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The ‘match-fixing’ question put to Springboks boss Jacques Nienaber
By Liam Heagney
Springboks boss Jacques Nienaber was left bemused by a post-match question on Sunday night in Marseille about the potential for Ireland and Scotland to somehow come to an agreement and play out a result next Saturday in Paris that would see the two Celtic nations qualify for the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals at the expense of the 2019 champions.
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South Africa currently top Pool B following their win over Tonga at Stade Velodrome. They have 15 points, with unbeaten Ireland in second on 14 points and Scotland in third on 10 points.
A bonus point win for the Scots next weekend that also sees the Irish collect a losing bonus point would see all three teams finish on 15 points, resulting in the pool standings being decided on points difference.
Currently, the Springboks are on +117, Ireland on +122 and Scotland +97 – and Springboks boss Nienaber was horrified by the idea that a result to eliminate South Africa purposely could be concocted.
If Scotland finish top on points difference with all teams on 15 points, second place would then be decided on the head-to-head Ireland versus South Africa pool result, a match that the Irish won and this would eliminate South Africa.
Finishing up his post-game media briefing after the Springboks’ 49-18 win over Tonga, Nienaber was asked by a French journalist about the mathematics surrounding next weekend’s pool finale at Stade de France.
“If I understand you correct, so you say they can maybe chat between each other and decide…” he said initially, confused after listening to a translation of the question. The query was put to him a second time and this was his response:
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“Could I believe in a scenario that they will decide, ‘Okay, we want to get this amount of points and then get South Africa out of the way?’
“That would probably be match-fixing I would say. I hope not. Rugby’s clean. We wear those T-shirts. Hopefully not because that would be extremely disappointing, don’t you think?”
"That would be extremely disappointing…"
– The extraordinary Pool B match-fixing suggestion put to Jacques Nienaber in the final question of his Sunday night post-match Springboks briefing. #Springboks #RSAvTGA #RWC2023 #IREvSCO pic.twitter.com/qrDjCcxEnU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 2, 2023
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The weather was dreadful but the playing surface was great so there is no real excuse for such another poor standard of play from both sides. Dragons just the better team. But, what a shocking decision by the TMO not to award the Fifita try. This pretty much sums up Welsh rugby with poor teams and poor officials. The WRU have a lot of work to do and it needs to be done quickly to avoid rugby being lost to our future generations.
Go to commentsNo chance of Borthwick selecting any young talent. He announced his selection policy from the outset with naming a poor OF as Captain, retaining an equally poor Youngs and Vunipola brothers when there were many better EQP in the Premiership. SB revival of Leicester was based on SA muscle and a terrific Welsh flanker he has generally ignored young English talent.
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