reported it to the citing commissioner who reported it to the disciplinary committee who didn't bother to look at it at all. And no one can see why he's frustrated?

    You can't see much from the initial TV angles, but the committee, should they look into it, would have access to more angles to decide what happened. Cockerill has a view that something illegal took place, maybe from his seat it looked worse. Why not look into it, it's just proper procedure. Better to check something out for foul play and it turn out not to be than to let it go ignored.

  • 4lc4tr4z
    11:09 AM 13/04/2013

    Ayerza saved a try ! Sacrified himself for his team. He was just unlucky it was Bakkies coming that made him a martyr for his cause but, heroic try saving though.

  • gonzoman
    4:09 PM 12/04/2013

    I agree with your first point, but I believe you are mistaken on the second. Botha is not held in the first tackle but he never regains his feet and instead crawls towards the line before two opponents jump on him. The law is pretty clear that if you are not on your feet you are not in the game. Botha should have regained his feet or released the ball, therefore the ref made the correct call.

  • s_conner
    3:29 PM 12/04/2013

    Looks like a case of sour grapes from Cockerill to me. Stone me though, imagine trying to stop Bakiies on the charge like that?!?! Credit to Ayerza for putting his body on the line.

  • 2:47 PM 12/04/2013

    Oh and cockers is a whinger. Case in point his whining about billy 12trees not staying with leceister this past season and earning his coaches esteemed annointment in selection. This guy talks too much.

  • 2:45 PM 12/04/2013

    Ok xxxwookie, so every time someone has bad form in a tackles and gets injured as a result, the citing commission should have a look? That's nonsense.

    Even if Botha used his knee aggressively to break the tackle, it's not worth the second look. Otherwise, the citing committee would be reviewing every concussion obtained as a result of bad tackling form. It's a high speed collision game and sometimes people get hurt.

  • upthelowend
    12:12 PM 12/04/2013

    Yeah but you can only assume that Cockerill has footage from a clearer viewpoint, sore loser or not, with no discernible evidence, you think he's gonna kick up such a fuss?? With the evidence here i'd say no try, no citing, but I can only assume theres other footage that we haven't seen. As we all know, angles lie all the time.

  • xxxwookie
    11:04 AM 12/04/2013

    I think people are being overly harsh on Cockerill here. At the end of the day, Marcos is one of his guys and he is thoroughly disappointed for him. Breaking a collarbone is a season ender, in two places, the fear would be a career ender. I understand his frustration and disappointment. Also, he was very gracious in defeat for those saying he's a sore loser. He lost, he accepted it and was proud of the team. This is a separate issue from the loss altogether.

    I can see what he's getting at, there could be something, other angles could further highlight it. The decision to not look further into it after the citing commissioner agreed it was worth looking into though is a further reason for his frustration, especially when they've looked so closely at someone spitting which left Peter Stringer wiping his eye.

    I'm not saying Bakkies did anything wrong, but the decision to ignore it has riled Cockerill up and I think rightly so.

  • 4lc4tr4z
    10:02 AM 12/04/2013

    Can't wait to meet Leicester fans again next season !
    Much more enjoyable partying people than Cockerill or Boudjellal weird talks.

    :-D

  • jadawin
    9:59 AM 12/04/2013

    a strong charge, an awkward tacle, nothing else...

  • 4lc4tr4z
    9:56 AM 12/04/2013

    The ref refused the try saying Bakkies was crawling.

  • 4lc4tr4z
    9:53 AM 12/04/2013

    Meet Bakkies Botha.
    Priceless.

  • totesmcgoates
    9:48 AM 12/04/2013

    I saw the words 'citing' and 'Botha' at the top and I rubbed my hands together with glee and thought to myself, 'What has he been up to this week?!'

    Very unfortunate for Ayerza but when I was learning the game I was always told to run with high knees because no one wants to tackle a guy doing that.

  • coops
    2:53 AM 12/04/2013

    I'm a Leicester fan and am annoyed with Cockerill over this. Rugby is all about big carries with knees and elbows flying - sometimes you take an unlucky knock.

    Absolutely nothing wrong with that at all - usually if Cockerill complains, he actually has some justification...I can't see he has any here.

    www.ruckedover.blogspot.com

  • coops
    2:51 AM 12/04/2013

    Ha. I'm sure you, on the other hand, would have levelled him?!

  • feddderico
    12:25 AM 12/04/2013

    Ohhh this is a sad news! 9 weeks without playing is a long time. Hope he can make it to the 4 nations (Rugby Championship) for Argentina.

  • feddderico
    12:25 AM 12/04/2013

    Ohhh this is a sad news! 9 weeks without playing is a long time. Hope he can make it to the 4 nations (Rugby Championship) for Argentina.

  • 12:25 AM 12/04/2013

    Le roster = leceister, stupid autocorrect

  • 12:24 AM 12/04/2013

    Cockerill has a point here, in fact, why wasn't Armitage cited for bumping off his opponent to start the movement, and then Basta for dangerously spinning out of the tackle and then dragging defenders with him and putig their ankles in serious jeopardy of spraining! The tigers will never win a game if their opponents refuse to be sportingly be tackled whence a le roster player steps in their path!

