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Irish Fans Are Extremely Mad at the All Blacks and Jaco Peyper
By Hayden Donnell
Irish fans are venting industrial quantities of rage into the Internet after their side's loss to the All Blacks today. Hayden Donnell dives into the pool of bitterness and resentment.
The All Blacks beat Ireland today, taking out the sides’ two-match series 50-49 on aggregate. It was a hard-fought game between two very good teams. Or as Irish fans call it, an orgy of cheating orchestrated by an incompetent referee, a legally blind TMO, and an All Blacks pack that should be prosecuted for war crimes.
The match at Aviva Stadium was littered with questionable decisions. Did Beauden Barrett really ground the ball in the second try of the game? Should Malakai Fekitoa have been sent off for a high tackle, rather than yellow carded? Did TJ Perenara pass it forward in the lead-up to Fekitoa's second try? Did the All Blacks spend the whole game trying to decapitate their opponents?
The laundry list of potential complaints has propelled Irish fans into a kind of mania. They're filling up Internet with their bitter tears. Raging on Twitter. Identifying culprits on Facebook. Ref Jaco Peyper is first on the kill list. The South African official is an experienced pro who may have missed a few calls. To Ireland fans, he is a demon from the pits of hell, corruption thick on his breath.
Open up any Irish fan right now and you'll find pure hatred coursing through their veins. The TMO who awarded Beauden Barrett's try is another target.
But the bulk of the rage is reserved for the All Blacks. In the eyes of the vast majority of Ireland's Twitter users, the world's #1-ranked rugby side are a gang of oversized thugs intent on concussing their opponents with high tackles.
Some Irish fans were overcome by the injustice. One Munster fan account lapsed into a kind of fugue state, tweeting the word "filth" roughly 50 times in a row.
As a counterpoint, Ireland failed to score a try and didn't look like threatening the All Blacks line that often. Their coach refused to blame the ref in his post-match interview. So is this outpouring of anger maybe, kind of an overreaction?
All Blacks fans would argue it is. Many of them have been spotted calling for peace online. Telling their opponents to be more magnanimous in defeat. Saying post-match bitterness is embarrassing. They have every right to lecture. After all, no-one takes a bad call or two in their stride like a New Zealand rugby fan.
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Latest Comments
A few comments. Firstly, I am a Bok fan and it's been a golden period for us. I hope my fellow Bok fans appreciate this time and know that it cannot last forever, so soak it all in!
The other thing to mention (and this is targeted at Welsh, English and even Aussie supporters who might be feeling somewhat dejected) is that it's easy to forget that just before Rassie Erasmus took over in 2018, the Boks were ranked 7th in the world and I had given up hope we'd ever be world beaters again.
Sport is a fickle thing and Rassie and his team have managed to get right whatever little things it takes to make a mediocre team great. I initially worried his methods might be short-lived (how many times can you raise a person's commitment by talking about his family and his love of his country as a motivator), but he seems to have found a way. After winning in 2019 on what was a very simple game plan, he has taken things up ever year - amazing work which has to be applauded! (Dankie Rassie! Ons wardeer wat jy vir die ondersteuners en die land doen!) (Google translate if you don't understand Afrikaans! 😁)
I don't think people outside South Africa fully comprehend the enormity of the impact seeing black and white, English, Afrikaans and Xhosa and all the other hues playing together does for the country's sense of unity. It's pure joy and happiness.
This autumn tour has been a bit frustrating in that the Boks have won, but never all that convincingly. On the one hand, I'd like to have seen more decisive victories, BUT what Rassie has done is expose a huge number of players to test rugby, whilst also diversifying the way the Boks play (Tony Brown's influence).
This change of both style and personnel has resulted in a lack of cohesion at times and we've lost some of the control, whereas had we been playing our more traditional style, that wouldn't happen. This is partially attributable to the fact that you cannot play Tony Brown's expansive game whilst also having 3 players available at every contact point to clear the defence off the ball. I have enjoyed seeing the Boks play a more exciting, less attritional game, which is a boring, albeit effective spectacle. So, I am happy to be patient, because the end justifies the means (and I trust Rassie!). Hopefully all these players we are blooding will give us incredible options for substitutions come next year's Rugby Championship and of course, the big prize in 2027.
Last point! The game of rugby has never been as exciting as it is now. Any of Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Argentina, Scotland, England & Australia can beat one another. South Africa may be ranked #1, but I wouldn't bet my house in them beating France or New Zealand, and we saw Argentina beating both South Africa and New Zealand this year! That's wonderful for the game and makes the victories we do get all the sweeter. Each win is 100% earned. Long may it last!
Sorry for the long post! 🏉🌍
Go to commentsWouldn’t mind seeing that grounding in slow mo there. Too much to ask?
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