Justin Marshall goes on epic World Rugby rant as governing body ‘ruining the game’ over red card law
Ireland centre Garry Ringrose getting sin-binned before being upgrade to a 20-minute red and former All Black Justin Marshall.
Justin Marshall has slammed World Rugby for not introducing the 20-minute red card globally and insists that it is harming the sport.
The 51-year-old is a big fan of the law with his opinion supported by plenty of those in the southern hemisphere.
It has been used in Super Rugby over the past few years but, in contrast, those in Europe have been reluctant to adopt the law trial and it has yet to be approved globally.
That prompted an angry reaction from Marshall who asked: “Why are World Rugby not listening?”
Used in the Six Nations
The All Blacks great will be pleased the Six Nations used it for the first time earlier this year in a boost for its supporters, but Marshall insists that there is no reason for it not to be brought in by the sport’s governing body.
“The red card one, who’s arguing it? The way that head safety is being so well looked after now. To a degree, sometimes it’s gone too far with the TMO coming into the game on a regular basis – the players haven’t ever been more protected,” he said on the GBRANZ podcast.
“I can categorically say that nobody out there, particularly professional players, have any intention of attacking the head – they are not doing it.
“The ramifications of doing it are so severe, so anything that’s happening is just a timing of an accidental collision, where it’s just been head-on-head. It’s been no one’s fault and it’s been really well governed.
“What we’ve got to then do is protect the game. People are going to spend a s***load of money to come from the UK to come and watch this [British and Irish Lions] series and, if we get two red cards in the first 10 minutes of the first two Test matches, and even the third heaven forbid, because we can’t get our head around the fact that we can penalise that player.
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“It’s 20 minutes that a team’s got to cope, where the other team have a massive advantage, and then that player is out of the game. He has been punished and then he will get punished afterwards.
“If you’re going to say: ‘It will go unpunished’, he will be punished, the team’s been punished but the game has only been punished for 20 minutes.
“For f*** sake, can’t we just see common sense?”
Marshall then added: “I’ve shown some passion on this pod but nothing like when you asked me about the red card, that really irritates me, and I don’t why [it’s not been brought in].
“I think what they feel they are actually doing is protecting the game, whereas they’re not. They’re ruining the game.”
‘The big talk in rugby league’
Former Wallabies star Jeremy Paul, who was on the podcast alongside Marshall, agreed with the ex-All Black and claims that rugby league are looking on enviously.
“The big talk in rugby league was how good rugby has it with the 20-minute rule of a red card. They’re looking at that,” he said.
“When [Joseph] Suaalii got red-carded in the first State of Origin game, the game was a debacle.
“If you have that 20 minutes, it’s groundbreaking when you think about it. It’s incredibly smart because it’s not just about the rules of the game, the rules of the game is about helping the spectacle and the entertainment value.
“Here we are on the world stage and this game is going to go worldwide and we could have this old, decrepit, slowed down boring version of a game.
“Super Rugby this year with these rules, I’ve watched more rugby this year than I have in over a decade.”
