We have to start Down Under. I had been hoping against hope that we’d get through the weekend without any dangerous play controversy. More fool me.
When Queensland Reds played the Brumbies, a shocking head-high hit on Corey Toole by Reds’ Angus Blyth saw the new red card protocol trials come into operation. Referee Ben O’Keeffe, having told us that the yellow card threshold had been reached, dispatched the offender to the sin bin, and sent the incident to the TMO for further review.
Given the severity of both the hit, and of the brain injury suffered by Toole, the TMO had a very easy task to upgrade the colour of the card to red, meaning that Blyth could not return but could be replaced after 20 minutes. In his haste to deal with the issue, O’Keefe did not seem to consider that the red card barrier had also been well and truly shattered. Under these protocols there is the option for the referee to issue a straight red, which results in no replacement.
So, the question arises, and it is a very basic one, what level of dangerous foul play merits referees making straight red card decisions themselves? Certainly, we all want to see 15 play 15, but the prevention of brain injury must take precedence and, in the event of “hits” as appalling as this one, then keeping numerical parity will not always be possible. Spectators and pundits should not then shoot the referee, who is but the card-messenger. Rather they should turn their guns on the perpetrators. It has to stop.
On review O’Keeffe may feel that he should have decided on a straight red, but if that option is simply going to be ignored and to disappear, then the replacement red card may well fall short of the necessary support for a global trial.
Back in Europe, the Heineken and Challenge Cup quarterfinals saw a good weekend overall for match officials. Over the eight matches, four English referees took charge, and that speaks as much to the strength of their elite panels as it does to the weakness of others. It will be difficult for any of the four to be omitted from the World Cup squad, so it’s likely that disappointment will have to reside elsewhere.
My car is on a long waiting list for its NCT, and Leinster are also waiting to be tested. There probably isn’t one Leicester player who the Cullen-Lancaster axis would select for their team, but something similar could not be said at the end of the month when Toulouse come to town. If both teams can bring the form they showed in the quarters, it will be a scintillating nail-biter.
Leinster went through the gears easily, untroubled, and the result was never in doubt. Referee Nika Amashukeli is now becoming a familiar sight at this level, and his growing reputation is deserved. It wasn’t all perfect though, and Leicester can look askance at a forward pass decision, when for once they looked to have breached the home team’s defence. Amashukeli is at a bit of a disadvantage, as he does not have a regular group of assistants or TMOs; on Friday it was a French team who were on duty with him, and one or two scrum calls might well have been left out, reversed or indeed not taken by the referee.
Toulouse v Cell C Sharks was a tremendous match, jam-packed with thrilling rugby.,The home team pulled away in the last quarter, with Sharks exhausting travel arrangements undoubtedly having a negative effect on them lasting the distance. Karl Dickson has been guilty in the past of over-fussy officiating, but he came out of this game well, allowing a good contest at the breakdown. He kept his whistling to the minimum, giving the game plenty of oxygen. He also dealt correctly with a head-on-head clash to Sharks’ elusive Makazole Mapimpi, who had definitely changed direction just as the tackle came in. Despite the fact that Juan Cruz Mallia was always high, the yellow card was logical in this case.
Equally logical was Wayne Barnes’ red card for Irae Simone’s head hit on Leigh Halfpenny in the Scarlets v Clermont encounter. Having let Uini Atonio off the hook in Ireland v France, Barnes has evidently recalibrated, and he arrived at the right decision here. With Welsh rugby in turmoil, the Scarlet’s narrow win will have given everyone in the valleys something to smile about, at last.
The last quarter-final saw Andy Brace travel to the west coast of France for Saracens’ Sunday visit to La Rochelle. The officials had a busy afternoon. TMO Joy Neville was accurate, as is her wont, despite several calls being extremely tight. It’s hard to believe that Sarries, despite looking like an ageing team, sit comfortably atop the English Premiership, so wide was the chasm between the sides.
The match saw a massive 36 sanctions, 20 against Saracens; it was odd that a strong “repeated infringement” yellow card warning was not issued by Brace and, if necessary, acted upon. From early on Saracens found themselves on the wrong side of his interpretation at the breakdown, and will undoubtedly question some of the penalties. But any suggestion that this was the cause of their downfall is just grasping at straws. Outclassed, plain and simple, that’s what happened.
