Cam Roigard has taken to the media to defend his actions in the opening minutes of Saturday’s Super Rugby Pacific semi-final against the Blues.
In the opening minutes, Roigard went for a high ball in the centre of the pitch and was taken out in the air by Beauden Barrett. The referee blew the whistle, and Barrett went to check on his All Blacks teammate. After about a minute of lying on the floor and looking injured and sore, Roigard got back to his feet slowly. Out of nowhere, the Canes talisman sprung into action, and he tapped the ball and quickly sprinted 40 metres up the field before being tackled. The Hurricanes would then score the try to open the scoring in the match. Roigard would go on to score a later try, and the Hurricanes won 57-21.
Roigard faced backlash for the incident, with it seen as unsportsmanlike and against the spirit of the game.
What did Roigard say on the incident?
It was reported by RugbyPass that the scrum half had been speaking to Jason Pine on Weekend Sports on Newstalk ZB, Roigard explained the play from his perspective.
He started his explanation by describing how he felt the situation would pan out and was unable to guarantee his safety by saying, “I’m probably not the one who’s meant to be taking the high ball so it was kind of going straight on my head so I wasn’t able to jump square and into Baz (Beauden Barrett), so I fell a bit ugly, when something like that happens, there’s usually a fight or a bit of a push-and-shove kind of thing. So I was just waiting for that and making sure I was all good, because you never know if you fall funny.”
The tactical choice
When Roigard continues to speak, he makes it seem that it was a choice to play it the way he had done.
He added that, “Ruben Love was asking for the ball so I was like that must mean something’s on, so I got up, had a look, and no one was in the middle, so I thought I might as well just go.”
While he did admit that it was a choice to get up and look at going quickly. He did insist that he wasn’t milking it.
“I don’t think I was milking it. I know everybody’s having a crack online, but it is what it is,” he added.To be fair, if I stayed down or didn’t take the quick tap, he might have gotten a yellow card anyway. It’s not here nor there, but I don’t regret it. It is what it is. It’s footy.”
Trying to look at the light-hearted end of the situation, and added, “To be fair, if he (Barrett) didn’t take me out in the air, I’d have nothing to milk. I thought I’d just get on with the game and people are complaining. That’s up to them, it’s been and gone now.”
ReadRugbyUnion Reacts
I feel this is an interesting scenario where a player has faced a bit of backlash from fans online and has come out and responded to it. It seems that Roigard cared more about getting the win for his team rather than worrying about what others think. While this lighthearted take didn’t consider much the impact on the younger generation and how they might try to recreate the scenario, it should be something that our professional players consider when they act on and off the pitch.
