Scrap the Red card; Bok legends send strong message to officials as well as Stormers fullback suspension.
Victor Matfield and John Kirwan both believe that accidental head contact does not warrant a red card, even for 20 minutes.
We’ve forgotten the fan,” said Kirwan, before referring to the 2023 World Cup final in Paris when All Blacks captain Sam Cane was red-carded for a “dangerous tackle” while Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi only got yellow following a similar incident.
“If I’ve paid €400 or €500 for a World Cup final and then Cane gets sent off. And then Kolisi should have been sent off … I didn’t want either of them to be sent off, but at the end of the game you go, this just doesn’t feel right.”
Kirwan said the referee had got it right in last Saturday’s Champions Cup final when Bordeaux flank Mahamadou Diaby saw yellow, rather than red, after his shoulder made contact with the head of Northampton lock Temo Mayanavanua.
“I really liked it when the referee said, there’s no malice in that, it’s only a yellow card. If there is malice, the player should be sanctioned and fined. But why should the fan suffer? What happens if there’s a red card in that European Cup final and a team loses because of it? Is that the right result?
“I understand player safety and that we don’t want to touch the head, but for me, it’s a more a technical issue and the player should suffer after the match. If there’s malice, then that’s another issue. So I’m saying no red cards, at all [if it’s unintentional].”
We want to look after our players, but I think if you look back before we all focused on this head contact [issue], I don’t remember a game when there was head contact. It wasn’t part of the game. And a lot of these head contacts aren’t that severe. When do players get injured? It’s when you’re the tackler, when your head hits a hip or a knee [of the ball-carrier]. With all of these accidental head clashes, no one really gets injured, there are no concussions or anything.
“I’m with John, it’s about intent,” he added. “If someone runs from the side with a swinging arm and hits someone against the side of the head, send him off for the whole game. But if it’s an accident … and it happens in rugby, there’s a change of direction and you get a hit to the head. No player wants to hit his own head against someone else’s head.
That was never a red card in the European Cup final, I agree [Diaby] went in, his position was good, the attacker dipped a bit and there was head against head contact. Yellow card.
But a week ago, the same thing happened with [Stormers fullback] Damian Willemse [against Cardiff] but he got a red card and was suspended for three weeks. He couldn’t play in the URC quarter-final and [possible] semi-final and final. For the same incident.”
