Rodrigue Neti’s decision to thrust his head forward into the chest and then raise it vigorously to contact Josh van der Flier’s jawline, 60 seconds after his team-mate and fullback Thomas Ramos had kicked a penalty to allow the visitors to claw back to just 10-points down at 27-17, was a moment that shifted the momentum back to Leinster.
It didn’t define the outcome, but it made the last 24 minutes of this Champions Cup semi-final less fraught than it may have been for the Irish province and their supporters.
Neti will argue that he was bracing for impact but there was nothing passive about his action. If it wasn’t a headbutt it was a head butt and undisputedly a moment of madness from the 27-year-old replacement prop.
There is no defence to support the action and it is difficult to figure out how referee Wayne Barnes, once he had adjudicated that it was foul play, felt that it only merited a yellow card. These rulings that appear outcome based and/or ascribe intent, continue to undermine the sport.
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The television match official Stuart Terheege drew Barnes’ attention to the matter and the debate ensued as the officials reviewed the footage. It will be interesting to see what the English citing commissioner Chris Catling makes of the incident.
It was the second time in the match that Toulouse had suffered a yellow peril, fullback Thomas Ramos sent to the sinbin for a one-handed slap down as Leinster attacked the short-side, thwarted in what would have been a great try-scoring opportunity in the first half.
The home side ‘dipped their bread’ so to speak when buoyed by the numerical advantage and scored 28 points without replay during those periods.
Toulouse coach Ugo Mola cut a frustrated figure in the aftermath, but he was correct in the point he made about his side’s costly indiscipline.
“It was 28-0 [for Leinster] when it was 14 men against 15 and it was 22-13 when it was 15 against 15. If we had played 15 against 15 for the whole match it might have been different. Leinster put us in the corner. Ramos’ error was severe, Neti’s was serious, and we paid the price for that.
[ Leinster make light work of Toulouse to book place in Champions Cup finalOpens in new window ]
He also felt that Andrew Porter might have been given a yellow card for his tackle on Juan Cruz Mallia in the build-up to Emmanuel Meafou’s try.
“We could have played 15 against 14 but the foul was not mentioned. Wayne Barnes is a high-level referee but at that time there was a wait for a potential try and the foul was not whistled.
“We could have been in a position to get back into it. It could have been a turning point; we were just 13 points behind. There are a lot of things that didn’t go in our favour. We have to be more lucid to resist against this type of team.”
