Rugby’s very own House of Cards series continues unabated. Over the last two European weekends there were more yellows and reds than my abacus could handle.
A terrific performance by Munster in Toulouse on Sunday saw them coming close to a famous victory which they probably deserved. But we will never know the effect of the yellow card brandished to Ben Healy by referee Karl Dickson.
Healy was therefore missing for practically all of the vital last 10 minutes, returning briefly and too late to make any impact. While his forearm shove into Pierre-Louis Barassi was needless, a ‘penalty only’ decision would have done the trick and would not even have upset the anxiously fretting Toulouse coach, Ugo Mola. The yellow was harsh and could easily have stayed in the referee’s pocket.
It was a galling contrast to see that a huge smash into Joey Carbery by Toulouse’s Richie Arnold, right under Dickson’s nose, was not even considered worthy of a review by the referee and his TMO Rowan Kitt, aka “Kitty”.
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Exeter’s Henry Slade got a bum deal of a red card playing against the Bulls in the third round, which was later rightly rescinded. The referee, Tomas Charabas, had come on to replace the hamstrung Mathieu Raynal, who must have looked on aghast at his colleague’s interpretation of the head contact protocol. Monsieur Charabas got it completely wrong.
In Sandy Park last weekend, Castres received a right old thumping, with Ireland’s Andrew Brace having the whole back row of the French team off the field at the same time, two yellows and one red. He then had to dish them out a further yellow but he cannot really be faulted and overall put in a good performance.
For the Harlequins game against the Sharks, Nika Amashukeli was spot on in allowing Eben Etzebeth to pick up the ball from under Joe Marler’s foot and race way to score unopposed.
Holding onto a teammate’s shorts has not been considered a proper bind for donkey’s years – it must be full arm-shoulder – so this was open play. The suggestion doing the rounds that Etzebeth needed to ask the referee first is plainly absurd; if that was necessary, ‘Quins scrumhalf Danny Care would have had unfair time to take remedial action. Etzebeth knew the law, whereas ‘Quins did not, simple.
We all know by now that the suspension lengths are not working as a deterrent, but we also know that there is no will to change things. Instead, we hear all sorts of bright ideas, such as putting players on report so that the offence can be dealt with after the match, rather than examined and sanctioned by the officials at the time. That is high grade horse manure.
It seems too that a lot of people have conveniently forgotten the cases of early onset dementia, which will soon come before the courts. Quite literally, that will be a game changer. The evidence will not make for easy reading and World Rugby must surely realise that action needs to be taken beforehand, rather than have change forced on it.
Meanwhile, individual unions around the world are moving to protect, to save even, the amateur ‘community’ game, and those who play it. New Zealand are lowering the height of the tackle to the sternum, England to the waistline, France the same, and Ireland is studying the available options. It’s important to reflect fully on this one.
The definition of where the amateur game starts and stops will be interesting, and if schools – right up to senior cup teams – will be included or not. And if not, why not.
The answer may well be that these senior teams are the pathway to the professional game, and, if so, that’s an answer which needs important debate and consideration. It’s a minefield of difficulties and will make life even more difficult for amateur referees, consistency will not be easy.
It’s a great pity that it all hasn’t fed down from the top elite game, which is where change is most needed, and it represents a step in pushing the pro-game away from that played by amateurs.
What it will do in terms of participation numbers, for both referees and players, only time will tell with parents rightly having a very big say in what happens over the coming years. It’s impossible to be optimistic.
