ALAIN ROLLAND’S decision, correct in the opinion of this column in the application of both the law and IRB directive, to send off Wales captain Sam Warburton in the World Cup semi-final defeat to France polarised opinion from Twitter (an appropriate medium given some of the comments) to media hacks, analysts and former internationals. Here is just a selection.
THE TWITTER UNIVERSE.
“Rolland u’ve had a shocker... Not the first time either!!! Were not here to watch u.... “
(England wing Mark Cueto)
“Should have been a yellow but never a red, poor Sam he’s been the heart and soul of Wales!”
(England fullback Ben Foden)
“Yellow card, no one says another word. Sam Warburton wrongly sent off.”
(Scotland scrumhalf Rory Lawson)
“Really gutted for Wales – never a red card.”
(Ex-Scotland secondrow Doddie Weir)
“Gutted for the Welsh lads been team of the tournament!”
(England centre Mike Tindall)
POST MATCH DISCOURSE
“I think it was a fantastic rugby league tackle. Unfortunately we are not playing rugby league, we are playing rugby union. As soon as I saw it I thought it was a sending-off.”
France defence coach Dave Ellis.
“(People) can talk about injustice but I have seen the footage again and the red card is justified. The referee was consistent. I can’t help it if their kicker was not as good as ours.
I don’t know if the best team won but France are in the final. I was quite disappointed that a semi-final match became unbalanced so quickly, but it was a very dangerous tackle that deserved a red card.”
Les Bleus head coach Marc Lievremont offers his view on the incident.
“Having looked at it, I think we accept that Sam has lifted him. It probably warrants a yellow card under the direction the referees have said about players being lifted. But he lets him go. He doesn’t drive him into the ground.
“The player was fine to carry on. The thing that surprises me is the reaction of the referee is instant and I thought an experienced referee at that stage would have said ‘hang on a minute, let’s bring the touchies in’. . . they would have had a chance to look at the screen and see the replay and perhaps made a cool judgment. But that just came out of the blue . . . for an experienced referee to make such a crook decision in a semi-final of the World Cup . . . I just thought that decision ruined that semi-final,”
Wales coach Warren Gatland.
TELEVISION PUNDITS
“It was a diabolical decision from Alain Rolland. I was talking to double-winning World Cup legend Tim Horan who said we should use the rugby league system. Yellow card and put the player on report and then see what happens in the morning. If anyone had looked at that afterwards they would have said that ten minutes was sufficient for Warburton. It’s not ten minutes, it’s 60 minutes-plus and Wales’ World Cup hopes dashed and the inferior team are now in the final. It is awful for Warburton, terrible for Wales and it is bad for the competition.”
Sky Sports pundit Stuart Barnes.
“It was a dangerous tackle, yes. A penalty, yes. Never a red card. Sam Warburton has been one of the cleanest players at the World Cup. He (Rolland) has killed the game. I’m livid.”
Former Springbok World Cup winning captain and ITV pundit Francois Pienaar.
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