iafrica.com?s Rob Peters was forced to turf his original column, full of flowery praise for the Springboks following their win in Hamilton, after a bunch of Kiwis did their best to ruin the moment...

I had it all planned. It was prepped and ready to go. My column was going to be full of praise for the Springboks after their Hamilton heroics on Saturday. I touched on Frans Steyn at fullback being a masterstroke, and lauded Fourie du Preez as my Springbok Player of the Tournament. I gushed about the lock pairing of Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha, pointed out how we have not beaten the All Blacks three times in a row since the 1940s and mentioned something about history being made in Hamilton. I made a note of John Smit?s retribution in the form of his scrumming and that big hit on Brad Thorn.

I even had time to praise Bok coach Peter de Villiers for his remarkable record this year. I know, I know, it would have been a great column...

And the Springboks deserved to be praised for their Tri-Nations triumph. But instead I was forced to perform an about-turn after a bunch of Kiwis ruined the occasion with yet another ridiculous, and laughably inconsistent, ban on a South African player ? this time Jaque Fourie for a 'spear tackle' on All Blacks centre Ma'a Nonu.

For regular readers of iafrica.com you will no doubt remember a previous column I wrote regarding the inconsistencies shown in the IRB disciplinary processes, the Boks' subsequent protest action, and the heavy-handedness shown by the IRB in an apparent attempt to force South Africa to toe the company line. For those of you who did not read it, you can remedy that by clicking HERE.

The latest in a long line of crap calls

So, I could ramble on about how many calls have gone against us this year, as opposed to how few against the opposition. But that would take forever, so in a nutshell: Bakkies Botha banned for a legitimate cleanout, Andrew Sheridan escapes any form of sanction for smacking a guy in the balls; Matt Giteau walks free for a blatant shoulder charge on an opposition player, now Fourie is banned for what, at most, was a reckless tackle.

The Fourie incident is just another in a long line of crap calls by IRB, and in this case, Sanzar Disciplinary Committees. It is also impossible not to draw the comparison of the Bok centre's tackle on Nonu, to what Thorn did to Smit in Wellington last year. Thorn got a week for a deliberate spear tackle ? off the ball ? while Fourie gets four.

Really, we should be used to this by now, but you have to ask how much longer Saru is going to take this crap from their Sanzar 'allies'? It is bad enough we already face longer travels ? both in the Tri-Nations and the Super 14 ? and dodgy refereeing decisions, but now we have to deal with increasingly brazen bans being handed down? I would call it a conspiracy, but really, nobody seems to be trying to hide anything.

After their triumph in Hamilton the Boks will return home in triumph, the Tri-Nations trophy snuggled alongside an already impressive haul of silverware this season, but you have to wonder if they too will start to believe the rest of the rugby world is out to get them.

It's enough to make them throw their hands up in protest, but then, we all know how that turned out last time don't we?

Guess they will just have to make do with being the reigning World Champions, Tri-Nations gold, and the title of number one ranked team in the world. Hell, we can all live with that.

  • Is the rest of the rugby world out to get the Boks? What are your views on the current disciplinary processes in rugby? Start the debate below!