Loose Pass: 20-minute red card system laid bare as directives make ‘messy situation significantly messier’
Fiji wing Semi Radradra was shown a yellow card that was upgraded to a 20-minute red card on Sunday.
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the new law enforcement directives and the most pertinent questions hanging over from the weekend…
The types of red
And so there it was, the entire folly of the new 20-minute red card system laid bare for all to see. The TMO interruptions affected the Wales game the most, but it impacted Scotland too.
It was a joke. We are supposed to still have permanent red cards for egregious acts of reckless and dangerous play, yet there were both Tommy Reffell and Semi Radradra – the latter the recipient of a shoulder-charge at the ruck from the former – sent from the pitch for acts which were, in the once-infamous words of Bryce Lawrence, at least yellow.
Reffell was supposedly clearing out a ruck. He went into it far too upright, some distance away from it, slightly side on, and he certainly did not wrap the man he cleaned out as he ought to do, nor did he make much attempt to stay on his feet. Radradra was not moving forward; the only defence Reffell really had was that Radradra had begun to go for the poach, meaning his head was roughly at Reffell’s chest height.
But it was exactly the sort of head contact resulting from poor technique which the governors of the game are trying to eliminate: dominant contact to the head resulting from poor, lazy technique. If Reffell had seen red, there would have been no complaints here.
Yellow it was. So what on earth the difference was between Reffell’s clean out and Radradra’s tackle we cannot fathom. At the moment Radradra made contact, Cam Winnett was bent double – far further than Radradra had been when Reffell cleaned him out. If anything, Radradra’s technique was better: at least he wrapped successfully. So was it the 30 metre run-up? Radradra’s relative size to Winnett’s? We’ll never know; it’s nice to have referee mics over the stadium tannoy, but we’re still in the dark over some of the most perplexing decisions made in the dark recesses of the bunker.
Anyway, Radradra saw red. Except it wasn’t really red, was it, because 20 minutes later someone came on in his place. Not someone of Radradra’s inimitable talents, admittedly, but there’s less of a drop-off there than there used to be. But the incidents do beg the question: exactly how egregious do offences need to be to meet the permanent threshold? Not that both of these deserved that particularly, but Fiji did not really suffer as a result of the red, so what is the point in having them at all? Why not just keep it as yellow? How do you explain the difference to any new people to the game? And is a slightly longer sin-bin really going to act as the same sort of deterrent to poor and dangerous technique?
This has created far more questions than answers and needs… well, to be honest, it needs a permanent red card.
Does the same apply to Scott Cummings? Perhaps. It was not a pleasant clean-out, exactly the sort of thing that can end careers, exactly the sort of thing that has been explicitly cracked down upon. And while Reffell and Radradra can defend their actions by pointing to the mitigation of not knowing what position their opponents might take, there is only one position a jackler will take when going for a steal at a ruck. Once he is in that position, you either clean him properly out or you’ve lost the ball.
But again, what’s the point of making it red, for dangerous and reckless play which you want to get rid of from the game, but the team does not carry the consequences? What is the threshold?
The new card directives have instantly made a messy situation significantly messier.
Further talking points from the weekend, country by country
England – When are we going to be allowed to see Marcus Smith, who clearly has 80 minutes in his legs, actually play the full 80 minutes in the position he was picked to play in? Much has been made in the past of his ability, or occasional lack thereof, to close games out, but he has become legitimately good enough in his all-round game that there is no need to worry about that any more. Steve Borthwick is muffing his lines with a generational talent at the peak of his game and it has cost him dearly so far this autumn.
Wales – General disarray. The sheepishness with which Warren Gatland was forced to admit that his sideline team sent on the wrong substitute player early in the match is indicative of the hesitancy and apprehension which has the whole of Welsh rugby in a firm grip at the moment, as were the thousands of empty seats. The last thing Wales needs right now is a buoyant Australia and rampant South Africa hoving into view.
Ireland – Is this the end of a generation? While most of the real stinkers of games were had by some of the younger players, the older players en masse did not control the team direction with anything like the usual precision. Far too many penalties given away for pointless technical offences and far too little accuracy or direction.
Scotland – Few questions unanswered. A good performance against the best in the world, a little more clinicality would have seen them making it very uncomfortable for the Boks.
New Zealand – Appear to be mastering the knack of winning even when not on their game. Next stage would be for the All Blacks to actually get on their game, but there might be kinder nights to do that than a damp November in Dublin.
Australia – Breathtaking, but it should not be forgotten that they also shipped 37 points to an England side that is less fit than it should be. Beware false dawns.
Argentina – The upward trajectory continues. Tomas Albornoz is a generational talent.
Italy – A poor start to November, looked off the pace.
Fiji – Great win and all, but perhaps it’s time we stopped thinking of this as a shock? This is the same team, by and large, that almost made it to the World Cup semi-finals. The Fijians are now a full professional international team, loaded with stellar talent. They are no longer plucky underdogs.
Best of the rest – Chile! What a win over Canada. Of all the initiatives to expand the game globally, the South American Super Liga looks to be bearing the most fruit. Elsewhere, the USA claimed an impressive win away to Portugal.