Owen Doyle: Ugly red card incidents a bad advertisement for rugby

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I’m sure that rugby was the furthest thing from Sergio Leone’s mind as he directed Clint Eastwood in that epic movie, but the title is more than apt to describe what we witnessed over the weekend. Despite some wonderful, skilful rugby and great tries, there was also some bad and some ugly stuff. It was both a great advertisement for the game, and, at the same time, an awful one.

Let’s look at the “ugly” first. There were a couple of nasty incidents of dangerous play, involving both the use of boot and knee. Long ago, these were not uncommon in an era where the referee could not receive any assistance from his touch judges and the TMO had yet to be conceived. The much lamented Welsh hero, JPR Williams, was on the receiving end of the most notorious of these when playing for his club, Bridgend, against the All-Blacks. He required 30 stitches, administered by his father, and then astonishingly returned to the fray.

Playing for Leinster, Irish international lock Kevin Mays suffered severe long-term damage to his inner ear from another stray New Zealand boot. I could go on, but the point is that this type of foul play has largely disappeared from the game – or so we thought.

At the newly named Dexcom Park, Bristol’s Josh Caulfield’s boot came down on the head of the prone Finlay Bealham, who was fortunate to be able to return after treatment. Caulfield could not, of course return, having received a red card, which was the only option open to French referee Pierre Brousset.

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The decision was reached with minimal delay after a brief consultation with TMO Denis Grenouillet. I am not persuaded by arguments that it was accidental. Nor, in fairness, do I believe that Caulfield’s action was intentional. Under World Rugby’s regulations it will likely come under the term “reckless”, and I suspect that the judiciary will deal with it on that basis. They’ll also know that it was just down to a slice of good fortune that damage on the JPR-scale was not inflicted.

Against Northampton, Tom Ahern received two sickening blows to his head from the knees of Northampton’s Curtis Langdon. Ahern, visibly distressed, left Thomond Park on a stretcher. Langdon received a red card for his troubles, correctly delivered by another French ref, Tual Trainini.

He explained his decision well, telling us that the first knee strike was accidental – agreed, in which case there would have been no sanction. It was the second action by Langdon which the referee correctly found to be “reckless”, but that he also could not call it intentional. I’d suggest that only Langdon knows for certain. So, it will be up to the men on the bench to judge where it sits, either reckless or intentional. That will be a vital determination in arriving at the appropriate suspension.

For those who are pushing for the 20-minute red card replacement, maybe these incidents will give them pause for thought. Did either of these red-carded players really deserve to be replaced?

Otherwise, Trainini gave an interesting, laid-back performance, getting in the way quite a bit and adopting a laissez-faire policy at the breakdown. There was one scrum penalty to the visitors which looked absolutely correct, but the question is why Munster weren’t rewarded by the referee for a very similar situation just some moments before.

The style of officiating shouldn’t have come as a surprise, the Top 14 is refereed in much the same way. And despite a comeback of gargantuan proportions in Toulon, Munster, at home in front of a full house, with just half an hour remaining could not hold on to a 20-10 lead, against 14 men. Their performance was poor, with Northampton giving them a lesson in how to play both into a fierce wind, and also when it blew in their favour.

Ulster went with confidence to the Stoop, but there was more poor stuff here. Quite simply, they were taken apart, including defensive errors you wouldn’t see in a schoolboy match contributing to their downfall. Referee Mathieu Raynal did nothing to alter the result and Ulster drop down to the Challenge Cup.

It was a positive weekend for Irish referees, with a much better performance from the talkative Chris Busby in Sale’s game against La Rochelle, and Andy Brace went well in Toulouse v Bath. I have one gripe however – both referees were politely lecturing and resetting the front rows in the concluding stages. That is work which should have been done much earlier and with more firmness.

It’s a pity to finish on a negative note, but it’s relevant. Foul play apart, many serious injuries are being caused in the course of normal play, complete accidents. More and more players are leaving the pitch seriously injured, the medical teams are busier and busier. Very often now we have extended delays, as hurt players are removed with the greatest of care.

It underlines the inexorable attritional nature of the game and the human frame was hardly designed to handle the relentless brutal collisions. Is there a solution, or has it become the accepted face of rugby? Unhappily, it seems to be the latter.