Nigel Owens weighs in on Andre Esterhuizen’s ‘very, very difficult’ red card

Former Test referee Nigel Owens admits that the officials were left with a “tough” decision over whether to send off Springboks powerhouse Andre Esterhuizen.

The centre was initially yellow carded after two minutes for a head-on-head collision with Portugal centre Jose Lima.

Esterhuizen’s yellow was then upgraded to red following a bunker review, which left South Africa down to 14 men for the majority of the match.

Rassie Erasmus’ side overcame the loss of the Sharks star to secure a 64-21 triumph against Os Lobos in Bloemfontein as they secured their third victory of the mid-year Tests.

Four-game suspension

The 30-year-old has since been banned for four matches, but it could be reduced to three if he completes the World Rugby Coaching Intervention programme.

That will rule the centre out for at least the opening game of the Rugby Championship, but Esterhuizen could return for the second Wallabies clash if required.

His red card and subsequent ban has caused controversy and Owens discussed the incident in the latest episode of World Rugby’s Whistle Watch.

The Welshman did not envy referee Hollie Davidson, who had a hard call to make, but as soon as it was decided that head contact had been made, the 53-year-old revealed that the officials were left with very little option.

Springboks: Andre Esterhuizen BANNED after Portugal red but Rassie’s savvy decision rewarded

“It’s a tough one because a lot of you – probably most of you – are thinking that the red card is harsh, but there are a lot of you who think that the red card is justified,” he said.

“First of all, we have to determine, do we have foul play? Now, an upright tackle is not illegal, it’s only illegal and becomes foul play if you don’t make a clear attempt to wrap and there is contact with the shoulder to the head or the head to the head.

“Now, if you have an upright tackle and a player does everything legally, so he goes to grasp an opponent upright and there is no contact to the head, no head to head, then we don’t have foul play.

“So this decision, although it’s a very, very difficult one to decide on, it is quite simple when you’ve decided on what you actually have seen.

“If you feel there is head contact then you do have a pretty clear straightforward red card. We have a player who is on the ground and unconscious.”

Contrast to recent calls

Owens has been critical over some of the decisions recently, stating that James Lowe’s try in the first Springboks v Ireland Test should not have been disallowed.

He also thought that Caelan Doris was fortunate to avoid a red card for a croc roll in the second clash and that James Ryan could have joined the captain in being punished.

Although Davidson and her team had another “difficult” call to make, once again in a match involving the Boks, Owens suggested that the correct protocols had been followed in reaching the decision.

“To wrap it all up to you as simple as I possibly can, the officials on the day felt that they had enough [evidence] that there was head contact and therefore we have ended up with a read card,” he added.

“Very difficult one isn’t it?”

READ MORE: Nigel Owens: Why the Springboks got lucky with disallowed James Lowe try