  • jumpinbeans
    10:20 PM 11/04/2013

    Bakkies....a hardman's hardman

    http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KyI1UQfT6K0&feature=relmfu

  • kevinhancock
    8:33 PM 11/04/2013

    What would yo cite? Physics? Its rugby people get hurt, get over it.

  • elvis15
    8:18 PM 11/04/2013

    Certainly nothing like the 'hurdle' he described. Perhaps another camera angle would reveal a different story (much the same as the try) but I can't even see that being so different to suggest he jumped or even ran with overly high knees into the tackle.

    No try, no citing, all the right calls.

  • technomouse
    7:41 PM 11/04/2013

    Few things more fearful in rugby than a second row on a full charge! Reminds me of Simon Shaw's run for the Lions a few years ago where he almost scored from the kick off having collected the ball at full pelt. Scary. But awesome.

  • drg
    7:09 PM 11/04/2013

    I was looking forward to this video. I read about the incident on BBC News and the way Cockerill was going on about it I was looking for a lovely "juicy" video of typical old Bakkies behaving badly as usual, lots of controversy, maybe a few groans and moans etc. I have to say though, I am totally disappointed, not at RD, but at Cockerill.. Perhaps a better angle might come out and I will "officially retract" my statement, but from where I am sitting watching this video this "incident" appears to be very non-existent in some ways...

    You get the feeling that had Ayerza not been injured then this video clip would have been about 5 seconds long in a main overall highlight reel about how an almost try was not a try...

    I have no idea where that nasty old Bakkies was supposedly at fault or where he jumped..

    So again, disappointed at Cockerill, sounds like a dreadfully sore loser, apologies to Bakkies Botha for preparing your noose before even seeing the footage, and best wishes to Ayerza and hope he recovers quickly.

    On a side note, Toulon is certainly turning into a Fantasy rugby team... bit like the Baabaa's.

  • asdfero
    5:53 PM 11/04/2013

    Oh come on, bones break, it's rugby.

  • aidy668
    5:34 PM 11/04/2013

    It is unfortuante for both Ayerza and Leicester Tigers that he sustained a serious injury. There was absolutely nothing wrong however with Bothas run or his actions going into the contact. Cockerill needs to wind his neck in!!

  • conman
    5:33 PM 11/04/2013

    Botha obviously has a fairly bad reputation but I can't for the life of me see anything wrong here. He's runing flat out, at pace, on a great line. Unfortunate for Ayerza to get injured but no blame whatsoever on Botha. These things happen in contact sport.

    As for the disallowed try, I can see why the ref disallowed it but watching the slow mo, it's clear Ayerza didn't hold him in the tackle, so Botha is allowed to get up, before he can he is tackled again and then places the ball over the line. If you take the secondary tackle as the completed tackle, he's allowed one movement, so I believe the try should have stood. No blame to the ref calling what he sees but a TMO may have awarded it on that basis.

  • aidy668
    5:30 PM 11/04/2013

    Because you have to score with your first movementyou cant ground the ball then keep moving it forwards in separate movements ( botha made 3 separate movements before grounding the ball over the line)

  • smiffy_ref
    5:10 PM 11/04/2013

    Absolutely nothing wrong with the run by Botha, it was just unlucky for Ayerza that he was the one standing in his way.
    Cockerill should in fact be glad that it was Ayerza in the way as anyone else would have probably been snapped in half by that charge and not have had a hope of stopping the try from being scored.

  • colombes
    5:08 PM 11/04/2013

    Fantastic charge from Botha

    I don't really get Cockerill usual moanings in general, and this new antic just confirm that he can't take the defeat graciously. these sour grapes ternish a great perf of the Tigers who just lost vs a more powerful team and a great Wilko

    PS: Tricky, but the try was rightly disallowed for double-movement

  • guy
    5:05 PM 11/04/2013

    Given his reputation I never thought I was ever going to say this but...I think Bakkies is completely innocent in this case. There is no evidence of jumping into the tackler whatsoever.

    Bad luck for Ayerza and I hope he gets well soon.

    Cockerill should have known better, his comments make him seem like a very sore loser.

  • warhorse
    5:04 PM 11/04/2013

    Cockerill was complaining that Botha jumped into the tackle, which is dangerous indeed, but I cannot see anything along those lines happening here
    It was no different from a player diving through/past a defender to the tryline (which, I suppose is what Botha tried, but somehow managed to misjudge how long his arms were...)

  • howardtheduck
    5:03 PM 11/04/2013

    Nothing there, just an unfortunate contact. Good call. No try. Give Ayerza a pat on the back and let's move on.

  • besthookerintown
    4:59 PM 11/04/2013

    *pace even instead of pass!!

  • besthookerintown
    4:59 PM 11/04/2013

    Fantastic run by Botha, showed incredible pass and strength. In fact if anybody is to be cited it should be Cockerill for bringing the game into disrepute for the claims he has made.

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