The Springboks beat the All Blacks 29-24 at FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday, but the loudest talking point out of the third Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test wasn’t the scoreline. It was Cam Roigard‘s gamesmanship, and Schalk Burger wasn’t letting it go.
South Africa had New Zealand pinned on a five-metre scrum late in the first half, the platform built off Ruben Love’s yellow card minutes earlier. Referee Nika Amashukeli awarded the Springboks a penalty try off the dominant shove. Then, in the same passage of play, Roigard grabbed opposite number Cobus Reinach, Reinach flipped him backward, and Roigard went down clutching his head. Replays showed no contact with the turf.
The TMO flagged it. Amashukeli reviewed, and reversed his own call. No card for anyone involved in the tangle. Instead, New Zealand got a penalty and a restart from halfway, with the referee telling captain Siya Kolisi the original decision came down to a collective scrum infringement rather than an individual one. South Africa went from a penalty try to nothing in the space of a review.
Schalk Burger, working the Boks Unpacked X The Verdict panel, wasn’t buying the fudge.
Schalk Burger, former Springbok flank, on Boks Unpacked X The Verdict:
“Why doesn’t Cam Roigard get a yellow card? Instead, we get a penalty against us on the half-way line for a bit of gamesmanship.”
He didn’t stop there. Burger reached for Nigel Owens’ most famous line to make the point: “And we’ll quote Nigel Owens: ‘They can come play soccer here next week’. That’s not called for in our game.” For Burger, the correct outcome was never in doubt: “It should have been a penalty try, yellow card and nothing in Reinach versus Roigard.”
Later in the same segment, he went back over the contact itself: “That’s not a tip tackle. He didn’t land on his head; he just got rolled over. But then obviously, there was the gamesmanship — you were watching too much of the football World Cup in America. I mean, that is not allowed on a rugby field.”
He wasn’t alone on the panel. Jean de Villiers, who’d already said his piece live on air, repeated it for the panel.
Jean de Villiers, former Springbok captain, on SuperSport:
“A lot has been said about gamesmanship, and I will call it out there; this game of ours is a pride one, and he is taking a dive there. Yes, he rips him over, but that is certainly not a tip tackle.”
Hanyani Shimange, former Springbok hooker, kept it blunt: “The animation stuff must stop. All of them.”
It’s not the first time Roigard’s landed in this conversation. In June’s Super Rugby Pacific semi-final against the Blues, he went down after an aerial collision with Beauden Barrett, stayed down while Blues players checked on him, then popped straight up to take a quick tap that led to a try. Mils Muliaina and Jeff Wilson called it out at the time. Roigard’s explanation then was that he was just checking he was okay — the same explanation, more or less, that wasn’t on offer in Soweto.
“This is not soccer! He went down, held his face, waited for everyone to notice. Schalk called it exactly right!” – 🎙️Jay
There was real rugby buried under the controversy, too. Malcolm Marx took Player of the Match off a second-half maul try, and it was needed — the sides were locked at 12-12 at the break. All Blacks captain Ardie Savea didn’t make it past the 30th minute with a shoulder injury, and Cheslin Kolbe failed an HIA at the other end. Both are doubts for Baltimore.
Dave Rennie said afterward he had no issue with how the scrums were refereed in Soweto, a notable shift from his complaints after Cape Town, while Kieran Read pointed to Reinach’s turnover strip on Asafo Aumua — the play that built the counter-attack leading to the five-metre scrum in the first place — as the game’s real turning point.
South Africa now lead the series 2-1 heading into the fourth and final Test at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on September 12. Roigard will have a stage to answer his critics. Whether he does it standing up is another matter.
