When you look at Wendell Sailor and the head-butt he put on Josh Blackie last night, I can't help but return to an old hobby-horse of mine - the consistency of officials.
Okay, the referee, Shaun Veldsman, had a shocker.
So did the touch judge, Stuart Dickinson. But, harking back to the Ali Williams affair, you can't have one rule for one player and another for another.
Sailor's head-butt was pretty harmless. But I am sure you will remember Mose Tuiali'i getting sent off and suspended last year when he did something very similar. How come Sailor escapes? However, even before we get into consistency of penalties, let's look at the consistency of officials.
Sailor head-butts Blackie, even if it was pretty gentle stuff.
Nothing happens. Later, Sailor tries to leg-trip Ben Blair but misses - and is yellow-carded. Hello? Head-butt, stay on; missed trip, sin-binned.
Rugby has to do something about this.
All right, we have to clean the game up - no argument there. We have to look after the game, sure, and guard against kids and others being put off. But our policemen all seem to have different rules and the judges seem to pass different sentences.
But we also have to look after ordinary rugby people who want a game decided on its merits, not affected or even ruined by this stuff. And they want consistency - why was Tuiali'i suspended for an almost identical incident and Wendell sails off to South Africa?
Having said all that, I thought Sailor showed pretty clearly how, out of all the Australian rugby league converts of recent times, he is the one who has least come to grips with the game of rugby. I thought his actions were those of a man frustrated by his inability to foot it in this code.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was his last year. However, you have to hand it to the Highlanders and how they have turned their season around. That win over the Reds in Brisbane, on the back of a tiring South African leg, means they are now occupying a strong place on the Super 12 ladder.
At the beginning of the season, when they played the Blues, I can remember saying that it would be a very long season for them if they didn't get the basics - scrums, lineouts and kick-offs right. Well, they have.
They have unearthed one of the new stars of the season in young red-headed lock James Ryan. I don't want to talk him up too much as a lot can happen in your second season, but he is an obvious find. That front row is sparking, and although I have previously been a critic of Anton Oliver, I have to say he is leading from the front.
Add to that a very nicely balanced back row, strong defence and a team of few stars all playing hard for each other and you have the reason for the Highlanders' success so far.
All the games they have won have been deserved. Even if they haven't won by much, they haven't been lucky wins. They have grafted away for each other, scored through good, solid play, and have a defence which refuses to be beaten.
Blackie will get plaudits for his tries but I'd say a big thank you, if I were him, to fellow loosies Paul Miller and Craig Newby.
Miller does much of the driving and muscle work. Newby is one of several imports the Highlanders have successfully nurtured. He is mobile and a real ball-grubber.
They have some hard games ahead, but this season the Highlanders look like the new Chiefs.
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
<EM>Richard Loe:</EM> Rugby’s judges and police all reading from different rulebooks
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